Library Guides: Maps & Air Photos: Historical Maps

Good Starting Places for Scanned Historical Maps

Maps from the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world.

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The online map collections represents only a small fraction that have been converted to digital form of the LOC's map collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and a large number of cartographic materials in other formats, including over 19,000 cds/dvds.

Old Maps Online This link opens in a new window
Digital historical maps from library collections around the world.

Gateway to digital historical maps from library collections around the world. Search by place-name or by clicking on the map window, and narrow by date. Search results then provide a direct link to the image map on the website of the host institution. A collaboration between the Great Britain Historical GIS Project based at the University of Portsmouth, UK and Klokan Technologies GmbH, Switzerland.
David Rumsey Map Collection This link opens in a new window
Focus on rare 18th and 19th century North and South American cartographic history materials. Includes historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia, and Africa. (Luna Insight)

Contains to date over 8,000 maps online and focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North and South America cartographic history materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia and Africa are also represented. [Note: This collection is also part of the UC Image Service and can be viewed in two ways: the Insight Browser allows users to view the collection using a web browser; the Luna Insight software provides greater functionality but must be downloaded.]

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection
Extensive collection of scanned international topographic maps.

Scanned maps from the UC Berkeley collections:

Historic maps of the Bay Area
Japanese historical maps
Historic topographic maps of California (HISTOPO)
Scans of selected editions of 7.5- & 15-minute USGS quads from the UC Berkeley Library collections. The collection contains maps statewide with expanded coverage of the San Francisco Bay Area and Monterey Bay regions.

Additional sources for scanned historical maps:

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Indexing and full-text access for publications of the United States Congress such as hearings, committee reports and prints, CRS reports, as well as executive branch documents. (Congressional Publications) [dates vary]

One stop shopping for all U.S. congressional publications. Provides indexing and abstracts of congressional publications back to 1789, including the full-text of published Congressional Hearings (1824-present; unpublished hearings until 1979), Committee Prints (1817-present), Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports (1916-present), Congressional Record and its predecessor titles (1789-present), U.S. Congressional Serial Set and Maps (1789-present), Executive Branch Documents (1789-1932), Presidential Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations (1789-present), and Legislative Histories (1969-Present; earlier legislative histories are available via ProQuest's Legislative Insight).
U.S. Congressional Serial Set This link opens in a new window
Access to all the reports, documents, and journals of the US Senate and House of Representatives from 1817 through 1980. [1817 - date varies]

A full-text database of key publications of the United States Congress. Also includes publications of the executive departments relating to important public issues. The Serial Set is a critical resource for the study of all aspects of American history including international relations, explorations, commerce and industrial development, genealogy, and political, social, cultural, military and ethnic history. When complete, the database will offer approximately 13,800 volumes and over 12 million pages in searchable full-text. (Archive of Americana allows cross-searching of several databases: Early American Imprints , Series I and II; Early American Newspapers; American State Papers; US Congressional Serial Set.)

Finding Historical Maps

Finding Historical Maps in the Library

In the catalog: use the Advanced Search. Enter your keywords [place name] (e.g., france paris), then use the Material Type dropdown to limit to Maps and the Start Date and End Date fields to limit by date.

You might also try these subject keyword searches:

[place name early maps]
[place name manuscript maps]
[place name maps bibliography]

The search will find maps held by all the UC Libraries by default. You can also use the Advanced Search to search WorldCat for maps held at Stanford University Libraries and other libraries worldwide. Please contact the librarian for help if you need maps from another UC/Stanford map library.

Historical Maps of California

Online Archive of California (OAC) This link opens in a new window
Access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California including the 10 UC campuses.

A searchable and browseable resource that brings together historical materials from a variety of California institutions, including museums, historical societies, and archives. Contains over 120,000 images; 50,000 pages of documents, letters, and oral histories; and 8,000 guides to collections. Images are organized into thematic and institutional collections, such as historical topics, nature, places, and technology.

Finding Aid to the Maps of Private Land Grant Cases of California, [ca. 1840-ca. 1892]
Diseños Collection
493 hand-drawn sketches of maps used during the land grant process before and after statehood.

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