LibGuides: Primary Sources: Historical Maps

Search Our Catalog For Historical Maps & Atlases

Historical Maps at Furman

Digital Sanborn Maps (1867-1970)
Digital Sanborn Maps (1867-1970) provides more than 660,000 large-scale maps of more than 12,000 American towns and cities. These maps are large-scale plans containing data that can be used to estimate the potential risk for urban structures. This includes information such as the outline of each building, the size, shape and construction materials, heights, and function of structures, location of windows and doors. The maps also give street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers.

Web Resources of Historical Maps

Antiquarian Maps
Alfred Cormack's (a former executive of the Jantzen Corporation in Portland, Oregon) collection has approximately 77 maps, dating from 1486 to 1864, contains examples of the development of mapmaking, from the highly decorative maps of the 16th and 17th centuries to the more scientifically accurate maps and nautical charts of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Collection of Historical Maps (Library of Congress)
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world; the collection of more than 173 million items includes more than 51 million cataloged books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 75 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America; and the world's largest collection of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings.
David Ramsey Map Collection
The David Rumsey Map Collection has over 116,000 maps and related images online. The collection includes rare 16th through 21st century maps of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, the Pacific, the Arctic, and the World. The online map collection is a searchable database that allows you to make your own journeys into spatial representations of the past. Here you can see the history of cartography through primary sources from 1500 into the 21st century.
Historical Soil Survey Maps of South Carolina (Digital Collection of University of South Carolina)
At the close of the 19th century the U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with individual state agencies, began the collection of vast amounts of pedogenic information for the sake of not only farmers but also for developers and industry.
Old Maps Online
OldMapsOnline developed out of a love of history and heritage of old maps. The project began as a collaboration between Klokan Technologies GmbH, Switzerland and The Great Britain Historical GIS Project based at the University of Portsmouth, UK thanks to funding from JISC.
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection (PCLMC), comprising more than 350,000 items representing all areas of the world, provides comprehensive cartographic resources to serve constituents both within and beyond the university’s walls.
The Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL) Map Collection website is archived as of 2021 and no longer being updated. Links to external sites may no longer work as expected.
South Carolina Aerial Photograph Indexes, 1937-1989 (Digital Collection of University of South Carolina)
Spanning five decades, the University of South Carolina’s collection of aerial photograph indexes consists primarily of projects commissioned by the United States Department of Agriculture. Showing cities, farms, forests, reservoirs, coastlines, and other features across the state, the indexes provide a visual overview of each project’s collection of individual aerial photographs, many of which are housed in the Maps Department of Thomas Cooper Library.