We are interested in facilitating a conversation about coursework, assignments, and activities that integrate cartographic materials in the classroom, and especially how this complements or works with the increasing availability of digital materials, especially from Caribbean and Latin American archives. What is at stake when we use maps in either format?

The panel builds on the 2021 CLAH Teaching and Teaching Materials 2021 Section Meeting “Taking Off the White Gloves,” focused on using rare books and special collections in Latin American History courses. This roundtable asks how can historians incorporate maps from their libraries’ special collections? What are some of the particular benefits and challenges for students at US colleges and universities in working in physical and digital collections of maps from Latin America and the Caribbean? How can regular use of these materials contribute to the expansion of non-Euroamerican special collections? How can we help surmount linguistic barriers, address the ethics of acquiring documents, and forge connections between faculty and librarians to facilitate use of the physical and digital maps?

The four participants have experience bringing cartographic materials into the classroom and using them in novel assignments for first-year through advanced undergraduate and graduate courses. Together, they combine multiple cartographic materialities to discuss spatial pedagogies that encourage students to investigate new historical questions. Presentations share a hemispheric approach, including both local border negotiations and transatlantic histories. Together, they invite participation and contributions from the audience and hope that the conversation will extend beyond the temporal and geographical boundaries introduced by the four participants.