Map from 1922 shows 'Macedonian Slavs' and 'Slavo-Mongols, Bulgarians'



The maps are published in work, with the complicated and long title: The new Larned History for ready reference, reading and research; the actual words of the world's best historians, biographers and specialists: a complete system of history for all uses, extending to all countries and subjects and representing the better and newer literature of history. Authored by J.N Larned and published by Springfield, Mass. C.A. Nichols Publishing Company in 1922.


About the author


Josephus Nelson Larned (May 11, 1836 - August 15, 1913) was an American newspaper editor, author, librarian, and historian. As Superintendent of the Young Men's Association Library, he led the transformation into the current public library of Buffalo & Erie County.

Larned was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, to Henry Sherwood Larned and Mary Ann Nelson. His family moved to Buffalo, New York when he was twelve, and he was taught there in public schools until he was sixteen.

After leaving school, he worked as an accountant for a ship chandler and as an employee for two haulage companies. In 1857 he moved west to Iowa, but did not enjoy it there and returned to Buffalo later that year. He was attracted to the newspaper work and started working for the Buffalo Republic.

Larned was elected Superintendent of Education in Buffalo in 1871 and served two terms. He urged for significant changes, including improved teacher training, the availability of technical and vocational training, the teaching of German to immigrants and the independence of education from politics. He was unable to implement most of his changes and was frustrated by political interference.


The Young Men's Association of the City of Buffalo was founded on February 22, 1836 (the year of birth of Larned) "for the mutual improvement of literature and science." They soon started a subscription library. In 1877 Larned was hired as the superintendent of the library.

Larned soon discovered that the collection needed to be cataloged and organized, as the collection grew rapidly and the previous catalog was seven years old. He traveled to libraries in the region to explore classification systems, met Melvil Dewey, and got knowledge of his new Dewey decimal system.

Larned's library was the first outside Dewey's Amherst College to introduce the system that is now widely used in US public libraries. Through the introduction of the new system and the presentation of his experience, he was introduced to other professionals and the new American Library Association, whose president he later served for the term of office from 1893 to 1894.

Larned impressed his new colleagues and Dewey later said he was one of the best librarians in the country. His interest in cataloging continued. Later, he developed a system for classifying newspaper clippings and brochures, as well as an alternative system for classifying books, which, however, was not adopted by the libraries.


"Distribution of Nationalities in South-Eastern Europe"


"The distribution of nationalities in South-Eastern Europe" is the name of the map that was specially made for the New Larned History. The map shows the Balkan region and the individual people living there. The category "Slavs" includes Poles, Ruthenians ("Little Russians"), Czechs and Slovaks, Slovenes, Serbo-Croats and Macedonians.

Directly after the section "Slavs" follows a single entry saying "Slavo-Mongols, Bulgarians".


This is followed by another section called "Mongols", which includes the Hungarians and the Turks.

With "Latins" follows a section that undoubtedly considered the descendants of the Romans. There the Italians and Romanians are listed.

Without a "Nation-section" the Albanians, Greeks and Germans are listed in the legend of the map with assigned color markings.





Source: The new Larned History for ready reference, reading and research; the actual words of the world's best historians, biographers and specialists: a complete system of history for all uses, extending to all countries and subjects and representing the better and newer literature of history. J.N Larned, Springfield, Mass.: C.A. Nichols Publishing Company, 1922

Written by: Makedonische Geschichte Blog (German)

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