The only
comprehensive listing of early map image sites. The
monthly additions are indicated thus, e.g. {March
2002} at the end of the
entry. Since the symbols { } are not used elsewhere, you can search on
those elements [enter Ctrl+F]; e.g. 2002} will find entries added
at any time in that year)
Please notify any corrections or additions to the editor, Tony
Campbell:
Make sure to consult its copyright statement
before using any of the images you find
Abel Buell. 'A new
and correct map of the United States of North America' (a scan, enlargeable to fairly
high res., of the large 1784 Buell map, 'depicting the boundaries of the new American
nation and showing the "Stars and Stripes" for the first time', deposited by David M.
Rubenstein in the Library of Congress for five years, January 2011). [See also the webcast at
the time of its deposit in LC, January 2011.] {May, 2011}
American Revolutionary War - see 'Revolutionary War' under People & Themes
'American
Shores: Maps of the Middle Atlantic Region to 1850' (over 750
maps (1660-1850), in medium or high res. MrSID format; access is
via text-supported sections (select 'Geographical Area') or by searching,
or you can browse a thumbnail listing by selecting 'Map Collection in
Image Gate' then 'Browse this collection' - New York Public Library)
{December, 2002}
Baedeker's Old Guide Books (
high res. scans of the 33 maps and 48 town plans from Baedeker’s The United States (with Excursions to Mexico, Cuba, Porto Rico, and Alaska, 1909 - Alan
Gresley: ‘Baedeker's Old Guide Books’) {September, 2006}
'Broer Map Library: Historic Map Collection' (2,850
scans of 19th and 20th century maps, covering various parts of the world, and including '1,300 historic USGS
topographical maps from 45 states', enlargeable via Zoomify to high res. - Dave Broer, Ellington, Conn.)
{October, 2006; updated September 2017 when site under revision}
'Census Finder: a Directory of
Free Census Records. U.S. County Maps' (with a sizeable section for each state, this comprises "a
complete list of counties in that state along with links to historical maps and plat maps of counties and
townships"; there are also links to further resources for each state - hosted by rootsweb) {August,
2010}
'Colonial
America' (a selection of maps, enlargeable to fairly high res. - Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript
Library, University of Georgia) {January, 2009}
'Colonial and Federal Era Maps' ('Browse' for 56 printed and MS maps (evidently
high res.), viewable with ExpressView Browser Plugin - United States Military Academy
(USMA) at West Point) {October, 2003}
'The Crown Collection of Photographs of American
Maps' (pdfs of the important collection relating to colonial North America gathered by Archer Butler Hulbert
in British archives, comprising 18 volumes arranged in five series (Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1907-1930);
the best way to search the collection may be via the Newberry Library's Cartographic Catalog) {August, 2009}
De
Bry. 'Les habitants du Nouveau Monde' (enlargeable, medium res.
details from De Bry's engravings of the native Americans of eastern N.
America, with details of the map, 1590-96, from the New York Public
Library copy - Bibliothèque Nationale de France) {July, 2002}
'Digital Commonwealth: Massachusetts
Collections Online' ('Explore historical collections from libraries, museums, and archives across
Massachusetts'; select 'Formats' for 'Maps/Atlases' [over 6,000, high res., April 2015], most
covering the United States or Massachusetts, mostly from the Boston Public Library) {March, 2015}
+ 'Exodus and Exile: the Spaces of
Diaspora' (about 50 low to medium res. images of assorted maps and plans, 15th century to present,
illustrating the experiences of the Jews and African-Americans - 2002 exhibition at the Osher Map Library,
University of Southern Maine). [See also the associated Lesson plan, 2011] {January, 2004; amended December 2011}
Faden's Ameri[c]an
Atlas (19 of William Faden's collection of 33 maps and battle plans of the Revolutionary
War, 1759-77, enlargeable via Zoomify to very high res.; for an introductory note by
Lauren Coats, three essays by Joel Kovarsky and a bibliography see Here - Lehigh University Digital
Library, Bethlehem, PA) {November, 2010}
'From Colonialism
to Tourism: Maps in American Culture' (a small selection of thematically-organised maps, most if not all
from the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, enlargeable to high res. - Digital Public Library of
America, September 2014) {November, 2015}
‘Great Lakes Maps, Atlases & Map
Collections’ (links to online maps: scroll down to 'Maps & Gazetteers' for separate lists for Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio &
Wisconsin) {October, 2016; updated August 2021}
Harvard University. Hollis Catalog (entering "Harvard Map Collection digital maps" into the 'Search For:' box retrieved 264
hits [the collection is growing], mostly covering Boston, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine; it is not possible to sort the list with
the oldest first; select a map and find image information in the 'INTERNET LINK' line in the map description - the maps are zoomable in
sections to very high res.). [For detailed access instructions see the message from David Cobb to the MapHist list, 4 April 2007] {February, 2006}
'Historical county
lines' (links to early maps arranged by state [most from sites
otherwise listed on these pages] - John Robertson) {March,
2001}
'Historical Map
Collection' (a large collection on flickr, with the main focus on Connecticut and the United
States, available in various resolutions including high res. - University of Connecticut
MAGIC site) {January, 2011}
Historical
maps of the US and the Americas (a good selection of high res. images, viewable
with JPEG or MrSID Plugin - University of Alabama. It is recommended that
you look at their Help page)
{April, 2001}
'Historic Topo
Maps' ("this collection overlays 1,000’s historic USGS Topographic Maps into Google Earth. I’m adding more
all the time. I did not scan these maps and have obtained them from many different sources" [listed]). [See
also USGS Topographic Map Update,
15 November 2009] {November, 2007}
’A History of America in 100 Maps’ (15
sample [enlargeable] maps with captions, from Susan Schulten’s new book: University of Chicago Press and British
Library) {October, 2018}
'Holland Land
Company Map Collection' (1,363 maps, enlargeable to fairly high res., from the Archives of
the Holland Land Company, 1789-1869, of various parts of the USA but particularly western New York and
Pennsylvania, including 'street maps of the cities of New York and Philadelphia, maps of both the proposed and
final locations of the Erie Canal, and images of Native American reservations' - SUNY Fredonia) {November,
2009}
John Carter Brown Library. 'JCB Map
Collection' (an important collection of 3,562 maps, enlargeable to high res., in a chronological browsing list,
focusing on the world and the Americas) [Update April 2019: you can now access in various ways via an index page] {November, 2011}
'Lewis and Clark
Expedition Maps, ca. 1803-1810' (select 'See all images' for 'Nearly 100 manuscript maps and related
material, dating from ca. 1803 to 1810'; click 'zoom' option on the thumbnail page to enlarge to high
res. - 'Digital Images Online', Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University) {March,
2009}
Lewis & Clark. 'Losing Lewis & Clark'
(four medium res. illustrations to one of the 'Popular Cartography Exhibits' from the 2004 Reading Popular Cartography Seminar at the
Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography, Newberry Library, Chicago) {August, 2008}
+
'Lewis & Clark: the Maps of Exploration 1507-1814' (a few very
high res. early maps of America, N. America, Virginia, etc. -
Special Collections in Alderman Library, University of Virginia) {November,
2002}
'Links to historic maps' (a large selection of links to maps from various sources
relating to the United States [mostly from the Hargrett
Library], arranged by period and topic, and then by state - Digital History) {July,
2005}
'Louisiana: European
Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase' (a search for 'maps' produced 70 hits (out of 119 items), enlargeable to
high res. via JPEG2000; covering 'the region of North America that stretched from as far east as Alabama into
what is now the state of Montana'; with an accompanying 118-page PDF essay by Michael Klein,
illustrated with low res. images - Library of Congress, American Memory) {September, 2007}
'Map Collections at the USMA
Library (follow links for 'Civil War Maps', ‘Colonial and Federal Era Maps’ and ‘West Point Maps’ - US
Military Academy Digital Library) {December, 2008}
'Mapping
Movement: Spatial Narratives in Popular Cartography' (five medium res. illustrations to one of
the 'Popular Cartography Exhibits' from the 2004 Reading Popular Cartography Seminar at the Hermon
Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography, Newberry Library, Chicago) {August, 2008}
'Mapping the Nation' (the large collection of
maps, many of them specialised, that accompany the publication with that title by Susan Schulten (University of
Chicago Press, 2012) in high res.) {June, 2012}
'Mapping a New
Nation: Abel Buell’s Map of the United States, 1784' (celebrating 'the first map of the newly independent United
States that was compiled, printed and published in America by an American' [on which see above under 'Abel Buell']
and also featuring early maps of North America by John Mitchell, Carington Bowles, Thomas Hutchins and William Faden.
zoomable to very high res. - online exhibition at the Library of Congress from November 2013) {November, 2013}
'State
and County Maps' (a growing collection of over 1,400 maps, covering more than half the states - My Genealogy Hound) {November,
2017}
+ 'Toward a National Cartography:
American Mapmaking, 1782-1800' (a version of a 2011 Harvard Map Collection exhibition (with
material from various places) featuring 22 maps enlargeable with Zoomify to high res. -
organized by Michael Buehler of Boston Rare Maps) {October, 2011}
'United States Topographic Maps 1:250,000' (1943-94,
high res. - 'an ongoing project to scan and make available online the U.S. Geological Survey 1:250,000 series of
topographic maps. Each revision of each sheet will be included. Maps scanned are from the collections of the University of Texas
Libraries. Alaska and Hawaii will be included. Satellite Image Maps and Radar Image Mosaics issued as part of this series will be
included. Date for completion of this project is November 2007') {September, 2007}
'USGS Historical Quadrangle Scanning Project
(HQSP)' (the scanning will include 'all scales and all editions of approximately 250,000 topographic maps
published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) since the inception of the topographic mapping program in 1884'; work
is intended to be completed during 2012; the
quadrangles are being made available in the Map Locator application at the USGS Store). [See also 'The Last Piece of the Puzzle: USGS Historical Maps' by Gary Price, with information on accessing the maps, 3 April 2012] {January, 2011;
updated August 2011 & April 2012}
USGS. 'TopoView: the historical topographic map collection' ('intended to serve the immediate need for the older, conventionally printed topographic maps to become easily
searched, viewed, and downloaded'; the 163,000 maps were scanned by the USGS Historical Topographic Mapping
Collection (HTMC) project) {April, 2013}
USGS Topographic Maps. Index maps for all states (individual
map sheets at 1:250,000 can be viewed via the clickable US map. Downloadable nationwide index maps at 1:250,000 and 1:100,000
scale. Individual state links with topographic index maps at 1:250,000, 1:100,000, and 1:24,000 scale – Yellow Maps.com)
{March, 2017}
'Westward the
Course of Empire Takes Its Way' (four medium res. illustrations to one of the 'Popular Cartography Exhibits' from the
2004 Reading Popular Cartography Seminar at the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography, Newberry Library,
Chicago) {September, 2005}
William L. Clements Library Image Bank. ‘The Map Shelf’ (1,768 maps, enlargeable to high
res., of which 314 relate to the American Revolution [including 570 pre-1820 MS maps scanned in 2019, through the
support of Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps] ) {August, 2020}
Aviation. 'Airchive.com: the webseum of
commercial aviation' (select 'Timetables and route maps: the history of over 30 airlines
told through their schedules and maps', with high res. scans; mostly relating to the USA
- Chris Sloan) {November, 2005}
Baseball ('a repository of historic pictures of American
baseball fields. These pictures are found on panoramic maps, in which small details are meticulously drawn, including, in most
cases, the players on the field. Please note that all of the maps here are from the Library of Congress American Memory panoramic
map database. The complete maps can be found online at the American Memory panoramic map website') {December, 2007}
Chromolithography. 'A pageant of spectacles: Chromolithography in America' (an introduction, in the form of a video commentary by Matthew Edney, to an exhibition at the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine [opened 30 November 2023], on Edney's 'Mapping as Process' blog, 1 December 2023) {February, 2024}
Cities & Towns (a large, alphabetically-arranged, assortment of high
res. plans of US cities, mostly 1890-1920 - Perry-Castañeda Library
Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin)
Cities &
Towns. 'Paisajes Urbanos de América y Filipinas' (illustrated with sample, low res. urban
plans of North, Central and South America, the Antilles and the Philippines from the Archivo
General de Indias de Sevilla, Sección de Mapas y Planos) {November, 2005}
Cities & Towns see also Panoramic Maps below
Civil War (198 maps, enlargeable to high res. - Library
of Virginia) {August, 2009}
Civil War. 'Harvard Map
Collection digital maps. Civil War' (14 maps, some MS, 1862-5, of various parts of the SE USA, enlargeable to very high
res.; a selection from a collection given to the Harvard Map Collection by the Massachusetts Order of the Loyal Legion of the
United States (MOLLUS) - Harvard College Library) {September, 2007}
Civil War. 'Histoire
de la Guerre Civile en Amerique' (high res. images of the 30-sheet atlas of 1874 by
E.D. Vorzet, Le Comte de Paris - donated to the University of Virginia by Joel Kovarsky and placed on the
David Rumsey site) {October, 2012}
Civil War Maps
("approximately 2,240 Civil War maps and charts and 76 atlases and sketchbooks that are held within the Geography and Map
Division, 200 maps from the Library of Virginia, and 400 maps from the Virginia Historical Society" -
high res. MrSID images, with the ability to zoom, enlarge and select details - Library of Congress,'American Memory').
[Also here]
Civil War maps (31 enlargeable, low res. images - Hargrett Library Rare Map
Collection, University of Georgia Libraries)
'Civil War Maps'
(follow the Browse or Search options for 40 Union and Confederate maps (mostly of Virginia), enlargeable to
high res. - US Military Academy Digital Library) {December, 2008}
Civil war. ‘More Places in
Civil War History’ (about ‘maps produced during the Civil War, their creation, and the geography they depict’; by Amelia
Raines for the Library of Congress Maps blog, 14 September 2023) {October, 2023}
Civil War. 'Places in History' ('Beginning
March 4, 2011 until April 20, 2015, the Geography and Map Division [of the Library of Congress] will post selected maps from
its digitized collections [in high res.] relating to political and economic issues leading up to the Civil War as well as
military maps ranging from maps of minor skirmishes to major battles during the week of the 150th anniversary of those
conflicts. Each map is accompanied by text discussing the selected maps, as well as citations and references. The site will be
updated weekly during the four year anniversary of the Civil War and a keyword searchable weekly archive accompanies the site')
{March, 2011}
+ Civil War. ‘Torn in
Two: 150th Anniversary of the Civil War’ (exhibition, illustrated with high res. scans), at the Osher Map Library,
University of Southern Maine, April-August 2013 - a subset of the exhibition of the same name, curated by Dr. Ronald E. Grim and
originally installed in 2011 at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center of the Boston Public Library) {November, 2017}
+ 'Common Destinations: Maps in the
American Experience' (commentary with an emphasis on social aspects ('objects and imagery related to America’s
historical fascination with maps') and images, enlargeable to medium res.; an exhibition curated by Martin Brückner,
April 2013-January 2014 - Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library) {July, 2014}
Fire Insurance. 'The Sanborn Fire
Insurance Maps Online Checklist' (a searchable database of those held in the Library of Congress,
Geography and Map Division, describing 'the nearly 700,000 sheet collection of maps published by the Sanborn
Map Company from 1867 to the 1960’s'; the text and indexes are based on the 1981 publication but are being
regularly updated; 'the online checklist also contains links to existing digital images from our collection
and will be updated as new images are added'; effectively a Sanborn encyclopedia, with notes on
various topics, essays by Walter W. Ristow and Gary Fitzpatrick, 'and examples of how large scale maps can
be used by historians, geographers, and researchers in virtually any discipline') {October, 2009}
Fire Insurance. ’Sanborn Maps’
of the United States (by the end of 2016 over 100,000 pre-1900 sheets should be available online,
enlargeable to very high res., with a further 400,000 to be added in the next three years; see
‘About this Collection’ for background and practical information, as well as links to articles – Library of
Congress) {December, 2016}
Geological maps. ‘National Geologic
Map Database’ (select ‘Geologic Map Image Library' for "2000+ maps online", of various
dates, enlargeable to high res.; select ‘Geoscience Map Catalog’ for descriptions of
69,000 maps; it is not clear how to link that facility with a general search of the Catalog -
U.S.G.S) {December, 2004}
'Geologic Atlas of the United
States' ('a set of 227 folios published by the U.S. Geological Survey between 1894 and 1945 [ranging
across the US]. Each folio includes both topographic and geologic maps [in high res.] for each quad
represented in that folio' - Texas A & M University Libraries){December, 2006}
‘The Hauslab-Liechtenstein
Map Collection’ (a 60-page essay about the collection [now mostly in the Library of Congress], by
Walter Ristow, written in 1978, edited by Ryan J. Moore, well-illustrated with enlargeable images - Philip Lee
Phillips Map Society Occasional Papers No.14, Summer 2018) {September, 2018}
Highways see under Road maps below, and under the names of individual States in the next
section
'Homicide in Chicago. Hull House Maps and Papers (1895)' (select 'View Maps' for high res. distribution maps for 'nationality' and 'wages', based on information gathered by Florence
Kelley for the United States Department of Labour - Northwestern University School of Law) {March, 2008}
'Immigration to the United
States, 1789-1930' (a keyword search for 'map' retrieved 259 items (the Introduction mentions '200 maps'; 'a
web-based collection of selected historical materials from Harvard's libraries, archives, and museums that
documents voluntary immigration to the US from the signing of the Constitution to the onset of the Great
Depression' - Harvard University, Open Collections Program) {February, 2008}
Indian
Land Cessions in the U.S., 1784 to 1894 (67 high res. MrSID state maps by Charles C. Royce, from the Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1896-1897 - Library of Congress)
Indian
Lands. ’American Indian Collection’ (low res. images illustrating a commercial CD-ROM; most
of the maps are of Indian Reservations, a few are by Native Americans - US Historical Archive){July, 2004}
North American Indian Map Pages (lists over 400 North American map sites [mostly
reconstructed maps] - Phil Konstantin) {December, 2001; amended February 2010}
Indian Trails. 'The Indian Trails
Project' (text and a selection of maps enlargeable to medium res., mostly about the Cherokee Nation in northern Georgia)
{January, 2008}
'Johnson U.S. Map Project' (a
cartobibliography of the maps in the atlases of Alvin J. Johnson, 1854-87; including a Gallery of
selected maps from the David Rumsey collection, at high res., and historical essays - Ira
Lourie) {January, 2012}
Louisiana Purchase. 'Louisiana:
European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase' (a search for 'maps' produced 70 hits (out of 119 items), enlargeable to
high res. via JPEG2000; covering 'the region of North America that stretched from as far east as Alabama into what is now the
state of Montana'; with an accompanying 118-page PDF essay by Michael Klein, illustrated
with low res. images - Library of Congress, American Memory) {September, 2007}
’Mapping Movement in American History and Culture’
(13 peer-reviewed essays [with 10 more to follow later in 2016] each illustrated with over 10 examples, enlargeable to high
res., and extensive bibliographies, relating to the history travel, commerce, migration, and communications to and from
North America from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries; use the ‘Browse’ to search for various categories - edited by
James R. Akerman & Peter Nekola, Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography at The Newberry Library)
{March, 2016}
Mexican War. 'Robert E. Lee
Mexican War Maps' (an online exhibit with a scrolling slide-show of 56 images, relating to 30 MS maps, most
used by Lee during the Mexican War (1846-8) - Virginia Military Institute Archives) {November, 2009}
Mining. 'Tri-State Mining Map Collection' ('the
collection at Missouri Southern State University, consists of more than 5,000 maps that
document lead and zinc mining in Southwest Missouri, Southeast Kansas, and Northeast
Oklahoma' from c.1850-1958, enlargeable to very high res. - University of Missouri
Digital Library) {October, 2010}
* Movement. 'Mapping Movement in American History and Culture' ('thematic essays and image captions by leading scholars in their fields offer a variety of perspectives on the history and technology of American travel, transportation, commerce, and communications' - a publication of the Newberry Library's Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography, using more than 500 images of their maps. See 'Browse all maps at our digital collections') {August, 2024}
National Parks. Mapping the
National Parks (Acadia, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains,
Yellowstone: Library of Congress - high res.
MrSID images, with the ability to zoom, enlarge and select details)
NOAA.
'Historical Map and Chart Collection' (over 35,000, high res. MrSID images of charts, maps
and plans, mostly 19th century, searchable
by region, map type, date or keyword; these include a large number of topographic maps)
Railroads. 'History of Railroad Maps' (five medium res. maps illustrating an introductory
text, "adapted from Andrew M. Modelski, Railroad Maps of North America: The First Hundred Years
(Washington: Library of Congress, 1984), pp. ix-xxi" - World Maps Online). [Also here].
{May, 2005}
Railroads. 1948
U.S. Railroad Atlas (high res. scans from the Rand McNally atlas, featuring
the 48 lower states, 4 metropolitan areas, and close ups of the Albany and Hudson Valley
regions- AJ Kleipass) {December, 2003}
Railroads. 'Property Maps of the North
Carolina Railroad' (plans, enlargeable to high res., showing the proposed route of the North Carolina Railroad with
the names of adjacent property owners - North Carolina State Archives) {June, 2010}
Revolutionary War. ’The Map Shelf’ (1,768 maps, enlargeable to high res., of which 314 relate
to the American Revolution [and including 570 pre-1820 MS maps scanned in 2019 through the support of Barry Lawrence
Ruderman Antique Maps] - William L. Clements Library Image Bank) {August, 2020}
Revolutionary
War. ‘Richard H. Brown Revolutionary War Map Collection’ (about 300 maps, enlargeable to very high
res. hosted on the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center website and housed at George Washington’s Mount
Vernon in the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington) {January, 2020}
Road
maps. 'Caught Mapping' (a 9-minute black and white documentary about the updating
process for printed road maps in the USA c. 1940. It is available as a download in various
formats or streamed over the Internet - link available via the Cartography blog) {July,
2006}
+ 'Road
maps: the American Way' (high res. images of U.S. road maps
and their covers - Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic
Education, University of Southern Maine - exhibition curated by Robert
French) {May, 2001}
Road maps, see also under the names of individual States in the next section
Sanborn see under Fire Insurance above
Sea charts. ‘Sea
Heritage’ (fairly high res. pdf scans - a commercial site selling over 1000 19th and 20th
century nautical charts ‘from around the world, including the entire coastal United States’)
{February, 2005}
Slavery.
'The Atlantic slave trade and slave life in the Americas' (select 'Maps: Africa, New World,
Slave Trade' for 30 images, enlargeable to medium res., mostly of original maps or details
focusing on western Africa, with bibliographical commentary - Jerome S. Handler and Michael L.
Tuite Jr., the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Digital Media Lab at the
University of Virginia Library) {August, 2005}
Soil erosion. 'The
Reconnaissance Erosion Survey of the State of Oklahoma' (high res. scans of the map created by the
Oklahoma Erosion Survey in 1934 and published by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. 'It carefully delineates the
types and levels of erosion that existed in Oklahoma' - Oklahoma Department of Libraries) {September, 2007}
Surveying. Bureau of Land Management, General
Land Office (see 'Survey plats and field notes'; search for 'images dating back to 1810', though not all states are
covered; see also 'Related websites') {February, 2011; amended March 2017}
Towns see Cities & Towns, and Panoramic Maps, above
U.S. Army. 'Army Map
Service and Army Corps of Engineers' (99 maps, from different parts of the world, mostly 1940s,
enlargeable to high res. - Map and Imagery Digital Collections from the University of Florida
Libraries) {December, 2009}
Wall maps (a number of wall maps, requiring special photography, added to the David
Rumsey site in April 2010) {April, 2010}
+ Washington.
'Maps in our lives' (divided into Surveying, GIS, Cartography, Geodesy, and featuring
material from other collections as well, this includes surveys of George Washington's farm
through time - Library of Congress, in association with the American Congress on Surveying and
Mapping, 2006) {March, 2006}
'Weather and Climate' (US daily weather maps
(1871-2002) in high res. DejaVu format; and meteorological and climatological data from the 19th century onwards, both US and
foreign - National Oceanographic Data Center (NOAA)) {March, 2008}
'WWII Newsmaps' (US Army
Newsmaps, 1942-5, 'published by the Special Service Division, Army Service Forces, War Department of the U.S'; to
browse the 212 zoomable images, enlargeable to high res. via Zoomify, see here - University of North
Texas Libraries) {August, 2008}
I am looking for volunteer 'link-scouts' for individual states or US regions. If you might be interested please contact the editor of this page, Tony Campbell:
+ online exhibitions
United States
- Alabama. Birmingham Library ‘Map Collection’ (986 scans, 16th century onwards, and with general
coverage, enlargeable to high res. with CONTENTdm; the list can be sorted by the column heads -
Birmingham (Alabama) Public Library) {February, 2007; amended December 2009}
United States -
Alabama. 'Fire Insurance Maps' ('3,121 city maps produced by the Alabama Inspection and Rating Bureau (AIRB) of
Montgomery, Alabama, and the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company of New York, New York. The AIRB maps are courtesy of the Alabama
Department of Archives and History. The Sanborn Fire Insurance maps are courtesy of the W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library';
viewable in high res. via ExpressView (Mr.SID); evidently 1880s to 1950s - University of Alabama) {December, 2007}
United States -
Alabama. Historical Map Archive (about 7,000 high res.
images [not all of Alabama or the USA] viewable with JPEG or MrSID Plugin - University of Alabama. It is
recommended that you look at their Help page)
{April, 2001}
United States -
Alaska. 'Meeting of Frontiers: Digital Collections' (select from the various links under 'Maps' for
scans from US and Russian collections, dealing with Alaska and Siberia respectively; in English and Russian
- Library of Congress, American Memory) {October, 2009}
United
States - Alaska. 'Rare Map Collection Gallery' (713, high res. images, mostly
covering Alaska but with a few for other parts of North America and the Polar Regions; with
links to the library's online catalogue; many are also included in 'Alaska's Digital Archives' - Elmer E. Rasmuson
Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks) {June, 2006}
+ United States
- Arizona. 'Remembering an Empire' (select 'Maps' for 6 medium res. images from the online
version of a 2008 exhibition at the University of Arizona Library, about the Empire Ranch)
{January, 2012}
United
States - Arizona (low res. images, mostly 20th century - Sharlot Hall
Museum Archives and Library) {April, 2001}
United States – Arkansas. Railroads. (132 railroad tracks, enlargeable to high res.; ‘created in
1917 and 1918, the maps document the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad (SLIMS) and the Missouri Pacific
Railroad (MoPac) in Arkansas. They trace the railroad from MoArk, Arkansas to Texarkana, Arkansas’; see also the University News, 28 February 2019 - Central
Arkansas Library System, Little Rock) {March, 2019}
United States - California. Automobile Club of Southern
California collection, 1892-1963 (searching for 'Automobile Club of Southern California', and then 'maps' brings up a
browsing list of 99 items, viewable in high res., each with full catalogue record - University of Southern
California Digital Archive) {May, 2002 - amended January 2008 & February 2010}
United States - California.
'Calisphere' ('the University of California's free public gateway to a world of primary source ... [whose]
content has been selected from the libraries and museums of the UC campuses, and from a variety of cultural heritage
organizations across California'; select 'maps' from the browsing alphabet, for 2,294 images, enlargeable to
fairly high res. - California Digital Library) {August, 2008}
United States -
California. Historic Topographic Maps of California (high res.
MrSID images of USGS maps, 1895-present, accessible via quad name, place
name or clickable map - Earth Sciences & Map Library, University of
California - Berkeley. NB You must set your browser to accept cookies)
{December, 2001}
United States - California. ‘The online archive of California’ (selecting ‘Images’, then
searching for ‘map’, produced 136 hits (not all relevant), enlargeable only to medium res. via the
‘large image’ option - University of California) {December, 2004}
United States - California. 'Stanford Geological Survey' ("The Stanford Geological
Survey (SGS) existed for 100 years, from 1895 until 1995. During this time, students and
faculty went into the field to survey and map parts of California, Nevada and Utah...The
project now has over 450 maps and 50 field notebooks online"; high res. images via the
free Luna Insight browser - Leland Stanford Junior University) {June, 2006}
United States - California.
‘Union Map Catalog’ (a searchable catalogue of 'all of the available maps in the Huntington collection
[about 8,000] with thumbnails and short descriptions', enlargeable to very high res.,
covering California and the West, from the Huntington Library, Art Collection & Botanical Gardens,
developed by Bill Warren and Mario Einaudi - California Map Society) {March, 2005; updated October 2006
and September 2013}
United States -
California. Works Progress Administration (WPA) Digital Archive (searching for 'Works Progress
Administration' retrieves 345 medium res. images (each with full catalogue record) from the 1933-39 land
use survey of the City of Los Angeles - Archival Research Center, University of Southern California [originals
from the Huntington Library]) {May, 2002; updated January 2008 & February 2010}
+ United States - California. 'Los
Angeles Mapped' (23 high res. JPEG2000 images with commentary - Library of Congress exhibit at the Ira Gershwin
Gallery, Los Angeles [which funded the website], 2006-07) {June, 2006}
United States -
California. 'San Francisco GIS' (11 maps of the San Francisco Bay
area (1851-1926), over which geospatial data (roads, lakes, parks, state
boundaries, satellite imagery, etc) can be overlaid - David Rumsey)
{February, 2003}
United States - California - Santa Clara County (four maps and the Brainard
Agricultural Atlas (1880s) featuring Santa Clara County - Digital Collections, San José Public
Library) {September, 2009}
United States - Colorado. 'Hayden Survey maps
inventory' (a listing, with sample illustrations, of the contents of the Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado and
portions of adjacent territory, by F.V. Hayden, 1877 - Center of Southwest Studies) {May, 2005}
United States - Colorado. ‘Mining Maps of Colorado’ (enlargeable blueprints, ‘from the late 1800s to
the early 1900s’,accessible via address or place, or the index map - University of Colorado Boulder, Libraries)
{December, 2019}
United States - Connecticut (a
commercial site, with annotated, high res. details of 18th & 19th century maps - David Allen,
Old-Maps.com)
United States - Connecticut. 'Maps and charts'
(about 800 maps of
the state and region, enlargeable to high res. with Zoomify - Connecticut Historical Society, Museum
& Library) {September, 2013}
United States - eastern states. 'Harvard Map Collection digital maps. Sotzmann maps of east coast states' (a
selection of 10 maps, enlargeable to very high res.; 'Daniel Friedrich Sotzmann was commissioned by Christophe Daniel
Ebeling to produce a series of maps to accompany his Erdbeschreibung von Amerika. Ebeling's death in 1817 ended the
project and Ebeling's map collection was purchased and given to Harvard in 1818 thus beginning the Map Collection')
{September, 2007}
United States - eastern states.
‘Historic maps’ ("This online collection of over 2000 USGS topographic maps includes
complete geographical coverage of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and
Maryland from the 1890s to 1950s" - Christopher Marshall and Maptech) {September, 2004}
United
States - Florida (for high res., zoomable images, viewable via Luna Insight, scroll
down to ‘USF Florida Map Collection’ (169 ‘rare’ maps of Florida), and ‘USF Rare Map
Collection’ (23 maps) - University of South Florida, Tampa Library) {July, 2004}
+ United States.
'Florida, the Making of a State: a Cartographic Adventure' (46
entries, including about 20 shown as low res. images, with descriptions,
in the Exhibition
Checklist; see also texts about the discovery of Florida, etc. and the
Bibliography
- exhibition, curated by James A. Findlay, January-March 2002, Bienes
Center for the Literary Arts, Broward County Libraries Division (Ft.
Lauderdale)) {August, 2002}
United States -
Florida. ‘Touchton Map Library’ (1,945 images – not all maps, many of the USA or North America, and
searchable by area, author and date - enlargeable to very high res.; Tampa Bay History Center) {December,
2018}
United States - Georgia (select high res. images from various themed sections
or browse 'over 1000' maps of Georgia and America in general, using the DjVu free plug-in - Hargrett
Library Rare Map Collection, University of Georgia Libraries) {February, 2004}
United States. 'Georgia's Virtual
Vault' (portal to material from 1733 in the state archives; among the 'collections with images'
are several map series offered in high res.: County Maps (228), District Plats of Survey
(399), District Field Survey Notebooks (326), Headright & Bounty Plats (12,728) & Historic
Maps (54)) {January, 2012}
United States - Illinois. 'Mapping History at the University of Illinois Collection' (508 high res.
CONTENTdm images of 'maps charting the last 400 years of historical development in Illinois and the Northwest
Territory, including historic topographic maps of Illinois. The collection also contains early large-scale topographic
quadrangles published by the United States Geological Survey in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries' -
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne) {October,
2008}
United States
- Illinois. 'Historical Maps Online' (768 high res. CONTENTdm images (not all are maps
but some are atlases); select from a browsing list, or via geographical sections (concentrating on
Illinois and the Northwest Territory but also covering other parts of the US, Canada, Mexico, South
America, etc.) - the University of Illinois Library and the University of Illinois Press, with a
selection from the Newberry Library) {March,
2004; amended February 2012}
United States -
Illinois - Chicago. 'Chicago Imagebase' (select 'Table of Contents' for 'Historical Maps of
Chicago', which include USGS and Fire Insurance maps, enlargeable to high res. -
University of Illinois at Chicago) {August, 2005}
United States -
Illinois - 'Chicago in Maps' (a good selection of plans, 1853-1921, zoomable to high
res., with a page of useful links to other Chicago map resources - Dennis McClendon) {October,
2010}
United States - Illinois
- Chicago. ‘Map Collection (select from a number of pages, each with an introduction and
about 400 maps enlargeable to high res. - University of Chicago Library) {March, 2007; amended May 2011}
United
States - Indiana. 'Historic Indiana Atlases' (scans enlargeable to fairly high res. of
various counties 'including Hamilton, Henry, Madison and Putnam', 1875-1901 - Indiana
University-Purdue University Indianapolis) {March, 2012}
United States - Iowa. 'Iowa
Maps Digital Collection' (a collection of images from different local collections,
enlargeable to high res.; also check out the links to atlases - University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa Digital Library)
{March, 2010; amended August 2017}
United
States - Kansas. 'Collection of Digitized Kansas Maps' (over 300
enlargeable, very high res. MrSID images (1556-1900), searchable
via keyword(s) or date range - Wichita State University Libraries,
Department of Special Collections) {May, 2003}
United States -
Kansas. 'Kansas and the Great Plains' (see 'Historical Maps of Kansas', 'Official Atlas of
Kansas ([Phildaelphia: Everts], 1887)' for high res. MrSID images, and 'Links to Kansas
Maps in Other Collections' - Thomas R. Smith Map Collection, University of Kansas)
{December, 2006}
United States - Kansas. Maps
(496 items (some multi-sheet atlases) enlargeable to high res. - Kansas Memory, Kansas Historical
Society) {October, 2013}
United States - Kansas. 'Tri-State Mining Map Collection' ('the
collection at Missouri Southern State University, consists of more than 5,000 maps that
document lead and zinc mining in Southwest Missouri, Southeast Kansas, and Northeast
Oklahoma' from c.1850-1958, enlargeable to very high res. - University of Missouri
Digital Library) {October, 2010}
United States -
Kentucky Historical Society (search 'Digital Collections'; the introduction mentions 'over 2000' maps, however selecting the
Maps option produced 150 items and searching for 'map' found 230, enlargeable to very high res.
- Kentucky Historical Society) {September, 2009}
United
States - Kentucky. 'Digital Library' (very large pdf files of four atlases: the city of Covington
(1877) and county atlases covering the following counties: Boone, Kenton & Cambell; Bracken &
Pendleton; Carroll & Gallatin (1883-4) - Kenton County Public Library) {November, 2006}
United States - Louisiana (search for
'maps', which provides browsing access to different collections, all in high res. ContentDM format; the
collections include: Louisiana Aerial Photographs, Louisiana Coastal Ecology, Louisiana Sea Grant Digital Maps
Collection, Louisiana State Museum Historical Map Collection, Maps from the Historic New Orleans Collection, Maps of Louisiana Collection, Sanborn Fire
Insurance Maps; a general search for 'map' found 2,900 entries (not all relevant) - Louisiana State
University Digital Library) {May, 2002; revised February 2008 & January 2018}
United States - Maine. The Maine
Memory Network (by selecting 'Search for historical items and documents' and then
'Nature & Geography: Maps' you are presented with 129 items relating to Maine, the US's
northern boundary, and North America in general; alternatively, a keyword search for
'map' finds a few other items related to cartography; among the search options is date range, and you can zoom in (via the "i" button)
but only to low or medium res. - a growing site: Maine Historical Society) {December,
2003}
United States -
Maryland ('Kent County and Queen Anne's County from Lake, Griffing
and Stevenson's 1877 Atlas: Maps of Delmarva and the Eastern Shore' (28
high res. details) - Craig O'Donnell and Historical Society of
Kent County) {February, 2003}
United States -
Maryland. 'Historic Maps' (a selection of maps, from the 17th century, covering Calvert
County, enlargeable to very high res. - Calvert County) {December, 2012}
United
States - Maryland. 'Mapping Maryland' (21 medium to high. res. maps from the pre-
colonial era to the mid-19th century, also featuring Maryland's neighbours and Baltimore
- Digital Library of the Maryland Historical Society) {December, 2003}
United States - Maryland. 'Maryland Map Collection' ('more than 2,500 map titles depicting
Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay... Selected maps [i.e. 115] have been digitized' and are
enlargeable to high res. [to find the earliest you have to click repeatedly on 'Older
Maps'] - University of Maryland). [See also here] {December,
2008; amended February 2010}
United States - Massachusetts (see also 104 MS and rare printed maps , enlargeable to high res. -
Massachusetts Historical Society) {December, 2008}
United States -
Massachusetts (enlargeable high res. images of Osgood Carleton’s 4-sheet Map of
Massachusetts Proper (1802) - Massachusetts Historical Society) {October, 2004}
United States - Massachusetts
(a commercial site, with annotated, high res. details of 18th & 19th century maps - David Allen,
Old-Maps.com)
United States - Massachusetts. 'Digital
Commonwealth: Massachusetts Collections Online' ('Explore historical collections from libraries, museums, and
archives across Massachusetts'; select 'Formats' for 'Maps/Atlases' [over 6,000, high res., April
2015], most covering the United States or Massachusetts, mostly from the Boston Public Library) {March, 2015}
United States - Massachusetts. Harvard University. Hollis Catalog (entering "Harvard Map Collection digital maps" into the
'Search For:' box retrieved 264 hits [the collection is growing], mostly covering Boston, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine; it is not
possible to sort the list with the oldest first; select a map and find image information in the 'INTERNET LINK' line in the map description
- the maps are zoomable in sections to very high res.). [For detailed access instructions see the message from David Cobb to the MapHist list, 4 April 2007] {February, 2006}
United States – Massachusetts - Boston. Atlascope
Boston (nearly 100 atlases of Boston and its surroundings onto a specific address, with over 50 historic imagery
layers - Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library){January, 2020}
United States - Massachusetts -
Boston. 'Boston Streets: Mapping Directory' (a site with GIS functionality; also select 'Places' for images
(enlargeable via the Java Advanced Image Viewer) of the complete city atlases of 1874, 1898 and 1928 - Digital
Collections and Archives, Tufts University) {November, 2005}
United States -
Massachusetts. 'Boston GIS' (18 maps of the Boston area (1776-1897),
over which geospatial data (roads, lakes, parks, state boundaries,
satellite imagery, etc) can be overlaid - David Rumsey) {February,
2003}
United States -
Massachusetts - Boston. 'Made in Boston' (26 maps, enlargeable to very high res., arranged in sections under
New England, Boston, Cyprian Southack, and the contests for empire and land - exhibition at the Norman B. Leventhal Map
Center, Boston Public Library, November 2013-March 2014) {November, 2013}
United States – Massachusetts – Martha’s
Vineyard. ‘Historical Maps’ (a good selection of images of north-east America, focusing on Martha’s Vineyard, with
accompanying commentary taken from various sources – Martha’s Vineyard: a meeting of land and sea, 2016) {March, 2019}
United States - Michigan. ‘Keweenaw Time Traveler’
(officially titled “Copper Country Historical Spatial Data Infrastructure”, this enables digital interaction with
‘more than 1,000 historical maps and archival documents’; for further details see Michigan Tech News, 9 June 2017) {June, 2017}
United States - Michigan. 'Mapping Michigan' (divided into: Exploring the Great Lakes, Maps of
Ownership, Transportation - Maps , with a few medium res. illustrations - Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan
University) {March, 2014}
United
States - Michigan. 'Maps Menu by County' (a selection of 'other' maps, 19th and 20th
centuries, and modern county maps - Internet Railroad History Museum of Michigan)
{September, 2005}
United States - Michigan. 'Seeking Michigan'
(selecting from the 'maps' category retrieved 8 plats (from 1844), zoomable to high res. - State of
Michigan's Department of History, Arts and Libraries) {March, 2009}
United States -
Middle Atlantic. 'American Shores: Maps of the Middle Atlantic Region to
1850' (over 750 maps (1660-1850), in medium or high
res.
MrSID format; access is via text-supported sections (select
'Geographical Area) or by searching, or you can browse a thumbnail
listing by selecting 'Map Collection in Image Gate' then 'Browse this
collection' - New York Public Library) {December, 2002}
United States - Minnesota. 'Minnesota Maps Online' (comprising 'over 3,600' Public Land
Survey plats, created by the U.S. Surveyor General's Office, 1848-1907 and later by the General Land Office and
Bureau of Land Management to 2001, searchable by County or Township/Range, and five examples from the MHS's
1,350 county atlases and plat books, enlargeable to high res. ; it seems that you can search for
additional (unillustrated?) material via the MHS catalogue by selecting Maps & Atlases [searching
for 'map' produced 1,853 hits] - Minnesota Historical Society and the Office of the Secretary of State)
{April, 2006}
United States - Minnesota - Clay County (select 'Plat Books' [near the end] for high
res. images of maps, from 1898 - Clay County Historical Society) {May, 2005}
United States - Minnesota -
Pennington County (a good selection of high res. scans, mostly 20th century,
involving General Inspection Bureau, Fire and Plat maps - Pennington County Historical Society)
{February, 2005}
United States - Missouri. ‘Map
Collection’ (with sections on Highway maps, Missouri River, Railroad maps, Louisiana Territory - State Historical
Society of Missouri, Digital Collections) {March, 2019}
United States - Missouri. 'Platbooks' ('118 Missouri County plat books published
by W.W. Hickson, and Co. in 1930', enlargeable to very high res. - Special Collections
Department, Ellis Library, University of Missouri-Columbia.) {September, 2005}
United States - Missouri. 'Tri-State Mining Map Collection' ('the
collection at Missouri Southern State University, consists of more than 5,000 maps that
document lead and zinc mining in Southwest Missouri, Southeast Kansas, and Northeast
Oklahoma' from c.1850-1958, enlargeable to very high res. - University of Missouri
Digital Library) {October, 2010}
United States - Missouri -
Kansas City (a search for ‘map’, in the Local History collection, produced 878
entries, zoomable to high res.) - Kansas City Public Library) {March,
2005; amended February 2011}
United States - Missouri - St Louis. 'Unreal
City: Historic St. Louis Maps' ('Washington University Libraries and the Missouri History Museum hold
approximately 3,300 fire insurance maps produced in St. Louis by Alphonso Whipple between 1870 and
1898'; slow-loading, presumably high res.) {August, 2010}
United States – ‘Nebraska Maps’
(a good ‘sampling’ of Territorial, State, County and Town maps, enlargeable to high res.’; see also a ‘partial
inventory’ via the Collections Database from the Library - History Nebraska) {January, 2021}
United
States - Nebraska (a gateway site with links to single maps, atlases and other
Nebraska sites - Ted & Carole Miller for NEGenWeb Project) {February, 2005}
United States -
Nevada. 'Historical Maps' (a selection of Highway Maps from 1919, high res. but slow-
loading - NevadaDot = Nevada Department of Transportation) {April, 2008}
United
States. 'Nevada in Maps' (comprising, apparently, 781 maps, enlargeable to high res. with CONTENTdm, divided
between the following collections: 'Historic topographic maps', 'Sanborn Maps of Nevada', 'Historic geologic and mining maps
and atlases', 'Nevada History in Maps', 'Highway maps (1917-2005)', and 'Plats of Nevada State Lands (1867 to 1927)' - Mary B.
Ansari Map Library, University of Nevada) {June, 2006; amended September 2017}
United States - Nevada. ‘Southern Nevada
and Las Vegas History in Maps’ (112 maps, viewable in high res. via DjVu, can be browsed -
University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries). [Apparently a slightly different selection here (click on the default 'format' option for Maps]
{March, 2005; amended June 2009}
United States -
New England (very high res., detailed images of over 1,500 USGS
topographic maps giving complete geographical coverage of New England
from the 1890s to 1950s - University of New Hampshire, Dimond Library)
United States - New
England (a commercial site, with annotated, high res. details of 18th & 19th century maps - David
Allen, Old-Maps.com)
United States - New England. 'Historic Map Works' (a site for
genealogists, with over 170,000 address-searchable maps of 19th and early 20th century America and 300 directories of different parts of
the USA, enlargeable to high res., with the option to buy an online version; so far covering New York City and Portland,
Maine, and the eight states between Maryland and Maine: 'The map collection is linked with modern mapping technology that
references existing street names and numbers. By simply typing in an address, users can follow the progression of buildings and
neighborhoods through time - in some cases up to 250 years' - Charles Carpenter) {September, 2006; updated December 2007}
United
States - New Hampshire. 'Maps' (a high res. selection of maps of the USA, with a
concentration on New England and specifically New Hampshire, with its counties and towns; some
are details - Jalanne C. Barnes, Peavey Resource Center) {August, 2005}
United States - New
Jersey (a good selection of high res. maps, including 1872 and 1895 state atlases, and many links - Rutgers University)
United
States - New Jersey (67 high res. maps from the New Jersey Environmental Digital
Library - part of the multi-collection ‘Visual Collections’ site) {April, 2005}
United States - 'New Jersey. Digital Highway'
('a "one stop shop" for New Jersey history and culture, from the collections of NJ libraries, museums,
archives and historical societies'; 'map' can be searched for and there is a specific link for Maps from
Rutgers University Special Collections - Institute of Museum and Library Services){August, 2010}
United States - New Jersey. Sanborn Maps (very high res. images of the many thousands of pre-1923 Sanborn
Fire Insurance maps covering New Jersey, accessible via an Excel list - Princeton University Library)
{October, 2009}
United States - New Jersey -
Weehawken (search for 'maps' to find a selection of maps, from different sources, from 1841, in medium to high
res., with additional access to the 1900 Sanborn plan) {May, 2005}
United States - New York City
(a search for 'map' produced 6,901 items, which can be enlarged with a plug-
in - New York Public Library {October, 2007}
United States - New York City. 'Early Real Estate Insurance Maps of New York'
(search or browse over 2,000 maps of New York City, including Manhattan and Brooklyn "fire
insurance maps" from the 1850s-1860, enlargeable to medium res. - New York Public Library
'Digital Gallery') {January, 2006, amended June 2010}
United States - New York
City. Matt Knutzen's blog (an illustrated (if intermittent) blog about maps of New York,
started in June 2008, from a staff member of the Map Division of the New York Public Library)
{December, 2008}
United States – New York City. ‘NYC Fire Insurance, Topographic and Property Maps’ (‘Over the past decade NYPL has
digitized nearly 9,000 pages from 162 atlases documenting New York City's changing geography and built
environment’; this is a ‘chronological list of those atlases arranged by borough from the NYPL Digital Collections’,
hyperlinked to zoomable images) {August, 2020}
United States - New York City. 'NYPL Map Rectifier'
(the beta version of 'a tool for digitally aligning ("rectifying") historical maps from the NYPL's
collections to match today's precise maps. Visitors can browse already rectified maps or assist the NYPL by
aligning a map'; with link to an explanatory video; the maps appear to be mostly detailed plans of New York
City, warped over OpenStreetMap) {November, 2009}
United States - New York City. 'Unbinding the Atlas: Working with Digital
Maps' (an explanatory page about how over 10,000 maps from atlases covering New
York City have been scanned and can now be 'stretched onto a digital model of the world à la
Google Maps or OpenStreetMap'- Matt Knutzen, Map Division, New York Public Library)
{December, 2012}
United
States - New York State (five geological maps (1905-06) from the
New York State Museum Bulletin) used for technical experimentation
by Columbia University
United States - New York State (26 maps, from different sources and in different
resolutions - Contentdm Collection) {September, 2005}
United States - New York State (a
commercial site, with annotated, high res. details of 18th & 19th century maps - David Allen,
Old-Maps.com)
United States -
New York State. 'American Shores: Maps of the Middle Atlantic Region to
1850' (over 750 maps (1660-1850), in medium or high
res.
MrSID format; access is via text-supported sections (select
'Geographical Area) or by searching, or you can browse a thumbnail
listing by selecting 'Map Collection in Image Gate' then 'Browse this
collection' - New York Public Library) {December, 2002}
United States - New
York State. 'Holland Land Company Map Collection' (1,363 maps, enlargeable to fairly high res.
, from the Archives of the Holland Land Company, 1789-1869, of various parts of the USA but particularly
western New York and Pennsylvania, including 'street maps of the cities of New York and Philadelphia, maps
of both the proposed and final locations of the Erie Canal, and images of Native American reservations' -
SUNY Fredonia) {November, 2009}
United States - New York State - Hudson
River Valley Heritage (a growing body of material from a variety of sources, jointly
searchable via Contentdm; at present a few maps, enlargeable in sections to high res. -
Southeastern NY Library Resources Council) {June, 2006}
United States - New York State. New York Public Library. 'NYPL Digital Gallery' ('Atlases, gazetteers, guidebooks and other books'; this leads to map images (enlargeable to medium res.),
mostly from the Lawrence H. Slaughter and John H. Levine collections, with an emphasis on New York and North America but with wide coverage - 'search all items' produced 2,380 hits) {January, 2006; updated September 2009}
United States - New York State - Cayuga County (scroll down for 'Erie Canal info and maps',
also air and satellite photos of Cayuga and Oswego counties and, under 'Maps', a selection
focusing on Cayuga County and the Western Finger Lakes, 1790-1900, with other maps scattered
further down; high res. details - Bill Hecht) {August, 2005}
United States - New York State - 'Tompkins County GIS' (24
medium res. maps and bird's-eye views of Ithaca and its neighbourhood,
mostly 19th & 20th centuries, and mostly from the DeWitt Historical Society)
{September, 2003}
United States - New York State - 'West Point maps' ('Browse' for five printed maps
and MS sketches (evidently high res.) produced by cadets, viewable with
ExpressView Browser Plugin - United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point)
{October, 2003}
United States - North Carolina ('Map Scholar ... a free, online
platform for geospatial visualization. It enables humanities and social science scholars to create digital
“atlases” featuring high-resolution images of historic maps' - e.g. 'Creating and Contesting Carolina'; 'Mapping
Carolina'; 'Visualizing Early America' (all 2014)) {November, 2015}
United States -
North Carolina (13 high res. images, from George Howard's and
other collections, several covering much of North America)
United
States - North Carolina (links evidently leading to 31 soil maps (of different 20th century
dates) of the counties and general maps, in zoomable, high res. - Joyner Library, East
Carolina University) {December, 2004}
United States - North Carolina
(first select 'Maps', then follow leads to 'North Carolina Maps', for a selection
of fairly high res. scans - Trading Path
Association) {May, 2005; amended December 2006}
United States - North Carolina.
'Historic Digital NC Topographic Maps' ('scanned and georeferenced historical or superseded topographic
maps [viewable at high res. via JPEG2000] covering a large portion of North Carolina ... Map dates
range from the late 1800s to the 1960s. Scales vary from 1:250,000 (15 minute coverage area) to 1:62,500
(7.5 minute coverage area)' - NCSU Libraries) {August, 2008}
United
States - North Carolina. 'Historic Overlay Maps' (a good selection, mostly 20th century,
arranged by county, enlargeable to high res.; these can be layered directly on top of
current road maps or satellite images - University of North Carolina) {July, 2013}
United States - North
Carolina. 'Map Index' (see 'Historic Maps', for maps of North Carolina as a whole and
Alleghany County, and a few for Virginia, from this and other sites - genealogical site for the
Cheek Family) {July, 2005}
United States - 'North
Carolina Maps' (over 3,200 maps, enlargeable to very high res.; "the results of
a three-year collaborative project to identify and scan nearly every original map of the state
published from 1584 to 1923. The collection also contains maps of every North Carolina county and
maps published by the state through the year 2000" - North Carolina State Archives, UNC-Chapel
Hill University Library, and Outer Banks History Center) {August, 2008; amended June 2010}
United States. 'North
Carolina maps' (a small selection of general maps and those focusing on Currituck County,
from this and other sites - Marty Holland) {July, 2005}
United States - North
Carolina Sanborn® Maps' (all of the North Carolina Collection's Sanborn® maps produced from
the 1880s to 1922 (116 towns covered on 3,890 sheets), enlargeable to high res. -
University of North Carolina) {June, 2010}
United States -
Northwest coast. 'Fort Nehalem' (medium res. scans of five contemporary maps, with captions,
illustrating Garry Gitzen's thesis that Francis Drake careened his ship in Nehalem Bay, Oregon in
1579) {January, 2012}
United States
- Ohio - 'Cleveland Memory' (30 maps of Shaker Heights, enlargeable, via ContentDM, to very high res.
- Walter Lesch, Cleveland State University Library) {May, 2009}
United States -
Oklahoma. '1905 Oklahoma Map & Gazetter' (analysis, by means of details, of the Library of Congress's large map
of the state (Geographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Illinois, 1905) - Doug Dawgz Blog, 22 June 2008) {June,
2008}
United States - Oklahoma. 'The
Reconnaissance Erosion Survey of the State of Oklahoma' (high res. scans of the map created by the Oklahoma Erosion
Survey in 1934 and published by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. 'It carefully delineates the types and levels of erosion that
existed in Oklahoma' - Oklahoma Department of Libraries) {September, 2007}
United States - Oklahoma. 'Tri-State Mining Map Collection' ('the
collection at Missouri Southern State University, consists of more than 5,000 maps that
document lead and zinc mining in Southwest Missouri, Southeast Kansas, and Northeast
Oklahoma' from c.1850-1958, enlargeable to very high res. - University of Missouri
Digital Library) {October, 2010}
United States -
Pennsylvania. ’Fire Insurance Records Database’ (about 28,000 searchable records, most with
annotated plans, from the Franklin Fire Insurance Company and the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance
Company - Historical Society of Pennsylvania) {February, 2005}
United States - 'Pennsylvania Geology and Mining' (links to digitised images and text, including the
Geological Hand Atlas of the Sixty-Seven Counties of Pennsylvania (1884) - Pennsylvania State University)
{February, 2011}
United States -
Pennsylvania. 'Holland Land Company Map Collection' (1,363 maps, enlargeable to fairly high res.
, from the Archives of the Holland Land Company, 1789-1869, of various parts of the USA but particularly
western New York and Pennsylvania, including 'street maps of the cities of New York and Philadelphia, maps of
both the proposed and final locations of the Erie Canal, and images of Native American reservations' - SUNY
Fredonia) {November, 2009}
United States. 'Pennsylvania in
early pocket maps' (illustrating examples of folding travel maps, enlargeable to high res.
, produced by Pennsylvania publishers or covering that state, with a useful introductory note
- Harold Cramer) {January, 2011}
United States -
Pennsylvania. ‘Main Line Atlases Collection’ (a large number of 19th and 20th century
railroad atlases, in medium res. [unfortunately, when Acrobat Reader is downloaded for pdf, the
image is blurred], relating to Lower Merion, Montgomery County and Pennsylvania in general -
Lower Merion Historical Society) {May, 2004}
United States - Pennsylvania. Map
albums (19 albums, containing together over 400 map photos, enlargeable to fairly high res. on a
wide range of subjects, including Pennsylvania and Philadelphia - Penn State University, Donald W Hamer Maps
Library, on Flickr) {July, 2014}
United States - Pennsylvania - Bethlehem.
'Beyond Steel' (a social and historical GIS related to former employees of Bethlehem Steel, based on the 1912 and 1935
Sanborn fire insurance maps - Lehigh University Digital Library) {July, 2008}
United States -
Pennsylvania - Bethlehem. 'Maps/Surveys' (10 high res. MrSID images of MS maps
of the Moravian settlements, 1750-1853, from local archives, with translation of the
German text into English - Bethlehem History Project) {January, 2004}
United
States - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia. 'Philadelphia GeoHistory Resources' (title-pages,
indexes and some maps, 19th & 20th centuries, zoomable to high res.; see also the option
to view Google maps
with earlier maps as overlays - Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network). [Material from the
Radnor Historical Society is also available via their website] {June, 2008;
updated September 2009 & April 2013}
United States - Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh. 'Historic Pittsburgh' (select 'Maps' for over 1,300, high res. MrSID scans of 'Hopkins Real Estate maps, the Warrantee Atlas of Allegheny
County, Flood Commission maps, and Geodetic and Topographic Survey maps of Pittsburgh', 1872 onwards - University of Pittsburgh)
{February, 2007}
United States - South Carolina ('Map Scholar ... a
free, online platform for geospatial visualization. It enables humanities and social science scholars to create
digital “atlases” featuring high-resolution images of historic maps' - e.g. 'Creating and Contesting Carolina';
'Mapping Carolina'; 'Visualizing Early America' (all 2014)) {November, 2015}
United States -
Southeast (select 'Southeastern U.S.' or 'Other Southeastern States'
[at the foot of the screen] for a selection of high res. images, viewable with
JPEG or MrSID Plugin - University of Alabama. It is recommended that you
look at their Help page)
{April, 2001}
Southeast. 'Harvard Map
Collection digital maps. Civil War' (14 maps, some MS, 1862-5, of various parts of the SE USA, enlargeable to very high
res.; a selection from a collection given to the Harvard Map Collection by the Massachusetts Order of the Loyal Legion of the
United States (MOLLUS) - Harvard College Library) {September, 2007}
United States - Southwest. Kroh Collection.
Group 1: Santa Fe Trail (‘tracings of the historic route of the Santa Fe Trail from Franklin, Missouri, to
Santa Fe, New Mexico, as plotted on US Geological Survey quadrangle maps by Lee Kroh’ – Kansas Historical Society)
{March, 2021}
United States - Texas.
'Texas Maps' (select 'Historical Maps', 'Historical City Maps', 'Sanborn Maps', for links to
a large selection of maps from different sources, enlargeable to high res. -
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection) {May, 2010}
United States - Texas. 'Digital Library' (28 maps, of Texas, Houston, Galveston, etc.,
enlargeable to high res. - University of Houston Libraries) {March, 2011}
United States - Texas. 'Map
Collection Search' (a database of over 8,000 maps; search in various ways or browse, e.g. by entering 'map' into 'place or
keyword' and ticking the 'image' box found 932 items, apparently available in high res., mostly featuring early sets of the county highway maps of Texas and MS street maps done by the
Texas Fire Insurance Department/Texas State Board of Insurance [more water system maps will be added
in future] - Historic Map Database of the Texas State Archives) {December, 2003}
United States - Texas. 'Sanborn Fire
Insurance Maps - Texas (1877-1922)' (high res. images of over 10,400 plans, from the
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin, supplemented from the Library
of Congress - Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection) {February, 2011}
United States - Texas. 'Texas
Bird's-Eye Views' (59 bird's-eye views, enlargeable to very high res., with
additional pre-selected details, historical commentary, and other links for the town in question - Ron
Tyler, Amon Carter Museum) {July, 2005}
United States - Texas. Texas General Land Office Map Collection (searchable database of over 80,000
records [August 2010], with option to 'Display only maps with image available'; it is not possible to select all
the records with images, but a search for Texas retrieved 1,158 entries; there are about 17,000
images altogether (of all kinds) [in May 2015, there were '45,000 maps, sketches and drawings'.] {July, 2002; updated May 2015}
United States - Texas.
'Texas Soil Surveys' (188 items, representing 'all Texas county and reconnaissance soil surveys
completed prior to 1950', enlargeable to high res. via Zoomify, each comprising a soil map and a
separate book - University of North Texas Libraries) {August, 2008}
United States - Utah.
'Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps' (digital versions of 1,273 plans, all those available, 1884-1922,
enlargeable to very high res. with Content DM - J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)
{August, 2010}
United States - Virginia. 'Land
Ownership in Fairfax County in 1860' ('Property Owners and a Collective Biography' by Beth Mitchell and
Edith Moore Sprouse, with 1860 information added by hand to high res. images of the several hundred
sheets of the 1981 Real Property Identification Map of Fairfax County) {May, 2012}
United States - Virginia. ‘Maps, charts and atlases’
(a selection of medium res. images of maps from the Alan M. Voorhees Collection at the Library of Virginia, mostly relating to Virginia and
its broader context) {March, 2007}
United States - Washington, D.C. (real
estate atlases, 1903-21, enlargeable to very high res. with JPEG2000 - Library of Congress, American
Memory) {August, 2008}
United States -
Washington, D.C. ‘Maps: City & Regional’ (‘individual printed maps of the District of Columbia, the Greater Washington
Metropolitan Area, and the region’; 267 maps, enlargeable to high res., but growing steadily - DC Public Library
Special Collections ) {July, 2016}
United States - Washington,
D.C. 'Washington, D.C. GIS' (35 maps (1791-1917), most from the Library of Congress, over which
geospatial data (roads, lakes, parks, state boundaries, satellite imagery, etc.) can be overlaid - David
Rumsey) {January, 2004}
United
States - West. ‘American Westward Migration' ('Diaries, maps and trails of Mormon pioneers
and their westward migration in the 1850s'; ‘browse the Maps’ for 36 high res. images,
mostly covering the Western states - Marriott Library Digitized Collections, University of
Utah) {December, 2006}
+ United States - West.
'Heading West' (one of a pair of exhibitions [with 'Touring West'] with enlargeable high
res. images - New York Public Library, spring-summer 2001)
{March, 2001; updated December 2006}
United States
- West. Lewis and Clark (GIS Browser) (about 30 high res.
19th century maps geo-referenced with modern USGS maps, satellite
imagery, etc., including interfaces for the GIS novice and expert - David
Rumsey) {November, 2002}
United States - West. 'Maps of the American West' (seven maps (1776-1846) some of N.
America as a whole, with commentary; click on the thumbnail and again on the enlargement for a
very high res. image [evidently more maps will be added] - University of Tulsa, McFarlin
Library, Special Collections) {June, 2006}
United States - West.
‘Union Map Catalog’ (a searchable catalogue of 'all of the available maps in the Huntington collection
[about 8,000] with thumbnails and short descriptions', enlargeable to very high res.,
covering California and the West, from the Huntington Library, Art Collection & Botanical Gardens,
developed by Bill Warren and Mario Einaudi - California Map Society) {March, 2005; updated October 2006
and September 2013}
United States - West. See also under Oregon
United
States - Wisconsin (high res. county maps from the Rand
McNally New Standard Atlas of the World, Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago,
1901)
United States -
Wisconsin. 'Digital Map Collection' ('over 5000 maps, ranging from early maps of Asia to historical maps
of Wisconsin and Milwaukee, and other American cities, states, and national parks', enlargeable to very
high res. - American Geographical Society Library) {August, 2010; updated March 2017}
United States - Wisconsin
Historical Society (using the Search option [Pictures - Maps] found 268 images, including panoramas, some
MSS and some (apparently) zoomable to high res.; alternatively, find an image, click on
it, and then select a subject term such as 'Map Collection') {February, 2006}
United States -
Wyoming. 'Wyoming Mineral Maps' (23 maps produced by the Works Progress Administration (1936-7),
describing oil and gas fields, enlargeable to fairly high res. - Wyoming State Archives)
{February, 2011}
