besides the many map links already posted awhile back............
Amsterdam University Library 'Kaartencollectie'
Barry Lawrence Ruderman
Berkeley, University of California
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Birmingham Library (Alabama) Map Collection
Boston Public Library
British Library 'Online Gallery'
Broer Map Library
Cartographic Images
David Rumsey collection
Europeana
GEOWEB
Harvard University
Historic Map Works
Library of Congress
Luna Commons
Map Library of Catalonia
Maps & Images
Marco Capurro
Memory of the Netherlands Project (‘Het Geheugen van Nederland’)
National Library of Australia
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Netherlands, National Archives
New York Public Library
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam [Het Koninklijk instituut voor de Tropen (KIT)]
Roy V. Boswell Collection
Ryhiner Collection
Soviet Maps
Stuckenberg Map Collection
University of Alabama 'Historical Map Archive'
University of Michigan Library
Visual Collections: Images of Art, History and Culture
World Digital Library
Larger map dealer sites
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+ online exhibitions
(the entries in this section should be considered for all parts of the world)
Amsterdam University Library. 'Kaartencollectie' (702 images relating to 428 atlas maps and single and multi-sheet separate maps, enlargeable to very high res., covering The Netherlands and the rest of the world; you can browse (‘Blader door de collectie’) and search (‘Zoek in de collectie'); and select from the menu at the left, offering groups of images with introductory text (in Dutch), including pages devoted to wall-maps (with the 1639 Colom map treated separately), the work of C. Claesz, water-feature mapping, the Atlas Van Schagen, the Goos 'Paskaart van Oost-Indië (c.1658', etc. [click on the brown text to gain access to high res. images; or browse through groups of 10 pre-selected maps). [Update March 2008: a further 3,400 images (about half of them cartographic) were added from various Dutch town books - for details see Jan Werner's message to MapHist]. [Further update (July 2008): see Bijzondere Collecties (click on 'Op titel', then K and M respectively, for the collections of the Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap (KNAG) - click 'Overzicht beelden' for 29 map scans, enlargeable to very high res. - and Fred. Muller & Co. (3 images)]
The Barry Lawrence Ruderman Collection (2,490 high res. images (which can then be panned) of early maps, covering all parts of the world, sold by the dealer in La Jolla, California - mounted on the Stanford University Image Gallery) {September, 2009}
Berkeley. University of California, Berkeley, Earth Sciences & Map Library ('several hundred', high res. maps, most pre-20th century, browsable as 'California' or 'non-California' - samples can be seen at 'Digital Tour')
BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE
A vast and complex site, but difficult to navigate around in the absence of site maps. There would appear to be several thousand very high res. images - accessible either via the BnF catalogue; via 'Gallica', the Bibliothèque Numérique (digitised library); via a series of online exhibitions; via Dossiers Pedagogiques or via the new (February 2007) ’Histoire de la cartographie' gateway. There is no obvious way to access directly the maps other than those in the catalogue. [If you can improve on the description below, please contact the Editor (address above) - there are almost certainly other treasures besides those noted below]. The main elements with cartographic relevance seem to be as follows {NB. Many links were not operating in July 2002 - perhaps this was a temporary problem}:
The BnF catalogue (searching as follows produced 2,393 hits, mostly of maps of France and its regions - click, successively, on Bibliothèque numérique and Recherche; then empty all the boxes except Lots d'images and write carte* in Recherche libre; it is theoretically possible to combine carte with a geographical name, linked by ET (i.e. 'and') [the English version of the site does not offer the equivalent search])
Gallica ('Une bibliothèque patrimoniale et encyclopédique', to comprise 70,000 'noteworthy' digitised texts and over 80,000 images; you can search for known items or browse by using the 'Recherche' option and 'Sujet' to search for 'atlas', 'cartes, 'cartes nautiques' or 'cartographie' [or 'cart*' to combine the last three], or enter into 'mots du titre' variants of 'carte/cartographie' ['cart*' produces 1025 hits] - the black and white images are taken from microfilm of variable quality but they can be considerably enlarged; choose TIFF or PDF format via 'Téléchargement de l'ouvrage' - Bibliothèque nationale de France)
Journaux de voyages ou de campagnes - Classement par cote (a general inventory of MS voyage texts; search for 'carte' - no images)
Bibliothèque nationale de France - see also under Themes (Catalan Atlas; Celestial [various]; Globes; Islamic; Medieval; Portolan charts), Africa (Discovery) and US General (De Bry). Alternatively, go to the Homepage of this site and enter into FreeFind "bibliothèque nationale de france" The entire entry above - for which I acknowledge the work of Jack Kessler and his 'FYI France' e-journal, and Tommy Tyrberg - was added {July, 2002}
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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; most (?) of the maps from the Rucker Agee collection - Birmingham (Alabama) Public Library) {February, 2007; amended December 2009}
Boston. The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library (select from the geographical index over 2,200 maps of Boston and various other parts of the world, enlargeable, via Zoomify, to very high res. ) {September, 2006; revised November 2008}
British Library 'Online Gallery' (containing up to 5,000 images of cartographic relevance, out of an estimated final total of 100,000 - but see the Contents page for related subjects, such as topographical views; a search [August 2009] for 'map' produced 2,430 hits):
Caribbean Views
Crace Collection of London plans (1,200 images)
Deptford Plans and Drawings (127 images)
Kensington Turnpike Trust drawings (30 images)
King George III Topographical Collection (about 3,000 images)
Ordnance Surveyors' Drawings (1780s-1840s) (351 sheets)
The Unveiling of Britain, 800-1600 (815 maps and views)
'Broer Map Library: Historic Map Collection' (3,450 scans of 19th and 20th century maps [as described on the Updates page], 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, Connecticut)
Cartographic Images [Jim Siebold's site, hosted by Henry Davis Consulting. This includes around 1,400 low res. images (both whole maps and details) for a wide range of historically important maps (i.e. they tend to be institutional 'treasures', often in manuscript), divided into historical periods (Ancient, Early and Late Medieval, Renaissance [though up to 1880]) each of which has a chronological index. Some images are accompanied by extensive 'monographs' (i.e. descriptions)]
David Rumsey collection (at June 2009, 21,280 high res., zoomable, 'maps and related images' - mostly 19th century America but with an increasing number of general atlases (on which see the separate listing of 'Antique Atlases', searchable by: Country, State, Publication Author, Keywords, Data field [including Date or date range]). He is distributing, without charge, an advanced Java client software ('Insight'), to help deliver better images and high quality print-outs from them. You will, though, need to set aside 20-30 minutes to download the software (assuming you have a standard 56K modem), if you choose that route rather than simply using your browser. In December 2001, a new GIS Browser was added, allowing 'integration and interaction of historical maps with current geospatial data and other historical maps' [this will be available for various US cities and specified themes, see the GIS index page]. In November 2006, 16 maps from the Rumsey Collection were added to Google Earth . Note from Philip Hoehn: 'To view the maps, download the latest version of Google Earth (PC and Mac versions), then go to Layers/Featured Content/Rumsey Historical Maps. To enable transparency of the historic map layers, click on the Rumsey Historical Maps folder when viewing a map and a slider bar will appear that will adjust transparency for comparison of old and new maps images. Additional maps will be added in the coming months'. In February 2008,120 maps were placed on the social site Second Life, see here for links to articles on this. The Google Maps Rumsey Historical Maps site contains 'over 120 historical maps', accessible via an interactive index. On these see also the explanatory note.
The website was entirely redesigned and updated in November 2009, as described on the new Rumsey Blog.
In February 2009, it was announced that the entire collection of original maps and atlases would be donated, gradually, to Stanford University. This will include the digital copies of an eventual target of 50,000 images. The University's Image Gallery already offers online access to 5,894 images from that collection. They can be enlarged to high res. and then panned.
From May 2007 it is possible 'to browse the entire collection by what, where, who, and when. All terms used in the catalog descriptions are now hot links to results sets. This provides an effective alternative or companion to searching the collection.' You can also use the Directory to browse by subject, area, author and date [click on the link for an individual list, at the top, to alphabetise it]. For another route in see here.
For further information, see Recent additions; his explanatory pages: 'About the technology' and 'Printing from the collection'; 'This is a Real Quest for Maps' by Kendra Mayfield (Wired News, 7 March 2002); or, if you want more depth, his March 2001 paper, 'Historical Map Collection Web Site', at the 'Museums and the Web' conference; 'Historical Maps in GIS' (an 18-page pdf chapter by David Rumsey and Meredith Williams, from Anne Kelly Knowles (ed.) Past Time, Past Place: GIS for History (ESRI, 2002); 'Tales from the vault: historical maps online' (Common-Place, vol. 3, no. 4, July 2003); Historical Maps Online (Coordinates, January 2005), with another version, dated 06/02/05, on the O'Reilly Network; From Lewis and Clark to Landsat: Digital maps marry past and present by Wade Roush for Technology Review, July 2005; and the 2004 book by David Rumsey and Edith M. Punt, Cartographica Extraordinaire: The Historical Map Transformed. See, a brief review by Joseph S. Wood for History Matters and another, by Pat Toscano, for The American Surveyor. Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) records are available - contact: Phil Hoehn, Librarian, David Rumsey Collection. Email: philhoehn(at) juno.com [NB replace (at) with @].
The Rumsey collection can also be accessed as part of the multi-collection Visual Collections site - select ‘Cartography’. In March 2002, David Rumsey (Cartography Associates) signed an agreement with the Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) to provide cartographic images for educational use from Fall 2002. In 2002, The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection won the prestigious Webby Award for the best 'technical achievement' Web site.
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Europeana (11,540 medium res. maps (at January 2009) from a range of institutions [select 'Advanced Search' and enter 'map' into Subject]; run from The Hague and co-funded by the European Union, this is to be formally launched in 2010 with 6 million 'digital objects') {January, 2009}
'GEOWEB' - Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice (the 'On line catalogue' leads to a collection of over 29,000 cartographic and graphic images (perhaps 80% of them cartographic), with brief bibliographical details, (available either in low res. or high res. with a digital watermark); searching can also be done via an interactive map; there is an alphabetical listing of the works involved; see also the Help link (on the English version) for searching tips; NB you do not have to register to search and view images).
Harvard University. Hollis Catalog (entering "Harvard Map Collection digital maps" into the 'Search For:' box retrieved 896 hits [the collection is growing], mostly covering Boston, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine; you can sort the list by date, author or title; 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; for updates to the scanning programme see MAGERT Scanning Registry.] See also 'Harvard Map Collection. Digital Maps' ("descriptions and links to over 1,000 digitized maps and atlases from the Harvard Map Collection. Many are georeferenced for use in a GIS. Highlights include maps of Boston, Cambridge and other Massachusetts towns, New England, London, China, pictorial maps by Ernest Dudley Chase, fire insurance and real property atlases, and maps of the Revolutionary War") {February, 2006; updated August 2008}
See also 'Expeditions & Discoveries. Sponsored exploration and scientific discovery in the modern age' (185 historic maps, dating from 1626 to the 20th century, hundreds of maps illustrating texts, and twenty atlases (numbering 1,547 pages) including the 1708 Cellarius and other star atlases, the 1792 Brion de la Tour world atlas, and the 1892 Berghaus Physikalischer Atlas, enlargeable to very high res. - Harvard University Library Open Collections Program) {June, 2009}
'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.. In addition, they offer access to the Osher Map Library collection ('3,941 antiquarian international maps in 1,421 atlases'). See, for future enlargement, the Statistics page. (Also on Ancestry.com as 'Historic Land Ownership and Reference Atlases, 1507-2000'.) [Updated September 2008].
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: 'MAP COLLECTIONS: 1500-[current year]'
The LC 'American Memory' project - a collection of 12,000 high res. zoomable MrSID images [as at December 2007, but other pages (listed below) are apparently not included in that total]. "The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection". You can search by keyword, or browse the various indexes (which seem to include all the formal American Memory pages, but apparently not those from other collections listed below, under 'Special Presentations and other map-related pages'): Geographic Location, Creator, Subject or Title (for Help with Searching the main 'Map Collections' site, see Searching Map Collections). NB. It is worth trying more than one search approach. 'Puerto Rico' produced the following hits: Geographic Location (28), the American Memory Collections: Original Format: Maps search (40), and Subject Index (37). [There are 17 images on Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Selected Cartographic Items].
The main and subsidiary subject sections are listed below, and repeated (in more detail) on the appropriate page in the Web Images section. 'Special Presentations and other map-related pages' (listed further below) includes some groupings that are not formally part of 'American Memory' (on which see Searching "Map Collections"). For other potentially relevant parts of the LC site, see Global Gateway: World Culture & Resources (for links to Collaborative (and Individual) Digital Libraries, Featured Presentations and International Exhibitions), and Portals to the World: Links to Electronic Resources from Around the World (accessible via country name). All images carry at least a brief description, and most are accompanied by historial and explanatory texts.
See the introductory texts: 'Zoom into Maps' ('Maps help us make sense of our world'; 'Analyzing a Map'; 'What can be learned from historic maps?') accompanying the Library of Congress's 'American Memory' site, illustrated with high res. MrSID images. [Also here]. In July 2009, LC released its new Teacher Resources module for the American Memory Project. This provides lesson plans and guidance on interpreting original sources.
LC is adding material all the time, on various of its sites. To try to keep track of recent additions consult the Guides to the Collections: Cartobibliographies and Finding Aids; the full Exhibits listing; and The Learning Page: Exploration and Explorers. Be aware that some pages exist at more than one URL, and that URLs change.
The LC Photoduplication service provides printed copies and TIFF files of the images, see: How to Order Reproductions.
"Collection Connections". Several of the entries immediately following have a link to a specially devised group of Collection Connections pages, arranged under the headings: U.S. History, Critical Thinking, and Arts & Humanities. These "provide activity ideas for using the online collections to develop critical thinking skills. Part of The Learning Page, Collection Connections feature teacher created lesson plans based on online primary resources at the Library of Congress".
"The Digital Reference Team (DRT) conducts a free, one-hour orientation monthly, on the second Wednesday at 11 a.m.-noon, Eastern time, via Web conference. Throughout the program, DRT staff provide opportunities to ask questions, learn strategies for online access of the materials, and sample the collections and resources provided to facilitate your research. To learn more and register for the Orientation, click here. Confirmation will be sent via email. Each session is limited to fifteen people, on a first-come, first-served basis" [January 2008].
Map Collections 1500-[present]
Cities and towns - includes:
Panoramic Maps 1847-1929 (a brief review by Paula Petrik for History Matters) [see Collection Connections]
Additional Cities and Towns Cartographic Items
Conservation and environment - includes:
Mapping the National Parks Collection [see Collection Connections]
Additional Conservation and Environment Cartographic Items
Cultural Landscapes - includes:
Liberia. American Colonization Society Collection. Maps of Liberia 1830-1870 [see Collection Connections]
Additional Cultural Landscapes Cartographic Items
Discovery and Exploration - includes:
Discovery and Exploration Cartographic Items [see The Learning Page, and Zoom into Maps: Exploration and Discovery (with nine MrSID maps)]
General Maps - includes:
Contemporary Maps, 1960 - Present
Places in the News
Additional General Cartographic Items
Military Battles and Campaigns - includes:
The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789 (maps to be added monthly)
Civil War Maps (2,840 maps and 76 atlases and sketchbooks - including those from the Virginia Historical Society and the Library of Virginia) [see Collection Connections]
Rochambeau Collection (high res. images of 66 MS and printed maps, and a MS atlas)
Additional Military Battles and Campaigns Cartographic Items
see also The Hotchkiss Map Collection: Confederate Army Maps
Transportation and Communication - includes:
Railroad Maps 1828-1900 [see Collection Connections]
Additional Transportation and Communication Cartographic Items
'General index (by both subject and first word of title) including Special Presentations' and other map-related pages
[Some of these elements do not form part of 'American Memory, and are apparently not included in the general searches listed at the head of this LC entry]:
'1492: An Ongoing Voyage' (online exhibition)
'The 1562 Map of America by Diego Gutiérrez'
Afghanistan. 'A Selection of Historical Maps of Afghanistan' (six MrSID images - Cynthia Cook, 2004)
'The African-American Mosaic: African-American Culture and History' (online exhibition)
'African American Odyssey' (about 10 maps relating to West Africa and the US - select 'Object List', then search [ctrl+F] for: map)
Agnese (MrSID images of the portolan atlas of nine charts and a world map by Battista Agnese, 1544)
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)
America. 'The 1562 Map of America by Diego Gutiérrez'
America. 'The Culture and History of the Americas: The Jay Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress' (leading to the exhibits page, with nine medium res. maps [May 2005])
'American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920' (select 'maps' for 219 enlargeable high res. images)
The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789
'American Treasures' (an indefinite, but changing, selection of enlargeable high res. images, including some maps; see also here)
'American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women’s History and Culture in the United States' leading to a note on the Geography and Map Division
'The Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands/De Atlantische Wereld: Amerika en Nederland' (a search on 'map' produced descriptions (in English or Dutch) of 19 maps, accompanied by high res. MrSID images - the Library of Congress and the National Library of the Netherlands)
Brazil/America. 'United States and Brazil: Expanding Frontiers, Comparing Cultures' (in English and Portuguese, with 59 high res. MrSID maps)
Britain/America. 'John Bull and Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British-American Relations' (for selected maps, in medium res., see the Object Checklist, e.g. under 'Exploration and Settlement' - Library of Congress and British Library)
Cassini. 'Carte de France / levée par ordre du roy' (all 182 sheets, enlargeable to high res.)
'Celebrating the Portuguese Communities in America: a Cartographic Perspective'
China. 'Herold J. Wiens Collection' (264 items, some cartographic, showing all or part of China during the period of World War II; see also finding aid)
Civil War Maps (and see above under 'Military Battles and Campaigns')
'Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society' (searching by keyword and entering 'map' leads to 10 enlargeable, high res. images)
Collaborative Digital Libraries ("bilingual, multimedia digital libraries, built with partners round the world", part of the LC's 'Global Gateway' - the individual elements are included separately in this list)
'Color image map : [ports of entry, United States-Mexican border] / produced by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Department of the Treasury, U.S. Customs Service' (high res. images of 6 sheets of the 300+ series, 1979-, with the remainder to follow)
'Contemporary Maps (1960--Present)'
'The Culture and History of the Americas: The Jay Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress' (leading to the exhibits page, with nine medium res. maps [May 2005])
Discovery and exploration - see above under that heading
Drake. ‘The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake’ (including some maps and views, and linked to Sir Francis Drake: A Pictorial Biography by Hans P. Kraus, in turn linking to the Catalogue of the Kraus Collection (with a section ‘Maps and Views’)
'Early Virginia Maps' (four high res. MrSID maps, illustrating Early Virginia Religious Petitions)
Exhibitions. See the full listing of online exhibits, and also Guides to the Collections: Cartobibliographies and Finding Aids for details of others, which include a few maps, not listed here
'Fire Insurance Maps' (an online checklist of maps produced by the Sanborn Map Company)
'The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820' (18 maps, mostly of Kentucky)
Florida. 'Reclaiming the Everglades: South Florida's Natural History, 1884-1934' (search maps for 47 maps and related documents)
France/America. 'France in America' (in English and French, with 155 high res. images, including those from the Revolutionary War Rochambeau Collection)
France. Cassini. 'Carte de France / levée par ordre du roy' (all 182 sheets, enlargeable to high res.)
‘From the Home Front and the Front Lines’ (a small selection of WWII military and aviation maps, including one from Vietnam)
'General Atlases' [Abraham Ortelius Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Battista Agnese (1544), Geographical Fun]
'Geographical Fun Atlas (1868)' (by 'Aleph')
'Geography and Maps: an Illustrated Guide' (or go straight to the Concordance of Images)
'George Washington: Surveyor and Mapmaker'
Gutiérrez. 'The 1562 Map of America by Diego Gutiérrez'
'Herold J. Wiens Collection' (264 items, some cartographic, showing all or part of China during the period of World War II; see also finding aid)
'The Hispanic and Portuguese World. Encounters in America' (seven low res. maps in this 'illustrated guide')
The Hotchkiss Map Collection: Confederate Army Maps (high res. images of the 341 sketchbooks, manuscripts, and annotated printed maps)
'Indian Land Cessions in the U.S. (1784-1894)' (67 MrSID state maps, 1897)
'In the Beginning Was the Word: The Russian Church and Native Alaskan Cultures' (online exhibition)
'Islamic Manuscripts from Mali: Timbuktu in Space and Time - Maps' (11 maps, enlargeable to high res. via JPEG2000, 1590-1970)
Jefferson. 'Thomas Jefferson' (see the Object list for seven low res. maps, 2000)
'John Bull & Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British-American Relations' (online exhibition)
Kentucky. 'The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820' (18 maps, mostly of Kentucky)
‘The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake’ (including some maps and views, and linked to Sir Francis Drake: A Pictorial Biography by Hans P. Kraus, in turn linking to the Catalogue of the Kraus Collection (with a section ‘Maps and Views’)
'Language of the Land: Journeys into Literary America' (LC exhibition, 2000, by Martha Hopkins and Michael Buscher)
Lewis & Clark. 'Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America' (several illustrated texts and an Object Checklist, with links to medium res. images of the items; see also 'Fill Up the Canvas...Rivers of Words: Exploring with Lewis and Clark' (a Learning Page Activity); Community Center; and the press release - Library of Congress exhibition, 2003)
Liberia - see above under 'Cultural Landscapes'
Literary Maps. 'Language of the Land: Journeys into Literary America' (LC exhibition, 2000, by Martha Hopkins and Michael Buscher)
'Los Angeles Mapped' (23 maps, enlargeable to high res. via JPEG2000, with commentary - LC exhibit at the Ira Gershwin Gallery, Los Angeles, 2006-07)
'Louisiana: European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase' (70 maps enlargeable to high res., with an accompanying 118-page PDF essay by Michael Klein)
'The Luso-Hispanic World in Maps: A Selective Guide to Manuscript Maps to 1900 in the Collections of the Library of Congress' by John R. Hébert and Anthony P. Mullan (descriptions of 1,011 maps, selectively illustrated with high res. MrSID images)
'Macau: a Selection of Cartographic Images' (16 enlargeable high res. images, 1655-1991)
Mali. 'Islamic Manuscripts from Mali: Timbuktu in Space and Time - Maps' (11 maps, enlargeable to high res. via JPEG2000, 1590-1970)
'Maps in our lives' (mostly modern material but including surveys of George Washington's farm through time, 2006)
'Meeting of Frontiers (Russia and the United States) (Global Gateway)'
Morse. 'Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress, 1793-1919' (including four MrSID maps)
'National Atlases: Presenting the Nation's Cultural Geography (1870, 1880, 1890, 1970)'
National Parks. Mapping the National Parks Collection (and see above under 'Conservation and Environment')
Netherlands/America.'The Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands/De Atlantische Wereld: Amerika en Nederland' (a search on 'map' produced descriptions (in English or Dutch) of 19 maps, accompanied by high res. MrSID images - the Library of Congress and the National Library of the Netherlands)
'Oregon Department of Transportation City Maps' (finding aid)
Ortelius: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (53 maps, 1570) (MrSID images)
'Panoramic Maps 1847-1929' (and see above under 'Cities and Towns')
Portugal. 'Celebrating the Portuguese Communities in America: a Cartographic Perspective'
Portugal. 'The Portuguese in the United States' (consult the Subject Index for 19 low res. maps)
Portugal. 'The Portuguese Role in Exploring and Mapping the New World' (consult the Subject Index for 19 low res. maps)
'Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Selected Cartographic Items' (17 MrSID maps)
Railroad Maps 1828-1900 (and see above under 'Transportation and Communication')
'Reclaiming the Everglades: South Florida's Natural History, 1884-1934' (search maps for 47 maps and related documents)
'Religion and the Founding of the American Republic' (online exhibition)
'Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America' (several illustrated texts and an Object Checklist, with links to medium res. images of the items; see also 'Fill Up the Canvas...Rivers of Words: Exploring with Lewis and Clark' (a Learning Page Activity); Community Center; and the press release - Library of Congress exhibition, 2003)
Rochambeau Collection (high res. images of 66 MS and printed maps, and a MS atlas)
'Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress, 1793-1919' (including four MrSID maps)
Selections from the Geography and Map Division (118 MrSID images)
'Selections from the LC Luso-Hispanic Map collection. Selecciones Luso-Hispánicas de la Colección de Mapas' (MrSID images)
Siberia. '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)
'Spain, the United States & the American Frontier - Historias Paralelas' (in English and Spanish), see also the Sitemap / Mapa del Sitio [a collaboration between LC and collections in Spain - not formally part of the 'American Memory' project but overlapping with it]
Spanish-American War. 'The World of 1898: the Spanish-American War' (clicking on 'Maps' leads to selections for Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico, which in turn lead to map descriptions and images from the Library of Congress 'American Memory Collection')
'Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation' (online exhibition)
'Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia' (see 'Historical Maps of the Study Area' for images of five MrSID maps, 1774-1913)
'Thomas Jefferson' (see the Object list for seven low res. maps, 2000)
Treasures. 'American Treasures of the Library of Congress. Reason Gallery B: Mapping & Recording' (includes 13 medium res. maps)
Treasures. 'World Treasures of the Library of Congress' (about 24 medium res. images of cartographic items)
U.S.-Mexican border. 'Color image map : [ports of entry, United States-Mexican border] / produced by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Department of the Treasury, U.S. Customs Service' (high res. images of 6 sheets of the 300+ series, 1979-, with the remainder to follow)
Virginia. 'Early Virginia Maps' (four high res. MrSID maps, illustrating Early Virginia Religious Petitions)
Virginia. 'Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia' (see 'Historical Maps of the Study Area' for images of five MrSID maps, 1774-1913)
Waldseemüller: Map of the World (1507)
Washington, D.C. (high res. JPEG2000 scans of real estate plans, 1903-21)
Washington. 'George Washington: Surveyor and Mapmaker'
Women. 'American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women’s History and Culture in the United States' leading to a note on the Geography and Map Division
'The World of 1898: the Spanish-American War' (clicking on 'Maps' leads to selections for Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico, which in turn lead to map descriptions and images from the Library of Congress 'American Memory Collection')
'The World Treasures of the Library of Congress: Beginnings'
WWII. ‘From the Home Front and the Front Lines’ (a small selection of WWII military and aviation maps, including one from Vietnam)
'World War II Military Situation Maps 1944-1945' (416 high res. MrSID maps, and 115 reports, giving daily details on the military campaigns in Western Europe from D-Day to July 1945)
Library of Congress - see also under Medium and small general sites. {January 2002 - this entire section revised, with several additions; May 2005 - further major additions}
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Lunar Commons. 'Atlas map' (13,878 high res. images, organised by category, area, author and date - from the David Rumsey and other collections - LunaCommons.org) {August, 2009}
'Map Library of Catalonia: Digital Collections' (a growing collection of about 5,000 maps, enlargeable to high res., of various parts of the world, including the whole collection of the Revista Catalana de Geografia (1978-96); besides material relating to Catalonia, it includes, e.g., Spain (855), Africa (107), America (221), Asia & Pacific (176) - Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya). [Also here] {October, 2007}
'Maps & Images' (a growing collection [613 images in September 2009] of maps, produced in Italy but covering the world. It includes the first Italian regional atlas (a MS by Nicola Antonio Stigliola (c.1595), the complete output of Benedetto Marzolla, and North America charts published by the Direccion de Hidrografia in Madrid. Select 'key sheets' for map series. For a fuller description see Vladimiro Valerio's announcement to MapHist on 7 September 2009. {September, 2009}
Marco Capurro (a large selection [1200?] of low res., slow-loading, images of different areas and periods (at least, ancient-20th centuries), many from the collection of Marco Capurro but others taken from other sites. Unfortunately the maps are neither indexed nor, on the whole, arranged in a logical order. If searching [Ctrl+F] for a title, remember to enter the Italian form of the place-name. See also under Italy. The site can also be found at a second address) {September, 2001}
Memory of the Netherlands Project (‘Het Geheugen van Nederland’) (use the Advanced Search to select simultaneously [using geographical terms in Dutch] from the Atlas Van Loon, the expanded van Keulen Nieuwe Lichtende Zee-Fakkel, as well as the Atlas Van der Hagen and [partial] Atlas Beudeker, sections on Surinam, the Atlantic World, and Zuiderzee, or browse the Collections page - retrieving images, enlargeable to high res.; there is no general contents list but you can select ‘Browse’ for alphabetical lists of makers (‘name’) and area covered (’location’) - Koninklijke Bibliotheek) {December, 2004; reviewed February 2008 but too complicated, confusing and constantly changing to make it worthwhile checking and amending the description above}
National Library of Australia. 'Explore Australian collections and worldwide online sources: Maps' ('SBDS Prototye'; a search for 'map',and 'available online only' produced about 50,000 hits (restricting to 'Australian content only' brought up about 15,000), a number with thumbnails enlargeable to very high res.; others were links to websites; see also the entry for Canberra in Web Images - Australia - National Library of Australia) {May, 2009}
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. ‘Collections Online’ (select ‘Charts and maps’ for nearly 2000 very high res. zoomable images of maps and charts of all parts of the world (15th-20th century), including a good selection of portolan atlases, which can be selected by Region, Title, Maker or Century, or individually searched, via 'Advanced Search'; and the entire Henry Newton Stevens collection of Des Barres's Atlantic Neptune charts) {April, 2005}
Netherlands, National Archives. 'Beeldbank' (5,895 scanned maps in very high res. ; alternatively, select a particular collection from the list of Themes [e.g. Kaarten van de VOC; Kaarten Johannes Vingboons, ca.1665; Kaarten van Zuid-Holland; Topografische kaarten (4.TOPO); Kaarten van de Atlantic World]; see also a selection of 22 Topstukken [highlights]) {August, 2009}
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 relating to 'Charting America'; alternatively, searching generally for 'map' found a worldwide coverage of 9,744 items). [Also here] {December 2006; amended September 2009}
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, the University of Texas at Austin ('Historical Maps' - a large site, arranged by continent, with about 3,500 high res. original maps (pre-1950) as well as historical maps)
Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam [Het Koninklijk instituut voor de Tropen (KIT)] (11, 500 'Historical Colonial Maps', zoomable to very high res. (after selecting a detail), covering the former Dutch colonies (broadly, the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch Antilles and Surinam), 1850-1950, accessible via the special map search form, where you can specify a particular region) {January, 2006; amended March 2007}
'The Roy V. Boswell Collection for the History of Cartography' (each of apparently 1,500 maps seems to have two or more image alternatives; these allow you to access details enlarged to high res. (though surprisingly there seems to be no way of predicting what you will get); the collection apparently has global coverage though there is no explanation about this (however, 565 were retrieved under 'North America') - Pollak Library, California State University, Fullerton) {February, 2009}
Ryhiner Collection / Sammlung Ryhiner (16,428 high res. maps of various parts of the world - Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek, Bern - see also under Continental Europe: Switzerland; there is an accompanying 4-volume catalogue, ISBN 3-9521539-0-7) {October, 2003; updated July 2008}
Soviet maps. 'Let's go!' ('more than 18,000 military topographic maps', at scales ranging from 1:50,000 to 1:1 million - related to the commercial site Mapstor, which invites you to 'buy or free download 30,719 georeferenced digital maps covering the world and popular travel regions', issued by the military departments of Russia and the East European countries in the second half of the 20th century) {July, 2008}
Stuckenberg Map Collection (over 500 maps of various parts of the world, enlargeable (via CONTENTdm) to very high res., collected by John H. W. Stuckenberg (1835-1903) - Gettysburg College Digital Collections) {August, 2008}
University of Alabama 'Historic Map Archive' (over 28,000 high res. images, for all parts of the world, from a number of institutional and private collectons)
University of Michigan Library. 'Miscellaneous' (selecting 'Browse all images' gets 1,858 hits - very high res. images, viewable in seven sizes (up to 'triple extra large'); captions not always present yet - Digital Library Production Service, Image Services) {July, 2002} {amended January 2003}
’Visual Collections: Images of Art, History and Culture’ (over 15,000 high res., zoomable maps, viewable via the Insight® Browser, are available for cross-collection searching - select ‘Cartography’ for material from the following collections: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, Charting the Nation (University of Edinburgh), Maps of Africa and the Stanford Geological Survey (Stanford University), Japanese Historical Maps (East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley), the Florida and Rare map collections from the University of South Florida) and New Jersey Public Maps)
World Digital Library (selecting the browse option for 'type of item', then 'Maps', produced [at its launch in April 2009] 306 (widely assorted) items, which have been classified by Place, Time, Topic and Institution, enlargeable to many times their original size, in very high res. (though not in all cases); you can pan the image by grabbing it with the mouse cursor and moving it in the required direction; there is also a short-title list of the items, in no obvious order) {April, 2009}
see also Larger map dealer sites [some of which carry hundreds, or even thousands of map images for all parts of the world, arranged geographically, even if most are low res.]; and check out Web Projects
Amsterdam University Library 'Kaartencollectie'
Barry Lawrence Ruderman
Berkeley, University of California
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Birmingham Library (Alabama) Map Collection
Boston Public Library
British Library 'Online Gallery'
Broer Map Library
Cartographic Images
David Rumsey collection
Europeana
GEOWEB
Harvard University
Historic Map Works
Library of Congress
Luna Commons
Map Library of Catalonia
Maps & Images
Marco Capurro
Memory of the Netherlands Project (‘Het Geheugen van Nederland’)
National Library of Australia
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Netherlands, National Archives
New York Public Library
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam [Het Koninklijk instituut voor de Tropen (KIT)]
Roy V. Boswell Collection
Ryhiner Collection
Soviet Maps
Stuckenberg Map Collection
University of Alabama 'Historical Map Archive'
University of Michigan Library
Visual Collections: Images of Art, History and Culture
World Digital Library
Larger map dealer sites
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+ online exhibitions
(the entries in this section should be considered for all parts of the world)
Amsterdam University Library. 'Kaartencollectie' (702 images relating to 428 atlas maps and single and multi-sheet separate maps, enlargeable to very high res., covering The Netherlands and the rest of the world; you can browse (‘Blader door de collectie’) and search (‘Zoek in de collectie'); and select from the menu at the left, offering groups of images with introductory text (in Dutch), including pages devoted to wall-maps (with the 1639 Colom map treated separately), the work of C. Claesz, water-feature mapping, the Atlas Van Schagen, the Goos 'Paskaart van Oost-Indië (c.1658', etc. [click on the brown text to gain access to high res. images; or browse through groups of 10 pre-selected maps). [Update March 2008: a further 3,400 images (about half of them cartographic) were added from various Dutch town books - for details see Jan Werner's message to MapHist]. [Further update (July 2008): see Bijzondere Collecties (click on 'Op titel', then K and M respectively, for the collections of the Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap (KNAG) - click 'Overzicht beelden' for 29 map scans, enlargeable to very high res. - and Fred. Muller & Co. (3 images)]
The Barry Lawrence Ruderman Collection (2,490 high res. images (which can then be panned) of early maps, covering all parts of the world, sold by the dealer in La Jolla, California - mounted on the Stanford University Image Gallery) {September, 2009}
Berkeley. University of California, Berkeley, Earth Sciences & Map Library ('several hundred', high res. maps, most pre-20th century, browsable as 'California' or 'non-California' - samples can be seen at 'Digital Tour')
BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE
A vast and complex site, but difficult to navigate around in the absence of site maps. There would appear to be several thousand very high res. images - accessible either via the BnF catalogue; via 'Gallica', the Bibliothèque Numérique (digitised library); via a series of online exhibitions; via Dossiers Pedagogiques or via the new (February 2007) ’Histoire de la cartographie' gateway. There is no obvious way to access directly the maps other than those in the catalogue. [If you can improve on the description below, please contact the Editor (address above) - there are almost certainly other treasures besides those noted below]. The main elements with cartographic relevance seem to be as follows {NB. Many links were not operating in July 2002 - perhaps this was a temporary problem}:
The BnF catalogue (searching as follows produced 2,393 hits, mostly of maps of France and its regions - click, successively, on Bibliothèque numérique and Recherche; then empty all the boxes except Lots d'images and write carte* in Recherche libre; it is theoretically possible to combine carte with a geographical name, linked by ET (i.e. 'and') [the English version of the site does not offer the equivalent search])
Gallica ('Une bibliothèque patrimoniale et encyclopédique', to comprise 70,000 'noteworthy' digitised texts and over 80,000 images; you can search for known items or browse by using the 'Recherche' option and 'Sujet' to search for 'atlas', 'cartes, 'cartes nautiques' or 'cartographie' [or 'cart*' to combine the last three], or enter into 'mots du titre' variants of 'carte/cartographie' ['cart*' produces 1025 hits] - the black and white images are taken from microfilm of variable quality but they can be considerably enlarged; choose TIFF or PDF format via 'Téléchargement de l'ouvrage' - Bibliothèque nationale de France)
Journaux de voyages ou de campagnes - Classement par cote (a general inventory of MS voyage texts; search for 'carte' - no images)
Bibliothèque nationale de France - see also under Themes (Catalan Atlas; Celestial [various]; Globes; Islamic; Medieval; Portolan charts), Africa (Discovery) and US General (De Bry). Alternatively, go to the Homepage of this site and enter into FreeFind "bibliothèque nationale de france" The entire entry above - for which I acknowledge the work of Jack Kessler and his 'FYI France' e-journal, and Tommy Tyrberg - was added {July, 2002}
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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; most (?) of the maps from the Rucker Agee collection - Birmingham (Alabama) Public Library) {February, 2007; amended December 2009}
Boston. The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library (select from the geographical index over 2,200 maps of Boston and various other parts of the world, enlargeable, via Zoomify, to very high res. ) {September, 2006; revised November 2008}
British Library 'Online Gallery' (containing up to 5,000 images of cartographic relevance, out of an estimated final total of 100,000 - but see the Contents page for related subjects, such as topographical views; a search [August 2009] for 'map' produced 2,430 hits):
Caribbean Views
Crace Collection of London plans (1,200 images)
Deptford Plans and Drawings (127 images)
Kensington Turnpike Trust drawings (30 images)
King George III Topographical Collection (about 3,000 images)
Ordnance Surveyors' Drawings (1780s-1840s) (351 sheets)
The Unveiling of Britain, 800-1600 (815 maps and views)
'Broer Map Library: Historic Map Collection' (3,450 scans of 19th and 20th century maps [as described on the Updates page], 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, Connecticut)
Cartographic Images [Jim Siebold's site, hosted by Henry Davis Consulting. This includes around 1,400 low res. images (both whole maps and details) for a wide range of historically important maps (i.e. they tend to be institutional 'treasures', often in manuscript), divided into historical periods (Ancient, Early and Late Medieval, Renaissance [though up to 1880]) each of which has a chronological index. Some images are accompanied by extensive 'monographs' (i.e. descriptions)]
David Rumsey collection (at June 2009, 21,280 high res., zoomable, 'maps and related images' - mostly 19th century America but with an increasing number of general atlases (on which see the separate listing of 'Antique Atlases', searchable by: Country, State, Publication Author, Keywords, Data field [including Date or date range]). He is distributing, without charge, an advanced Java client software ('Insight'), to help deliver better images and high quality print-outs from them. You will, though, need to set aside 20-30 minutes to download the software (assuming you have a standard 56K modem), if you choose that route rather than simply using your browser. In December 2001, a new GIS Browser was added, allowing 'integration and interaction of historical maps with current geospatial data and other historical maps' [this will be available for various US cities and specified themes, see the GIS index page]. In November 2006, 16 maps from the Rumsey Collection were added to Google Earth . Note from Philip Hoehn: 'To view the maps, download the latest version of Google Earth (PC and Mac versions), then go to Layers/Featured Content/Rumsey Historical Maps. To enable transparency of the historic map layers, click on the Rumsey Historical Maps folder when viewing a map and a slider bar will appear that will adjust transparency for comparison of old and new maps images. Additional maps will be added in the coming months'. In February 2008,120 maps were placed on the social site Second Life, see here for links to articles on this. The Google Maps Rumsey Historical Maps site contains 'over 120 historical maps', accessible via an interactive index. On these see also the explanatory note.
The website was entirely redesigned and updated in November 2009, as described on the new Rumsey Blog.
In February 2009, it was announced that the entire collection of original maps and atlases would be donated, gradually, to Stanford University. This will include the digital copies of an eventual target of 50,000 images. The University's Image Gallery already offers online access to 5,894 images from that collection. They can be enlarged to high res. and then panned.
From May 2007 it is possible 'to browse the entire collection by what, where, who, and when. All terms used in the catalog descriptions are now hot links to results sets. This provides an effective alternative or companion to searching the collection.' You can also use the Directory to browse by subject, area, author and date [click on the link for an individual list, at the top, to alphabetise it]. For another route in see here.
For further information, see Recent additions; his explanatory pages: 'About the technology' and 'Printing from the collection'; 'This is a Real Quest for Maps' by Kendra Mayfield (Wired News, 7 March 2002); or, if you want more depth, his March 2001 paper, 'Historical Map Collection Web Site', at the 'Museums and the Web' conference; 'Historical Maps in GIS' (an 18-page pdf chapter by David Rumsey and Meredith Williams, from Anne Kelly Knowles (ed.) Past Time, Past Place: GIS for History (ESRI, 2002); 'Tales from the vault: historical maps online' (Common-Place, vol. 3, no. 4, July 2003); Historical Maps Online (Coordinates, January 2005), with another version, dated 06/02/05, on the O'Reilly Network; From Lewis and Clark to Landsat: Digital maps marry past and present by Wade Roush for Technology Review, July 2005; and the 2004 book by David Rumsey and Edith M. Punt, Cartographica Extraordinaire: The Historical Map Transformed. See, a brief review by Joseph S. Wood for History Matters and another, by Pat Toscano, for The American Surveyor. Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) records are available - contact: Phil Hoehn, Librarian, David Rumsey Collection. Email: philhoehn(at) juno.com [NB replace (at) with @].
The Rumsey collection can also be accessed as part of the multi-collection Visual Collections site - select ‘Cartography’. In March 2002, David Rumsey (Cartography Associates) signed an agreement with the Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) to provide cartographic images for educational use from Fall 2002. In 2002, The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection won the prestigious Webby Award for the best 'technical achievement' Web site.
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Europeana (11,540 medium res. maps (at January 2009) from a range of institutions [select 'Advanced Search' and enter 'map' into Subject]; run from The Hague and co-funded by the European Union, this is to be formally launched in 2010 with 6 million 'digital objects') {January, 2009}
'GEOWEB' - Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice (the 'On line catalogue' leads to a collection of over 29,000 cartographic and graphic images (perhaps 80% of them cartographic), with brief bibliographical details, (available either in low res. or high res. with a digital watermark); searching can also be done via an interactive map; there is an alphabetical listing of the works involved; see also the Help link (on the English version) for searching tips; NB you do not have to register to search and view images).
Harvard University. Hollis Catalog (entering "Harvard Map Collection digital maps" into the 'Search For:' box retrieved 896 hits [the collection is growing], mostly covering Boston, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine; you can sort the list by date, author or title; 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; for updates to the scanning programme see MAGERT Scanning Registry.] See also 'Harvard Map Collection. Digital Maps' ("descriptions and links to over 1,000 digitized maps and atlases from the Harvard Map Collection. Many are georeferenced for use in a GIS. Highlights include maps of Boston, Cambridge and other Massachusetts towns, New England, London, China, pictorial maps by Ernest Dudley Chase, fire insurance and real property atlases, and maps of the Revolutionary War") {February, 2006; updated August 2008}
See also 'Expeditions & Discoveries. Sponsored exploration and scientific discovery in the modern age' (185 historic maps, dating from 1626 to the 20th century, hundreds of maps illustrating texts, and twenty atlases (numbering 1,547 pages) including the 1708 Cellarius and other star atlases, the 1792 Brion de la Tour world atlas, and the 1892 Berghaus Physikalischer Atlas, enlargeable to very high res. - Harvard University Library Open Collections Program) {June, 2009}
'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.. In addition, they offer access to the Osher Map Library collection ('3,941 antiquarian international maps in 1,421 atlases'). See, for future enlargement, the Statistics page. (Also on Ancestry.com as 'Historic Land Ownership and Reference Atlases, 1507-2000'.) [Updated September 2008].
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: 'MAP COLLECTIONS: 1500-[current year]'
The LC 'American Memory' project - a collection of 12,000 high res. zoomable MrSID images [as at December 2007, but other pages (listed below) are apparently not included in that total]. "The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection". You can search by keyword, or browse the various indexes (which seem to include all the formal American Memory pages, but apparently not those from other collections listed below, under 'Special Presentations and other map-related pages'): Geographic Location, Creator, Subject or Title (for Help with Searching the main 'Map Collections' site, see Searching Map Collections). NB. It is worth trying more than one search approach. 'Puerto Rico' produced the following hits: Geographic Location (28), the American Memory Collections: Original Format: Maps search (40), and Subject Index (37). [There are 17 images on Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Selected Cartographic Items].
The main and subsidiary subject sections are listed below, and repeated (in more detail) on the appropriate page in the Web Images section. 'Special Presentations and other map-related pages' (listed further below) includes some groupings that are not formally part of 'American Memory' (on which see Searching "Map Collections"). For other potentially relevant parts of the LC site, see Global Gateway: World Culture & Resources (for links to Collaborative (and Individual) Digital Libraries, Featured Presentations and International Exhibitions), and Portals to the World: Links to Electronic Resources from Around the World (accessible via country name). All images carry at least a brief description, and most are accompanied by historial and explanatory texts.
See the introductory texts: 'Zoom into Maps' ('Maps help us make sense of our world'; 'Analyzing a Map'; 'What can be learned from historic maps?') accompanying the Library of Congress's 'American Memory' site, illustrated with high res. MrSID images. [Also here]. In July 2009, LC released its new Teacher Resources module for the American Memory Project. This provides lesson plans and guidance on interpreting original sources.
LC is adding material all the time, on various of its sites. To try to keep track of recent additions consult the Guides to the Collections: Cartobibliographies and Finding Aids; the full Exhibits listing; and The Learning Page: Exploration and Explorers. Be aware that some pages exist at more than one URL, and that URLs change.
The LC Photoduplication service provides printed copies and TIFF files of the images, see: How to Order Reproductions.
"Collection Connections". Several of the entries immediately following have a link to a specially devised group of Collection Connections pages, arranged under the headings: U.S. History, Critical Thinking, and Arts & Humanities. These "provide activity ideas for using the online collections to develop critical thinking skills. Part of The Learning Page, Collection Connections feature teacher created lesson plans based on online primary resources at the Library of Congress".
"The Digital Reference Team (DRT) conducts a free, one-hour orientation monthly, on the second Wednesday at 11 a.m.-noon, Eastern time, via Web conference. Throughout the program, DRT staff provide opportunities to ask questions, learn strategies for online access of the materials, and sample the collections and resources provided to facilitate your research. To learn more and register for the Orientation, click here. Confirmation will be sent via email. Each session is limited to fifteen people, on a first-come, first-served basis" [January 2008].
Map Collections 1500-[present]
Cities and towns - includes:
Panoramic Maps 1847-1929 (a brief review by Paula Petrik for History Matters) [see Collection Connections]
Additional Cities and Towns Cartographic Items
Conservation and environment - includes:
Mapping the National Parks Collection [see Collection Connections]
Additional Conservation and Environment Cartographic Items
Cultural Landscapes - includes:
Liberia. American Colonization Society Collection. Maps of Liberia 1830-1870 [see Collection Connections]
Additional Cultural Landscapes Cartographic Items
Discovery and Exploration - includes:
Discovery and Exploration Cartographic Items [see The Learning Page, and Zoom into Maps: Exploration and Discovery (with nine MrSID maps)]
General Maps - includes:
Contemporary Maps, 1960 - Present
Places in the News
Additional General Cartographic Items
Military Battles and Campaigns - includes:
The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789 (maps to be added monthly)
Civil War Maps (2,840 maps and 76 atlases and sketchbooks - including those from the Virginia Historical Society and the Library of Virginia) [see Collection Connections]
Rochambeau Collection (high res. images of 66 MS and printed maps, and a MS atlas)
Additional Military Battles and Campaigns Cartographic Items
see also The Hotchkiss Map Collection: Confederate Army Maps
Transportation and Communication - includes:
Railroad Maps 1828-1900 [see Collection Connections]
Additional Transportation and Communication Cartographic Items
'General index (by both subject and first word of title) including Special Presentations' and other map-related pages
[Some of these elements do not form part of 'American Memory, and are apparently not included in the general searches listed at the head of this LC entry]:
'1492: An Ongoing Voyage' (online exhibition)
'The 1562 Map of America by Diego Gutiérrez'
Afghanistan. 'A Selection of Historical Maps of Afghanistan' (six MrSID images - Cynthia Cook, 2004)
'The African-American Mosaic: African-American Culture and History' (online exhibition)
'African American Odyssey' (about 10 maps relating to West Africa and the US - select 'Object List', then search [ctrl+F] for: map)
Agnese (MrSID images of the portolan atlas of nine charts and a world map by Battista Agnese, 1544)
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)
America. 'The 1562 Map of America by Diego Gutiérrez'
America. 'The Culture and History of the Americas: The Jay Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress' (leading to the exhibits page, with nine medium res. maps [May 2005])
'American Landscape and Architectural Design, 1850-1920' (select 'maps' for 219 enlargeable high res. images)
The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789
'American Treasures' (an indefinite, but changing, selection of enlargeable high res. images, including some maps; see also here)
'American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women’s History and Culture in the United States' leading to a note on the Geography and Map Division
'The Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands/De Atlantische Wereld: Amerika en Nederland' (a search on 'map' produced descriptions (in English or Dutch) of 19 maps, accompanied by high res. MrSID images - the Library of Congress and the National Library of the Netherlands)
Brazil/America. 'United States and Brazil: Expanding Frontiers, Comparing Cultures' (in English and Portuguese, with 59 high res. MrSID maps)
Britain/America. 'John Bull and Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British-American Relations' (for selected maps, in medium res., see the Object Checklist, e.g. under 'Exploration and Settlement' - Library of Congress and British Library)
Cassini. 'Carte de France / levée par ordre du roy' (all 182 sheets, enlargeable to high res.)
'Celebrating the Portuguese Communities in America: a Cartographic Perspective'
China. 'Herold J. Wiens Collection' (264 items, some cartographic, showing all or part of China during the period of World War II; see also finding aid)
Civil War Maps (and see above under 'Military Battles and Campaigns')
'Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society' (searching by keyword and entering 'map' leads to 10 enlargeable, high res. images)
Collaborative Digital Libraries ("bilingual, multimedia digital libraries, built with partners round the world", part of the LC's 'Global Gateway' - the individual elements are included separately in this list)
'Color image map : [ports of entry, United States-Mexican border] / produced by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Department of the Treasury, U.S. Customs Service' (high res. images of 6 sheets of the 300+ series, 1979-, with the remainder to follow)
'Contemporary Maps (1960--Present)'
'The Culture and History of the Americas: The Jay Kislak Collection at the Library of Congress' (leading to the exhibits page, with nine medium res. maps [May 2005])
Discovery and exploration - see above under that heading
Drake. ‘The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake’ (including some maps and views, and linked to Sir Francis Drake: A Pictorial Biography by Hans P. Kraus, in turn linking to the Catalogue of the Kraus Collection (with a section ‘Maps and Views’)
'Early Virginia Maps' (four high res. MrSID maps, illustrating Early Virginia Religious Petitions)
Exhibitions. See the full listing of online exhibits, and also Guides to the Collections: Cartobibliographies and Finding Aids for details of others, which include a few maps, not listed here
'Fire Insurance Maps' (an online checklist of maps produced by the Sanborn Map Company)
'The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820' (18 maps, mostly of Kentucky)
Florida. 'Reclaiming the Everglades: South Florida's Natural History, 1884-1934' (search maps for 47 maps and related documents)
France/America. 'France in America' (in English and French, with 155 high res. images, including those from the Revolutionary War Rochambeau Collection)
France. Cassini. 'Carte de France / levée par ordre du roy' (all 182 sheets, enlargeable to high res.)
‘From the Home Front and the Front Lines’ (a small selection of WWII military and aviation maps, including one from Vietnam)
'General Atlases' [Abraham Ortelius Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Battista Agnese (1544), Geographical Fun]
'Geographical Fun Atlas (1868)' (by 'Aleph')
'Geography and Maps: an Illustrated Guide' (or go straight to the Concordance of Images)
'George Washington: Surveyor and Mapmaker'
Gutiérrez. 'The 1562 Map of America by Diego Gutiérrez'
'Herold J. Wiens Collection' (264 items, some cartographic, showing all or part of China during the period of World War II; see also finding aid)
'The Hispanic and Portuguese World. Encounters in America' (seven low res. maps in this 'illustrated guide')
The Hotchkiss Map Collection: Confederate Army Maps (high res. images of the 341 sketchbooks, manuscripts, and annotated printed maps)
'Indian Land Cessions in the U.S. (1784-1894)' (67 MrSID state maps, 1897)
'In the Beginning Was the Word: The Russian Church and Native Alaskan Cultures' (online exhibition)
'Islamic Manuscripts from Mali: Timbuktu in Space and Time - Maps' (11 maps, enlargeable to high res. via JPEG2000, 1590-1970)
Jefferson. 'Thomas Jefferson' (see the Object list for seven low res. maps, 2000)
'John Bull & Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British-American Relations' (online exhibition)
Kentucky. 'The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820' (18 maps, mostly of Kentucky)
‘The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake’ (including some maps and views, and linked to Sir Francis Drake: A Pictorial Biography by Hans P. Kraus, in turn linking to the Catalogue of the Kraus Collection (with a section ‘Maps and Views’)
'Language of the Land: Journeys into Literary America' (LC exhibition, 2000, by Martha Hopkins and Michael Buscher)
Lewis & Clark. 'Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America' (several illustrated texts and an Object Checklist, with links to medium res. images of the items; see also 'Fill Up the Canvas...Rivers of Words: Exploring with Lewis and Clark' (a Learning Page Activity); Community Center; and the press release - Library of Congress exhibition, 2003)
Liberia - see above under 'Cultural Landscapes'
Literary Maps. 'Language of the Land: Journeys into Literary America' (LC exhibition, 2000, by Martha Hopkins and Michael Buscher)
'Los Angeles Mapped' (23 maps, enlargeable to high res. via JPEG2000, with commentary - LC exhibit at the Ira Gershwin Gallery, Los Angeles, 2006-07)
'Louisiana: European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase' (70 maps enlargeable to high res., with an accompanying 118-page PDF essay by Michael Klein)
'The Luso-Hispanic World in Maps: A Selective Guide to Manuscript Maps to 1900 in the Collections of the Library of Congress' by John R. Hébert and Anthony P. Mullan (descriptions of 1,011 maps, selectively illustrated with high res. MrSID images)
'Macau: a Selection of Cartographic Images' (16 enlargeable high res. images, 1655-1991)
Mali. 'Islamic Manuscripts from Mali: Timbuktu in Space and Time - Maps' (11 maps, enlargeable to high res. via JPEG2000, 1590-1970)
'Maps in our lives' (mostly modern material but including surveys of George Washington's farm through time, 2006)
'Meeting of Frontiers (Russia and the United States) (Global Gateway)'
Morse. 'Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress, 1793-1919' (including four MrSID maps)
'National Atlases: Presenting the Nation's Cultural Geography (1870, 1880, 1890, 1970)'
National Parks. Mapping the National Parks Collection (and see above under 'Conservation and Environment')
Netherlands/America.'The Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands/De Atlantische Wereld: Amerika en Nederland' (a search on 'map' produced descriptions (in English or Dutch) of 19 maps, accompanied by high res. MrSID images - the Library of Congress and the National Library of the Netherlands)
'Oregon Department of Transportation City Maps' (finding aid)
Ortelius: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (53 maps, 1570) (MrSID images)
'Panoramic Maps 1847-1929' (and see above under 'Cities and Towns')
Portugal. 'Celebrating the Portuguese Communities in America: a Cartographic Perspective'
Portugal. 'The Portuguese in the United States' (consult the Subject Index for 19 low res. maps)
Portugal. 'The Portuguese Role in Exploring and Mapping the New World' (consult the Subject Index for 19 low res. maps)
'Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Selected Cartographic Items' (17 MrSID maps)
Railroad Maps 1828-1900 (and see above under 'Transportation and Communication')
'Reclaiming the Everglades: South Florida's Natural History, 1884-1934' (search maps for 47 maps and related documents)
'Religion and the Founding of the American Republic' (online exhibition)
'Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America' (several illustrated texts and an Object Checklist, with links to medium res. images of the items; see also 'Fill Up the Canvas...Rivers of Words: Exploring with Lewis and Clark' (a Learning Page Activity); Community Center; and the press release - Library of Congress exhibition, 2003)
Rochambeau Collection (high res. images of 66 MS and printed maps, and a MS atlas)
'Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress, 1793-1919' (including four MrSID maps)
Selections from the Geography and Map Division (118 MrSID images)
'Selections from the LC Luso-Hispanic Map collection. Selecciones Luso-Hispánicas de la Colección de Mapas' (MrSID images)
Siberia. '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)
'Spain, the United States & the American Frontier - Historias Paralelas' (in English and Spanish), see also the Sitemap / Mapa del Sitio [a collaboration between LC and collections in Spain - not formally part of the 'American Memory' project but overlapping with it]
Spanish-American War. 'The World of 1898: the Spanish-American War' (clicking on 'Maps' leads to selections for Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico, which in turn lead to map descriptions and images from the Library of Congress 'American Memory Collection')
'Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation' (online exhibition)
'Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia' (see 'Historical Maps of the Study Area' for images of five MrSID maps, 1774-1913)
'Thomas Jefferson' (see the Object list for seven low res. maps, 2000)
Treasures. 'American Treasures of the Library of Congress. Reason Gallery B: Mapping & Recording' (includes 13 medium res. maps)
Treasures. 'World Treasures of the Library of Congress' (about 24 medium res. images of cartographic items)
U.S.-Mexican border. 'Color image map : [ports of entry, United States-Mexican border] / produced by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Department of the Treasury, U.S. Customs Service' (high res. images of 6 sheets of the 300+ series, 1979-, with the remainder to follow)
Virginia. 'Early Virginia Maps' (four high res. MrSID maps, illustrating Early Virginia Religious Petitions)
Virginia. 'Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia' (see 'Historical Maps of the Study Area' for images of five MrSID maps, 1774-1913)
Waldseemüller: Map of the World (1507)
Washington, D.C. (high res. JPEG2000 scans of real estate plans, 1903-21)
Washington. 'George Washington: Surveyor and Mapmaker'
Women. 'American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women’s History and Culture in the United States' leading to a note on the Geography and Map Division
'The World of 1898: the Spanish-American War' (clicking on 'Maps' leads to selections for Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico, which in turn lead to map descriptions and images from the Library of Congress 'American Memory Collection')
'The World Treasures of the Library of Congress: Beginnings'
WWII. ‘From the Home Front and the Front Lines’ (a small selection of WWII military and aviation maps, including one from Vietnam)
'World War II Military Situation Maps 1944-1945' (416 high res. MrSID maps, and 115 reports, giving daily details on the military campaigns in Western Europe from D-Day to July 1945)
Library of Congress - see also under Medium and small general sites. {January 2002 - this entire section revised, with several additions; May 2005 - further major additions}
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Lunar Commons. 'Atlas map' (13,878 high res. images, organised by category, area, author and date - from the David Rumsey and other collections - LunaCommons.org) {August, 2009}
'Map Library of Catalonia: Digital Collections' (a growing collection of about 5,000 maps, enlargeable to high res., of various parts of the world, including the whole collection of the Revista Catalana de Geografia (1978-96); besides material relating to Catalonia, it includes, e.g., Spain (855), Africa (107), America (221), Asia & Pacific (176) - Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya). [Also here] {October, 2007}
'Maps & Images' (a growing collection [613 images in September 2009] of maps, produced in Italy but covering the world. It includes the first Italian regional atlas (a MS by Nicola Antonio Stigliola (c.1595), the complete output of Benedetto Marzolla, and North America charts published by the Direccion de Hidrografia in Madrid. Select 'key sheets' for map series. For a fuller description see Vladimiro Valerio's announcement to MapHist on 7 September 2009. {September, 2009}
Marco Capurro (a large selection [1200?] of low res., slow-loading, images of different areas and periods (at least, ancient-20th centuries), many from the collection of Marco Capurro but others taken from other sites. Unfortunately the maps are neither indexed nor, on the whole, arranged in a logical order. If searching [Ctrl+F] for a title, remember to enter the Italian form of the place-name. See also under Italy. The site can also be found at a second address) {September, 2001}
Memory of the Netherlands Project (‘Het Geheugen van Nederland’) (use the Advanced Search to select simultaneously [using geographical terms in Dutch] from the Atlas Van Loon, the expanded van Keulen Nieuwe Lichtende Zee-Fakkel, as well as the Atlas Van der Hagen and [partial] Atlas Beudeker, sections on Surinam, the Atlantic World, and Zuiderzee, or browse the Collections page - retrieving images, enlargeable to high res.; there is no general contents list but you can select ‘Browse’ for alphabetical lists of makers (‘name’) and area covered (’location’) - Koninklijke Bibliotheek) {December, 2004; reviewed February 2008 but too complicated, confusing and constantly changing to make it worthwhile checking and amending the description above}
National Library of Australia. 'Explore Australian collections and worldwide online sources: Maps' ('SBDS Prototye'; a search for 'map',and 'available online only' produced about 50,000 hits (restricting to 'Australian content only' brought up about 15,000), a number with thumbnails enlargeable to very high res.; others were links to websites; see also the entry for Canberra in Web Images - Australia - National Library of Australia) {May, 2009}
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. ‘Collections Online’ (select ‘Charts and maps’ for nearly 2000 very high res. zoomable images of maps and charts of all parts of the world (15th-20th century), including a good selection of portolan atlases, which can be selected by Region, Title, Maker or Century, or individually searched, via 'Advanced Search'; and the entire Henry Newton Stevens collection of Des Barres's Atlantic Neptune charts) {April, 2005}
Netherlands, National Archives. 'Beeldbank' (5,895 scanned maps in very high res. ; alternatively, select a particular collection from the list of Themes [e.g. Kaarten van de VOC; Kaarten Johannes Vingboons, ca.1665; Kaarten van Zuid-Holland; Topografische kaarten (4.TOPO); Kaarten van de Atlantic World]; see also a selection of 22 Topstukken [highlights]) {August, 2009}
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 relating to 'Charting America'; alternatively, searching generally for 'map' found a worldwide coverage of 9,744 items). [Also here] {December 2006; amended September 2009}
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, the University of Texas at Austin ('Historical Maps' - a large site, arranged by continent, with about 3,500 high res. original maps (pre-1950) as well as historical maps)
Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam [Het Koninklijk instituut voor de Tropen (KIT)] (11, 500 'Historical Colonial Maps', zoomable to very high res. (after selecting a detail), covering the former Dutch colonies (broadly, the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch Antilles and Surinam), 1850-1950, accessible via the special map search form, where you can specify a particular region) {January, 2006; amended March 2007}
'The Roy V. Boswell Collection for the History of Cartography' (each of apparently 1,500 maps seems to have two or more image alternatives; these allow you to access details enlarged to high res. (though surprisingly there seems to be no way of predicting what you will get); the collection apparently has global coverage though there is no explanation about this (however, 565 were retrieved under 'North America') - Pollak Library, California State University, Fullerton) {February, 2009}
Ryhiner Collection / Sammlung Ryhiner (16,428 high res. maps of various parts of the world - Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek, Bern - see also under Continental Europe: Switzerland; there is an accompanying 4-volume catalogue, ISBN 3-9521539-0-7) {October, 2003; updated July 2008}
Soviet maps. 'Let's go!' ('more than 18,000 military topographic maps', at scales ranging from 1:50,000 to 1:1 million - related to the commercial site Mapstor, which invites you to 'buy or free download 30,719 georeferenced digital maps covering the world and popular travel regions', issued by the military departments of Russia and the East European countries in the second half of the 20th century) {July, 2008}
Stuckenberg Map Collection (over 500 maps of various parts of the world, enlargeable (via CONTENTdm) to very high res., collected by John H. W. Stuckenberg (1835-1903) - Gettysburg College Digital Collections) {August, 2008}
University of Alabama 'Historic Map Archive' (over 28,000 high res. images, for all parts of the world, from a number of institutional and private collectons)
University of Michigan Library. 'Miscellaneous' (selecting 'Browse all images' gets 1,858 hits - very high res. images, viewable in seven sizes (up to 'triple extra large'); captions not always present yet - Digital Library Production Service, Image Services) {July, 2002} {amended January 2003}
’Visual Collections: Images of Art, History and Culture’ (over 15,000 high res., zoomable maps, viewable via the Insight® Browser, are available for cross-collection searching - select ‘Cartography’ for material from the following collections: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, Charting the Nation (University of Edinburgh), Maps of Africa and the Stanford Geological Survey (Stanford University), Japanese Historical Maps (East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley), the Florida and Rare map collections from the University of South Florida) and New Jersey Public Maps)
World Digital Library (selecting the browse option for 'type of item', then 'Maps', produced [at its launch in April 2009] 306 (widely assorted) items, which have been classified by Place, Time, Topic and Institution, enlargeable to many times their original size, in very high res. (though not in all cases); you can pan the image by grabbing it with the mouse cursor and moving it in the required direction; there is also a short-title list of the items, in no obvious order) {April, 2009}
see also Larger map dealer sites [some of which carry hundreds, or even thousands of map images for all parts of the world, arranged geographically, even if most are low res.]; and check out Web Projects
