ARTHIST 485 | AFS 489W What is a Map?

Credit URL: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/historicmapsonline

• American Geographical Society Library Digital Map Collection - University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

• American Museum of Natural History

  Very small collection.

• Bavarian State Library (BSB) / Munich Digitization Centre (MDZ)

• Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)

• Biblissima

• British Library (Old Maps Online)

  As of January 2025, the British Library's collections are only available through third-party applications due to a cyberattack.

• Brown University Digital Repository

  Smaller collection; mainly Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New England; some limited holdings on Southern maps. To get all maps, you have to filter separately by Genre > maps, Genre > maps (documents), or Format > cartographic.

• CaribMap

  Digital and digitized maps of the Caribbean.

• Cultural Japan

• David Rumsey Map Collection

  David Rumsey is a private map collector who has since donated his collection to Stanford University. He collected widely from around the world.

• Digital Bodleian

• Digital Commonwealth

• Digital Repository of Ireland

• Ghent University Library

• Harvard Library Curiosity Collections

• History of Mapping Hong Kong

• Huntington Digital Library

• Indigenous Digital Archive*

  *Currently down; see DigiTreaties for help with Indigenous map research in the meantime

• J. Paul Getty Trust

• Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections

• Library of Congress

  The largest collection of maps in the U.S., and the largest collection of digital maps too. Collection is very broad geographically.

• National Library of Scotland

• Norman B. Levanthal Map Collection, Boston Public Library

  Very large collection, strengths in New England. Large collection of maps related to the American Revolution.

• Northwestern University

• Princeton University Digital Maps and Geographic Portal

• Princeton University Libraries

  Includes maps from PU Digital Maps and Geographic Portal; difficult to search for specific maps

• Ryhiner Collection - University of Bern Library

• Stanford University Libraries

• Toronto Public Library Digital Archive

• UCLA Library Digital Collections

• United States Military Academy Library Digital Collection

• University College Dublin Libraries

• University of Chicago Library Digital Collections

• University of Illinois Library Digital Collections
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  Good for Illinois maps and railroad maps; maps grouped in clickable collections, should start with Historical Maps Online (click globe above)

• University of North Texas Libraries

• University of Southern California Libraries

• University of Texas Arlington

• University of Texas – Austin (Perry-Castañeda Library)

• University of Toronto Libraries

• University of Washington Libraries

• Utrecht University Library

• Villanova University Falvey Library

• Yale University Library

• Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)