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Genealogy Resources

Maps and Geographical Finding Aids

See also: Local History, Land Records

• 1914 County Maps by State. This is from a book found while tearing down an old shed.  There was no cover, and the last page was missing, which Janie Edwards believes was Nevada and Washington. The maps are dated 1910-1914.   That is why she called them 1914 maps, that's when it ended. The name at the top says Atlas of the World.
  
  
• ACME Mapper. This is a high-precision general purpose mapping application, based on Google Maps with a bunch of things added on.
   
• Alabama Maps -- Historic Maps, University of Alabama. Alabama Maps is an ongoing project the Cartographic Research Laboratory, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Alabama to digitize their historic maps for free use on the Internet. Contains maps related to Alabama, but has maps from every state. This is one of the best U.S. map collections online, heavy on the Southeast areas of the United States.
   
• The Alexandria Digital Library Gazetteer/Server Client. The largest online gazetteer. Currently it contains: data from the NGA (formerly NIMA) Gazetteer, a set of countries and U.S. counties, set of U.S. topographic map quadrangle footprints, set of volcanoes, and set of earthquake epicenters. The GNIS data from the U.S. Geological Survey has been partly added to the collection.
   
• All The Worlds Maps - Embassy World
   
• American FactFinder New site from the U.S. Census Bureau replacing the TIGER Mapping System.
   
• American Memory: Library of Congress Map Collections, 1544-2004  The Library of Congress holds the world's largest collection of maps. The American Memory collection is a selected sampling and is heavy on historical references.
   
• Ancestry.com Map Collection. Has thousands of maps available for online viewing and printing. Subscription product.
   
• Applied Language Solutions. This free online resource translates up to 150 words or any Web page between English and 10 different languages, even Chinese. Also includes world maps and online foreign-language dictionaries.
   
• Arizona State University Libraries: Place Names on the Internet.
   
• Atlapedia Online
   
• Boston Public Library. Thousands of historical maps are available in digital format from the Boston Public Library.
   
• CIA World Factbook Reference Maps - U.S. and world.
   
• Civil War Maps - Library of Congress
   
• Color Landform Atlas of the United States (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab)
   
• Columbia Gazetteer of North America
   
• Cyndi's List of Genealogical Sites on the Internet--Maps, Gazetteers & Geographical Information. Provides direct links to web sites where Maps, Gazetteers, Geographic Name Lists, and related information can be found.
   
• David Rumsey Map Collection. Over 13,600 historical maps online. As a map dealer, David Rumsey's web site is a place to purchase rare historic maps. The maps are all viewable at this site.
   
• Digital Library of Georgia. The Digital Library of Georgia is a portal to the state's documented history found in digitized books, manuscripts, photographs, government documents, newspapers, maps, audio, video, and other resources. This online library has over 500,000 images and pages of text in 90 collections from 55 institutions and 80 government agencies.
   
• "Do-It-Yourself Color Coded State Maps."
   
• Dudley Knox Library Map Collections. U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.
   
• Early Real Estate Insurance Maps of New York. New York Public Library.  Hundreds of real estate maps of Manhattan and Brooklyn from the 1850s-1860s. Originated by William Perris and commonly called "fire insurance maps," they show streets, blocks, tax lots, and use classifications plus earlier natural and manmade features.
   
• EDR Sanborn Maps.  Environmental Data Resources, Inc.'s Sanborn collection dates from 1866 and includes over 1.2 million Sanborn maps chronicling the history of approximately 12,000 American cities and towns.
   
• 1895 U.S. Atlas. A colorful reproduction of "The New 11x14 Atlas of the World," first published by Rand McNally in 1895, is available at this site.  Although it contained maps of the countries of the world and the individual states of the United States at that time, it only contained an index for the United States.
   
• ePodunk.com. Recently added, frequently misspelled, and former place names.
   
• Expedia's Maps
   
• Europe Map Archive
   
• French Colonization of Louisiana and Louisiana Purchase Map Collection
   
• Gazetteers and Place Name Guides
   
• Geogen. Surname Mapping. Geogen is the short form for "geographical genealogy" which means location based ancestor research. On this website you can create maps which show the distribution of surnames in Germany and Austria. Significant concentrations can point to a local root of the family or of the family name.
   
• Geographic Names - Getty Thesaurus
   
• Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)  - Contains information for almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States and its territories. The Federally recognized name of each feature described in the data base is identified, and references are made to a feature's location by State, county, and geographic coordinates. The GNIS is the official U.S. repository of domestic geographic names information.
   
• GeoNative - A site that deals with Minority and Native Language place names.
   
• GEOnet World Place Names Server - GEOnet is a database of World place names developed from the country gazetteers that were published by the US Defense Mapping Agency (now the National Imagery and Mapping Agency). It contains place names for over 3.3 million features throughout the World. 
   
• Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names - The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) provides information on place names related to art, art history and related subjects, such as history archeology, and geography.
   
• Gheos World Atlas 2000 : The Internet Travel Guide
   
• Global Gazetteer
   
• Global Gazetteer. Directory of cities and towns in the world.
   
• Goldbug - Home of AniMap
   
• Google Earth. Contemporary view of a location or to view a specific site.
   
• Google Maps. Map web site.
   
• Graphical Locater Home Page. Graphical Locater was designed as an aid for acquiring and refining location data and related measures. The main graphical interface is useful only for people who recognize the position of interest when they see it on the maps. Some users will find it useful to follow along on printed maps that they are more familiar with.
   
• Hargrett Library Rare Map Collection. - University of Georgia, Athens.
   
• Harvard Map Collection
   
• Heavens Above. Lists Nearest neighboring towns to a given location.
   
• Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century
   
• Historical County Lines.
   
• Historical Maps of Georgia. University of Georgia. The most important maps for Georgia online.
   
• Historical Maps of the United States - The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
   
• Historical Maps on the Web
   
• Home Town Locator Gazetteer
   
• How Far Is It
   
• HyperHistory Online: Maps
   
• Images of Early Maps on the Web. This site is part of the non-commercial WWW-Virtual Library: History site, maintained by Tony Campbell, map librarian, British Library, London. It is a portal to over 4,500 map links.
   
• Index of Maps of the Ancient Greek World  - Bernard Suzanne
   
• INFOMINE - Maps and GIS
   
• Information Please Atlas
   
• Interactive Ancient Mediterranean
   
• The JewishGen ShtetlSeeker. Search for towns in Central and Eastern Europe, using exact spelling or the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex system.  This search will display the latitude and longitude for each location, the distance/direction from the country's capital city, and links to maps. List all of the towns within a certain distance of a given latitude / longitude coordinates. (You may find these coordinates using the above town search).
   
• Kansas State Historical Society -- Places in Kansas. Great digitized maps and place databases for the Kansas area.
   
• Land Ownership Maps in the Library of Congress
   
• Library of Congress Geography and Maps: An Illustrated Guide.
   
• Library of Congress, Map Collections 1500-2004.
   
• Links to Historical Maps. As part of the Historical Atlas of the 20th Century site, this page provides a great list of places to find maps online.
   
• Map History / History of Cartography
   
• Map Links - Odden's Bookmarks
   
• Map Links - Oxford
   
• Map Machine - National Geographic. Presents a map of the world, from where you can select geographic areas and enlarge them.
   
• MapBlast  from Vicinity Corp.
   
• Maporama
   
• MapMuse.com. Includes interactive mapping of American history topics.
   
• Maps: Alabama Historical Map Index. This site is created and maintained by the Department of Geography, University of Alabama.
   
• MapQuest - Current maps and access to directions within the USA, and also access locations outside the US and Canada.
   
• Maps - Maps by address, city, phone #, latitude/longitude
   
• Maps at the University of Virginia
   
• Maps on Us  from Searchboard.com
   
• Map24 - Online mapping at a personal level providing mapping and route planning.
   
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Geographic Nameserver. Online database from which you can obtain the county in which a town is now located by entering the name of the town and the state abbreviation.
   
• Merriam-Webster Atlas
  
  
• Migration Trails Map. Logan, Utah: Everton, 198?
   
• Modern Language Association Language Map
   
• Multimap.com
   
• National Archives Map Collection. Includes more than 6 million maps.
   
• National Atlas. From U.S. government.
   
• National Atlas of Canada Online
   
• National Geographic Country Profiles (Map Machine). The 2004 National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition, recognizes 192 independent nations. All of these, plus U.S. states and Canadian provinces, are profiled in the Atlas—and right here. In each entry you'll find key geographic, demographic, and economic data as well as a brief overview.
   
• National Geographic Maps and Geography. An excellent collection of maps.
   
• The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency: GEOnet Names Server (GNS). A great place to start looking for foreign geographic names.
   
• The National Map.  United States Geological Survey. The site incorporates the USGS topographic maps into an interactive system, working with private partners, and merge topos, aerial photos, and thematic maps for geographic studies.
   
• A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States By Thomas Baldwin and J. Thomas, M.D. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co. 1854 pp.1302-1307. Contributed by Kathy Lenerz.
   
• New York Public Library Digital Gallery.
   
• Odden's Bookmarks--The Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping. Everything having to do with maps. It was started in 1995 by Roelof Oddens, the curator of the Map Library of the Faculty of GeoSciences, Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands. The number of links in the database has grown from a few dozen in 1995 to over 22,000 today.
   
• Office of the Coast Survey, Historical Map and Chart Collection. The Office of Coast Survey's Historical Map & Chart Collection contains over 20,000 maps and charts from the late 1700s to present day. The Collection includes some of the nation's earliest nautical charts, hydrographic surveys, topographic surveys, geodetic surveys, city plans and Civil War battle maps. The Collection is a rich primary historical archive and a testament to the artistry of copper plate engraving technology of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Historical Map & Chart Project scans each map or chart and offers the images free to the public via the Coast Survey web site. The Project is managed by the Cartographic & Geospatial Technology Program of the Coast Survey Development Laboratory.
   
• Organization of Territories in the United States since 1803 - The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
   
• Pam Rietsch's 1895 U.S. Atlas
   
• Panoramic Maps, 1847-1929.  Part of the American Memory Map Collection from the Library of Congress. The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Known also as bird's-eye views, perspective maps, and aero views, panoramic maps are nonphotographic representations of cities portrayed as if viewed from above at an oblique angle. Although not generally drawn to scale, they show street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective.
   
• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection. University of Texas, Austin. Is probably the largest collection of historic maps online.
   
• Public Land Survey System (PLSS) Township Index Maps
   
• Quick Maps. Small GIF maps of the countries of the world.
   
• Railroad Maps, 1828-1900. This web site is part of the American Memory Map Collections from the Library of Congress. It is a great source for understanding the evolution of railroads in America.
   
• Rare Map Collection at the Hargrett Library, University of Georgia
   
• Refdesk.com: My Facts Page: Atlas and Maps
   
• RootsWeb Town Search - TownCo  - Enter the name of a U.S. town to learn the name of the county where that town is located.
   
• Sanborn Maps
   
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. The Sanborn map collection consists of a uniform series of large-scale maps, dating from 1867 to the present and depicting the commercial, industrial, and residential sections of some twelve thousand cities and towns in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.  Starting in 1867, the Sanborn Map Company of Pelham, New York began producing a series of maps for about 12,000 cities and towns in the U.S. These historical maps provide a lot of information about the buildings where people lived or worked. Besides showing exactly where a building was located, these maps also show the shape of the building and its construction, the occupancy, as well as the surrounding buildings and businesses. The largest collection of Sanborn maps and atlases is preserved by the Library of Congress. There are an estimated 700,000 Sanborn maps in bound and unbound editions. A list of the libraries that have duplicate maps from the Library of Congress is listed on this Berkley site. Univ. of California -- Berkeley
   
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps -- Cyndi's List.
   
• Sanborn Insurance Map Information and Sources.
   
• Sanborn Maps 1867-1970 (Digital Version). Subscription service.
   
• Using Sanborn Maps to Research Old Buildings.
   
• Seltzer, Leon E. Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer of the World. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962.
   
• Shtetl Seeker - Shtetl Seeker is a searchable database that provides information on the location of populated places in Eastern Europe, many of which no longer exist.
   
• Startpagina -- Geschiedenis-in-kaart. Startpagina is a Dutch language browser and finding tool for a huge selection of worldwide categorized subjects, including this page for maps.
   
• TerraServer Aerial and topographic maps of the U.S. Microsoft's mapping system.
   
• TIGER Mapping Service  U.S. Census Bureau Maps and Cartographic Resources
   
• TopoZone Topographic map of U.S. Typing a name of a place will take you to a grid that can be panned up, down, left, right, or enlarged in several steps. This is a free site, but Topozone Pro is a subscription service and adds more map options including satellite and aerial photographs of places.
   
• TRS Data. This program returns the same information as Graphical Locater for a valid legal description within 17 western states (AR , AZ, CA, CO, ID, KS, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OK, OR, SD, UT, WA and WY).
   
• Union List of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Held by Institutions in the United States and Canada. University of California -- Berkeley.
   
• United Nations Cartographic Section
   
• UN Maps and Geographic Information Resources
   
• U.S. Atlas - 1895
   
• U.S. Census Bureau TIGER Mapping Service. The TIGER mapping system was designed for creating census enumeration districts for the 1990 census. The maps were prepared by the USGS for the Census Bureau, and are derivatives of the USGS topographic maps. The TIGER system is still supported but will be replaced by the Census Bureau's new American FactFinder.
   
• U.S. Census Bureau's U.S. Gazetteer. This is the Census Bureau's index to place names on the TIGER Mapping System. TIGER was a joint effort to map census districts for the 1990 census, working with the USGS. This is a good name list, but it does not include names of unincorporated towns or places.
   
• US Gazetteer - The US Gazetteer is a list of United States place names that were included in the 1990 census. Since it was derived from census data, this database only contains names for populated places.
   
• USGenWeb Archives, United States Digital Map Library 
   
• U.S. Geological Survey. Geographic Names Information System . Online database from which you can obtain the county in which a town is now located. For “Feature Name” type in the name of the town. Choose the name of the state, and choose “populated place” from the “Feature Type” list. Reflects current and some historical place names found on USGS topographic maps.
   
• United States Military Academy Atlas Collection.
   
• United States Post Offices. This is a private web site operated by Jim Forte, a stamp dealer. Included is a list of 186,056 post offices that have existed in the United States. It is not 100% complete.
   
• U.S. Territorial Maps 1775-1920
   
• U.S. Topographical Maps
   
• U.S.G.S. Geographic Names Information Service - Includes maps.
   
• University of Houston Digital Maps.  Historical maps.
   
• Using Maps in Genealogy.  By U.S.G.S.
   
• Vintage City Maps. Has some older New York and Boston maps.
   
• Western Migration Map. From Joanne Todd Rabun.
   
• World Atlas
   
• World Atlas: Maps and Geography of the World
   
• World Factbook. CIA maps and publications.
   
• World Gazetteer
   
• Worldwide Directory of Cities and Towns
   
• Yahoo Maps
   
• The Yale Map Collection.

Print Resources

• Atlases of Historical County Boundaries. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1997
   
• Cobb, David A., comp. Guide to U.S. Map Resources. Chicago: American Library Association, 1986.
   
• Cohen, Saul B., editor. The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. Is available at Bartleby.com Great Books Online <http://www.bartleby.com>
   
• Commercial Atlas & Marketing Guide, 136th edition, 2 volumes. Chicago: Rand McNally, 2005. The second volume indexes 123,000 place names.
   
• Dollarhide, William. Map Guide to American Migration Routes, 1735-1815. North Salt Lake, Utah: Heritage Quest, 1997, 2003. Identifies the important overland routes.
   
• Family Maps Land Patent Books Series. Norman, Oklahoma: Arphax Publishing Company. Collections of historical and modern maps that show the location of General Land Office patents with patentee's names, cemetery locations, drainage features, railroads, and modern roads broken down by township for selected counties.
   
• Kashuba, Melinda. "Charting a Research Course Using Maps and Geography." NGS NewsMagazine. Volume 31 (October-December, 2005).
   
• Kashuba, Melinda. "Turn Up the Heat with Fire Insurance Maps." NGS NewsMagazine,  (April/May/June 2006): 26-29.
   
• Kirkham, E. Kay. A Handy Guide to Record-Searching in the Larger Cities of the United States. Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 1974. This book has indexes and maps for a number of U.S. cities including New York and Chicago.
   
• Library of Congress. Geography and Map Division. Reference and Bibliography Section. Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress: Plans of North American Cities and Towns Produced by the Sanborn Map Company: A Checklist. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1981.
   
• Long, John H., ed. Historical Atlas and Chronology of County Boundaries, 1788–1980. Scale: 1:633,600. Vols. 1–5. Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall, 1984. Maps show when and where each county changed boundaries.
   
• Moffat, Riley Moore. Occasional paper: Western Association of Map Libraries, no. 10. Santa Cruz, Calif.: Western Association of Map Libraries, 1986. Use a state map to find the quadrangle number. Then find the number in the state's map list to learn the name of the quadrangle.
   
• Newberry Library. Checklist of Printed Maps of the Middle West to 1900. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1980. - The eleven volumes list all known pre-1900 plat maps and plat books for the state of Illinois.
   
• Munro, David, editor. The Cambridge World Gazetteer: A Geographical Dictionary. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
   
• Oswald, Diane L. Fire Insurance Maps Their History and Applications. College Station, Texas: Lacewing Press, 1997.
   
• Parry, R.B. and C.R. Perkins. World Mapping Today. 2nd edition. Munich, Germany: K.G. Saur, 2002. Summarizes the state of mapping worldwide by nation.
   
• Sayre, Rick G. "Urban Maps: Putting It All Together." Genealogical Computing, 21 (January/February/March 2002): 21-24.
   
• Shelley, Michael H. Ward Maps of United States Cities: A Selective Checklist of Pre-1900 Maps in the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: s.n., 1975.
   
• Thiry, Christopher J.J. The Guide to U.S. Map Resources. 3rd edition. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2005. Describes more than 500 collections and includes extensive indexing, which will help in identifying map collections that may contain historical maps.
   
• United States. Geological Survey. Topographic Maps of the United States. Scale varies. Suitland, Md.: National Archives and Records Service, 1976-. These maps were originally published from 1884 to 1983. The maps are arranged by the name of the quadrangle within each state. States are not in alphabetical order.
   
• Ward Maps of United States Cities. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975?