Maps, Aerial Photographs & Satellite Images
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Historical Maps |
Ancient World Mapping Center
The Center "exists to promote cartography and geographic information
science as essential disciplines within the field of ancient study." The
Maps for Students: New Roman History Maps contains
digitized maps available on topics such as Roman history and ancient Egypt. A compilation of
suppliers and publishers of wall maps is also included on the site.
David Rumsey Map Collection
The David Rumsey Collection focuses on 18th and 19th century North and South American cartographic
materials. The collection includes atlases, globes, school geographies, maritime charts, and a variety of separate
maps including pocket, wall, children's and manuscript maps. The digital images and associated descriptive data are
copyrighted © by Cartography Associates. Read more
about the collection. The collection includes over 8,800 maps with 811 new images added
June 1, 2003.
FirstGov for Citizens --
Maps
Part of the "Reference Center" this section of FirstGov offers links to sites with historical
maps as well as community, environmental, health, space, U.S., weather, and world maps. "Historical maps" include
American Revolution, various collections in the Library of Congress' "American Memory" web site, and U.S. historical
event maps (from NIMA).
Historic Cities
This site contains maps, literature, documents, books and other relevant material concerning
the past, present and future of historic cities and facilitates the location of similar content on the web.
Search by city, country, year, or map maker. Read more
about the project.
Historical Mapping [PDF]
[HTML]
USGS Fact sheet 154-99 (November 1999) contains information on researching and
investigating historical maps.
Images of Early Maps on the Web
From
Map History / History of Cartography. A comprehensive listing comprising about 600 links, updated monthly. Images
are not included on this site.
Library of Congress, American Memory:
The American Memory collection can be searched by keyword, subject, creator, location, and title.
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The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789
Most of the items presented here are documented in Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789: A Guide to the Collections in the Library of Congress compiled by John R. Sellers and Patricia Molen van Ee in 1981. The bibliography contains approximately 2,000 maps and charts. -
Civil War Maps
The Civil War Map collection of the Geography and Map Division consists of reconnaissance, sketch, coastal, and theater-of-war maps which depict troop activities and fortifications during the Civil War. -
Map Collections: 1500-2002
The collection consists of digitized maps in the following areas: Cities and Towns, Conservation and Environment, Discovery and Exploration, Immigration and Settlement, Military Battles and Campaigns, Transportation and Communication, and General Maps. -
Mapping the National Parks
This collection documents the history, cultural aspects and geological formations of areas that eventually became National Parks. It consists of approximately 200 maps dating from the 17th century to the present, reflecting early mapping of the areas that would become four National Parks, as well as the parks themselves. -
Maps of Liberia, 1830-1870
This collection of Liberia maps includes twenty examples from the American Colonization Society, organized in 1817 to resettle free black Americans in West Africa. These maps show early settlements in Liberia, indigenous political subdivisions, and some of the building lots that were assigned to settlers. -
Panoramic Maps, 1847-1929
The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although not generally drawn to scale, they show street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective. -
Railroad Maps, 1828-1900
The Railroad maps represent an important historical record, illustrating the growth of travel and settlement as well as the development of industry and agriculture in the United States. Included in the collection are progress report surveys for individual lines, official government surveys, promotional maps, maps showing land grants and rights-of-way, and route guides published by commercial firms. -
Rochambeau Map Collection
This collection "contains cartographic items used by Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (1725-1807), when he was commander in chief of the French expeditionary army (1780-82) during the American Revolution. The maps were from Rochambeau's personal collection, cover much of eastern North America, and date from 1717 to 1795. The maps show Revolutionary-era military actions, some of which were published in England and France, and early state maps from the 1790s. Many of the items in this extraordinary group of maps show the importance of cartographic materials in the campaigns of the American Revolution as well as Rochambeau's continuing interest in the new United States. The collection consists of 40 manuscript and 26 printed maps, and a manuscript atlas, the originals of which are in the Library of Congress' Geography and Map Division."
Links to Historical Maps on Other Sites
Another resource produced by a librarian, Matthew White, who states in a related site's FAQ:
"... never trust any information without double checking." Includes: Detailed chronological list of
maps and atlases (e.g., paleogeography, general world history, general European history, Asian and African
history across time, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, Biblical era, Roman Empire, Medieval trade, Islam, American
Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, environmental deterioration); online map libraries; online histories of the twentieth
century; useful historical reference sites; and sections grouping maps by natural history, human history organized
by place rather than time, and human history organized by time rather than place.
Also includes a section entitled "Hidden, Revealed or Imagined"
which includes fictional maps, paranormal maps, and prophetic maps, as
well as a 1941 "New World Order" map. (Last updated June 2003.)
Map Collection Search (Texas State Library and Archives Commission)
The Texas State Archives Map Collection contains original, photoreproduced, and compiled maps
covering the period from the early seventeenth through the late twentieth centuries. For general information
about the holdings and descriptive information available, read
About our Map Collection. For specific information to
assist searching, read indexes and
types of maps, subject authority file,
and guide to codes. For
reproductions policy, read notes on map
preservation, access, and copies.
Oddens' Bookmarks (The Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping)
Over 21, 000 map-related links. Includes digitized maps in its wealth of links.
Texas Digital Sanborn Maps (via TexShare 
) (from off-campus, available only
to ASU students, faculty, and staff using the University's
EZProxy Service)
"Sanborn fire insurance maps are the most frequently consulted maps in both public and
academic libraries. Sanborn maps are valuable historical tools for urban specialists, social historians, architects,
geographers, genealogists, local historians, planners, environmentalists and anyone who wants to learn about the
history, growth, and development of American cities, towns, and neighborhoods. They are large-scale plans containing
data that can be used to estimate the potential risk for urban structures. This includes information such as the
outline of each building, the size, shape and construction materials, heights, and function of structures, location
of windows and doors. The maps also give street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building
use, and house and block numbers. Seven or eight different editions represent some areas."
Texas General Land Office Map Collection. Texas History, Texas Maps (Archives & Records)
The archival map collection of the TGLO consists of over 10,000 maps dating from the 1820s.
More than 200 of these maps have been digitized and preserved over the course of an initiative called
"Adopt-A-Map/Adopt-A-Document."
A search option is available.
Texas Historic Sites Atlas (Texas Historical Commission)
The Atlas features more than 200,000 historic site records, including Historical Marker
inscriptions and National Register of Historic Places property photos. Includes interactive digital maps showing
site locations.
United States Digital Map Library (USGenWeb
Archives)
"The United States Digital Map Library is a
USGenWeb Archives project, developed in April of 1999 under the coordination of Fred
Smoot." The site is hosted by RootsWeb. The collection includes the following projects:
- State and County Maps
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United States National Maps
- Includes North America, 1845; U.S. Meridians and Baselines; National Geographic vol. 26, 1914 (map of the Grand Canyon); Western United States, circa 1897; Pacific States and Territories; Map of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming (1892); The New Reference Atlas of the World (1910) (includes state maps and 18 city maps).
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Indian Land Cessions to the United States Treaty Maps
- "While this project will deal with the maps of the Indian land cessions made by the Nations of our First Peoples, the time period covered will be from the formal establishment of the United States government to the year 1894. There were earlier cessions between the First People and the European colonials."
- "This American History Project contains all sixty-seven maps from the 1899 paper, Indian Land Cessions in the United States. It was complied by Charles C. Royce. The paper appeared in the 18th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1896-97, by J.W. Powell, Director - In Two Parts - Part 2. Printed in Washington, by the Government Printing Office, 1899."
University of Georgia. Hargrett Rare Books & Manuscripts Library. Rare Map Collection
"... [A] collection of more than 800 historic maps spanning nearly 500 years, from the
sixteenth century through the early twentieth century. The collection provides a graphic resource upon which
scholars can draw in re-discovering the minds and movements of early American explorers, revolutionary statesmen,
cultural figures and politicians represented by the library's book and manuscript collections. Although not limited
to a single geographic subject, the collection emphasizes the state of Georgia and the surrounding region ..."
Site contents include: New World, Colonial America, Revolutionary America, Revolutionary Georgia, Union &
Expansion, American Civil War, Frontier to New South, Savannah & the Coast, Transportation.
The University of Texas at Austin, Perry-Castañeda Library
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Historical Maps
Includes links to digitized historical maps owned by The University of Texas at Austin, Perry-Castañeda Library, organized by world region; 52 maps from Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1923; and numerous links to other historical map collections. -
Historical Maps of Texas Cities
Links to digitized versions of historical maps of Texas cities, including an 1898 map of San Angelo. -
U.S. Historical City Maps
Links to digitized versions of historical maps of United States cities. -
Historical Map Web Sites
Includes links to historical maps on other web site.
Yale Map Collection. Online Maps
The Map Collection has the largest collection of maps in Connecticut and one of the largest university
collections in the United States. Some of the historical maps have been digitized and made available online.
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Antiquarian Maps
- Includes Cartographic Curiosities (such items as satirical maps of countries depicting caricatured people in the forms of various nations, allegorical maps ("The Paths of Life" and "Maps of Love"), and "Daniel's Dream" (based on the prophecy from the biblical book of Daniel, chapter 7))
- Historical City Maps
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Revised: January, March 2004, Janetta Paschal, Government Documents/Reference Librarian |