UCB Libraries

Links & Web Resources | Online Historical Maps

SEE ALSO: Historical Map Vendors , Subject Guide for History: "Historical Maps on the Web"
United States | U.S. Regions | World | World Regions

For more links see our Historical Maps bookmarks on Delicious

The Map Library's Favorite Sites

• David Rumsey
• Perry-Castañeda Library at the University of Texas at Austin
• Library of Congress Map Collections

United States, General

• General Land Office Plats: A location guide to GLO Plats, arranged by state.
• Coastal Surveys: NOAA's Office of Coast Survey Historical Map and Chart Collection
  The Office of Coast Survey's Historical Map & Chart Collection contains over 20,000 maps and charts from the late 1700s to present day, including nautical charts, hydrographic and topographic surveys, city plans, and Civil War battlefield maps. Images can be viewed and downloaded.
• Topographic Maps:
  • The National Map: Historical Topographic Map Collection
    The USGS is currently scanning all scales and editions of more than 200,000 topographic maps published by the USGS since 1884.
  • United States Historical Topographic Maps (1881-1945):
    Available from Perry-Castañeda Library, University of Texas at Austin
  • Historical topographic maps from Maptech
    Scanned images of historical topographic maps from selected northeastern states.
• American Cities: 17th- 19th Century historic city maps

U.S. Regions

• Colorado:
  Building Colorado Story by Story: the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map collection
  Digitized fire insurance maps of Colorado from the early 1880s through 1922. More of these maps are available in paper in the Map Library.
  Historical Maps of Colorado
  From the University of Alabama.
  1895 Rand McNally map of Colorado
  From the Color Landform Atlas of the United States.
  
• Georgia:
  University of Georgia's Hargrett Rare Books and Manuscripts Library
  The Rare Map Collection spans 1544-1939, emphasizing the state of Georgia and the surrounding region.
  Shermans' March and America: interactive map of Sherman's march in the Civil War
• Hawaii::
  Historical topographical quadrangle maps 1910-1933 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
• Illinois:
  Chicago Area Maps from the University of Chicago Map Collection (includes products of the "Chicago School of Sociology")
  Illinois State Highway maps
  From the Illinois State Library.
• Iowa:
  Iowa Maps Digital Collection
  from the Iowa Digital Library at the University of Iowa.
• Minnesota:
  True North: Mapping Minnesota's History
  from the Minnesota Historical Society.
• Nevada:
  Nevada In Maps
  A collection of online historical and contemporary maps of Nevada from the Mary B. Ansari Map Library, University of Nevada, Reno.
• New England:
  Historic USGS Maps of New England & NY (University of New Hampshire Library)
  This online collection contains high resolution scanned images of over 1500 7.5, 15,and 30 minute U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps of New England and New York from 1880-1960.
  Harvard Map Collection Digital Collections
  Includes a digital exhibition of the Mercator Globes, and information on finding digital images in the catalog. Scanned images include 48 maps of Boston, 60 maps of Massachusetts cities and towns, 11 maps of New Hampshire, and 18 maps of Maine among others. (Or, go straight to Harvard's web catalog, HOLLIS. Find maps with linked digital images using the following Title search: "Harvard Map Collection digital maps".)
• New Mexico:
  Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps
  A beautifully-done online atlas of twenty historic maps of New Mexico, annotated with descriptions by the mapmakers and by other people living, working, and exploring in New Mexico at that time.
• New York:
  Historic Maps of Cazenovia, Fenner, and Nelson, Madison County, New York
  Dan Weiskotten's site includes township, village, hamlet, and crossroads maps of this area from 1801 to 1875, as well as indexes of names, businesses, shops, churches, etc. that appear on the township maps.
  New York Public Library's Digital Gallery includes Maps of the Middle Atlantic Region to 1850
• The iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909 (v. 2)
  Online in Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections (links to all volumes)
• Mapping the African American Past
  A look at African American history through geography in New York City. Includes maps, historical information, and lesson plans.
• North Carolina:
  North Carolina Colony and State Maps from the North Carolina State Archives
  Historic Digital North Carolina Topographic Maps from North Carolina State University Library's GIS Data Services
  North Carolina Maps, "a comprehensive, online collection of historic maps of the Tar Heel State. Featuring maps from three of the state's largest map collections -- the North Carolina State Archives, North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Outer Banks History Center."
• Oregon:
  Oregon Maps
  From the collections of the Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, digitized in celebration of Oregon's sesquecentennial. Includes road maps, physical sciences, and political geography.
• Pennsylvania:
  Historic Pittsburgh Project Maps Collection
  This digital collection, a joint project of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, contains 1,122 plat maps of the greater Pittsburgh area from 1872 through 1939 that were published in bound volumes by the G. M. Hopkins Company.
  Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network
  "A pilot project of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) to develop a web-based repository of geographically organized historical information about Philadelphia, its geography, its buildings, and its people."
• Southwest Region:
  Maps of the Pimería: Early Cartography of the Southwest
  These maps portray a region of New Spain once called Pimería and chronicle four centuries of mapping, from the earliest map of the region in the collection, a 1556 view of North and South America, up to the Gadsden Purchase of 1854 when the United States acquired Pimería Alta--or southern Arizona--from Mexico. From the University of Arizona Library Map Collection.

World, General
• David Rumsey Collection
  Collection ocuses on 18th and 19th century North and South American cartographic materials including atlases, globes, school geographies, maritime charts,and more.
• Gettysburg College Digital Map Collection
  From the John H. W. Stuckenberg Map Collection. Emphasis is on European countries. The majority of the collection consists of three 17th century atlases and over 500 separate maps from the 16th through the 19th century.
• Historic Cities
  From a joint project of the Historic Cities Center of the Department of Geography, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Jewish National and University Library.
• History Map Archive
  From Emerson Kent. Lots of images from the Library of Congress and the University of Texas at Austin, but some from other sources.
• Library of Congress Map Collections
  More than 10,000 of the 4.5 million items in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress's collection have been scanned at high resolution and are viewable at this site. MrSID, software that allows users to zoom in and out of maps stored in .sid format, is available to download for free.
• Map History / History of Cartography - THE Gateway to the Subject
  This site, compiled by Tony Campbell, the Map Librarian of the British Library in London, is part of the Institute of Historical Research in London's server, "History". Includes extensive lists of links to online map sites, organized by region and theme.
• National Maritime Musem Collections Online (charts and maps)
  Sea charts and maps from the medieval period to the present. Maps may be viewed online or purchased; images cannot be saved.
• Oddens's Bookmarks: Historic Maps & Atlases
  THE BEST, most comprehensive collection of links to online maps of all types. Created by Roelof P. Oddens, a geography professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin
  2400 scanned maps from the library's collection, plus links to many other maps on the Web. Covers all parts of the world and includes a large, diverse Texas collection.
• Ryhiner Collection
  Over 16,000 high resolution images of maps from the 16th to the early 19th century, from the Universitätsbibliothek Bern. (Click on "visit group.") (Not downloadable.)
• The University of California at Berkeley Library's Digital Map Collection
  Most of the several hundred maps in this collection are pre-20^th Century.
• The University of Minnesota, James Ford Bell Library's Historical Maps
  This site contains old world maps scanned from the library's collection.


World, Specific Countries & Regions
• Africa:
  16th-20th Century Maps of Africa
  From Northwestern University Library Government and Geographic Information and Data Services
  SULAIR: Africa South of the Sahara-Maps
  An excellent selection of links to current and historical maps of Africa.
• To the Mountains of the Moon: Mapping African Exploration, 1541-1880
  An online exhibit at Princeton.
• Armenia: Armenica.org: History of Armenia
  Includes a nice page of historical maps of Armenia.
• Asia Minor & the Middle East:The Walker Collection: Maps of Asia Minor and the Middle East, 1511-1774. From the University of Melbourne.
• Australia:
  Historical Atlas of Sydney. From the City of Sydney Archives.
• Canada:
  Map Archives from the Atlas of Canada
  Maps from all five past editions of the Atlas of Canada, 1906 to 1995, the Canadian sector of the International Map of the World, 1956 to 1987, and the first Glacier Atlas of Canada, 1969 to 1972.
  Maps from the Atlas of Alberta Railways
  Includes climate, settlement, and early planning maps, as well as infrastructure and railway maps. Mostly Western Canada, with some national railway maps.
• Europe: Tacitus Historical Atlas
  Maps and more to illustrate the history of certain countries in Europe.
• Germany: Berliner Stadtplanarchiv
  Historical maps of Berlin, 1738 to 1989
  Ireland: Ireland's Historical Mapping Archive
  From Ordnance Survey Ireland. REQUIRES PAYMENT. 6-inch series (1837-1842) in color and greyscale. 25-inch series (1888-1913) in greyscale. Also includes the Lewis Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.
• Israel/Palestine: Holy Land Maps
  From the Eran Laor Cartographic Collection
• Japan: Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era
  Digitized historical maps from the University of British Columbia Library's Rare Books and Special Collections
  Japanese Historical Maps
  From the East Asian Library at the University of California, Berkeley. Contains about 2,300 early maps of Japan and the World. (May require disabling pop-up blockers.)
• Middle East: Mid-East Web Maps
  Current and historical maps of the Middle East and individual countries.
• Netherlands:
  Historic Maps of the Netherlands
  17th century maps of the Netherlands and Dutch cities.
  100 Thematic Maps of the Netherlands
  Includes other map collections as well. The 100 Thematic Maps were selected by members of the Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Utrecht. In Dutch. Click on the image or use the links on the left to enter the digital collections.
  City of Leiden (Netherlands)
  

  A digitized atlas, the Toonneel des Aerdrycks, ofte Nieuwe Atlas of 1659 by Blaeu (6 volumes, includes texts). In Dutch. From the Regionaal Archief Leiden.

• Poland: Map Archive of Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny 1919 - 1939
  Maps from the Polish Military Institute of Geography; English language version.
  Topography of Terror: Maps of the Warsaw Ghetto (Harrie Teunissen)
  Expanded from a presentation at the 24th International Conference on the History of Cartography, Moscow, July 2011.
• Rome: Interactive Nolli Map Web site
  1748 Map of Rome, by Giambattista Nolli. From the University of Oregon. The Map Library also has a print reproduction of this map.
  Rome Reborn
  A digital model of ancient Rome (320 A.D.), from the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia. Includes a number of useful links under "Resources" (left side menu bar).
  OmnesViae.org: a digital reconstruction of the Tabula Peutingeriana, the Roman roadmap (300 CE)
  The Complete Tabula Peutingeriana: imagery of the 11 original segments of the Roman roadmap
• Spain: Map Library of Catalonia Digital Collections
  Focus is on Catalonia and Spain; also includes world and other regional maps from the 18th-20th centuries.
  
• Switzerland: Historical maps from the University of Zurich Library (site in German)
  
• Tibet: American Geographical Society Library Tibet Collection digitized/hosted by the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Includes images, maps, plans from late 19th-early 20th centuries.
  
• United Kingdom:
  A Vision of Britain through Time: Historical Mapping
  Detailed maps of Britain from the 19th and 20th centuries.
  Map of Early Modern London
  Based on the Agas map; shows the streets, sites, and significant boundaries of late sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century London. Site includes index to streets, churches, sites, wards, people, and literary references; an "experimental" version of the map; and related texts.
  Maps of Victorian London
  From the Victorian Dictionary
  Old Maps of the UK
  Contains over 85,000 historical images of regions of the UK from 1846-1899. Type in a place name or coordinate and view/zoom/pan the 1:10,560 scale map.
  Ordnance Survey Scottish town plans, 1847-1895
  From the National Library of Scotland. "62 towns were surveyed by Ordnance Survey, at the largest scales in their entire history (1:1,056, and 1:500), collectively forming a comprehensive snapshot of urban Scotland in the late 19th century. From the 1870s, fourteen towns were revised again, allowing useful chronological comparisons to be made."

A History of Orkney Maps, by John K. Chesters
Mapping Medieval Townscapes: a digital atlas of the new towns of Edward I
Historical maps of England & Wales, by Keith Lilley, Chris Lloyd and Steve Trick, 2005 Queen's University Belfast.

The Gough Map of Great Britain
"The Gough Map is the earliest to show the whole of Britain in geographically-recognizable form, and is conventionally dated to c.1360."


 

• West Indies: Caribmap: A Cartographic History of the West Indies