Arrangement
The G. Malcolm Lewis collection of cartographic activities of the North American Indian and Inuit peoples at the Library of Congress is organized in the original order established by G. Malcolm Lewis, in 5 series.
The series are grouped by subject, and chronologically within subject. The first four series are assigned a color name as their title.
Within each series, boxes contain "bag files," organized by Lewis. These bag files were originally housed in polythene bags that were rehoused by the Library into folders. The folders are numbered in the finding aid, both with Lewis' original cataloging system and with the Library's sequential numbering for the finding aid.
Some series contain subseries, in which many research files from singular expeditions or related subjects are grouped together. Those instances of subseries are noted in the finding aid.
- Series 1: Red Series: Amerindian maps and mapping, 1600-1948
- Series 2: Green Series: Amerindian and Inuit maps: maps and accounts of maps and mapping, 1511-1776
- Series 3: Blue Series: Amerindian and Inuit maps - accounts, extant artifacts, and lost artifacts, 1700-1916
- Series 4: Yellow Series: Amerindian maps and mapping -- examples on/from...
- Series 5: Card-mounted photocopies and photographs of North American Indian and Inuit maps