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This hand-drawn school girl (or boy) map, titled Western Hemisphere, presents a delicately rendered, hemispheric projection centered on the Americas and the surrounding Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

The map appears to have been executed in ink and pencil, with major continents, oceans, and island groups labeled in a lightly cursive hand. It features both the Northern and Southern Poles marked as “Northpole” and “Southpole,” with stylized wreath-like flourishes encircling the map’s edges. The continents of North and South America are prominently displayed, while the western portions of Europe and Africa, as well as eastern Asia and Oceania, are partially shown on the globe’s edge.

The appearance of Texas on the map and the primitive mountain chains, suggests a date prior to 1845, when Texas became part of the United States.  The reference to the Sandwich Islands also suggests a date prior to 1850.  The most telling information on the map is probably in the Southern Ocean, which contains two intriguing geographical notations: Graham’s Land and Victoria Land, both associated with early 19th-century exploratory voyages to the Antarctic.

Graham’s Land, appearing on the Antarctic Peninsula, was first sighted in 1832 by John Biscoe, a British mariner and explorer. It was named for Sir James Graham, then First Lord of the Admiralty. Graham’s Land represents one of the earliest portions of the Antarctic continent to be confirmed as part of a larger landmass rather than isolated ice islands or archipelagos. It lies along what is now known as the Antarctic Peninsula and would later become a focal point in territorial claims by Britain, Argentina, and Chile.

Victoria Land, also labeled in the Antarctic region of this map, was discovered in January 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross during his expedition aboard the Erebus and Terror. Ross named the land in honor of Queen Victoria. It constitutes a major section of the coast of East Antarctica, adjacent to the Ross Sea, and remains one of the most prominent features on the Antarctic mainland.