Where to Find Old Maps Online

Old maps are useful for genealogists who want to learn more about their ancestors. Taking a look at what the area where your ancestor lived, when he or she lived there, can reveal interesting information. Old maps can help you figure out how close your ancestor lived to where important historical events occurred. Wondering where you can find old maps online? Here are a few to start with.

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection includes historial maps of the United States. The collection is available at the website of The University of Texas at Austin University of Texas Libraries.

This collection includes historical maps of U.S. cities, historical maps of Texas, historical maps of Texas cities, pre-1945 topographical maps of the United States, the National Atlas of the United States of America (1970) and a selection of maps of national historic parks, memorials, military parks, and battlefields.

It also has a selection of maps about various expeditions, maps of where early Indian tribes lived, military history maps, and maps of U.S. Territorial growth.

David Rumsey Map Collection
The David Rumsey Map Collection has over 69,000 maps and images online. The collection is used to study history, art, genealogy, explorations, and family history. A good place for genealogists to start is with the Historical Maps Search Portal. This search portal is for historical maps from five different map libraries in Europe and the United States. It appears that the David Rumey Map Collection might add more maps to this collection.

Old Maps Online
Old Maps Online is a gateway to historical maps in libraries around the world. You can either browse through the old maps, or find a specific place, through that website. Old Maps Online indexes over 400,000 maps. The website walks you through how to use it and shoes you a series of maps that match whatever you typed into the search engine.

Norman B. Leventhal Map Center
The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center is located at the Boston Public Library. It is possible to browse through this collection of maps through their website. You can explore by location, subject, date, publisher, author, or projection.

The digital collection is an ongoing project of conservation cataloging, and digital imaging of the Normal B. Leventhal Map Center’s collection of approximately 200,000 historical maps and 5,000 atlases. It is possible to purchase map reproductions via their website.

You can also find many of their maps on Flickr (released under a license that allows people to post the images onto their blogs). The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center might be the only one that has teacher resources available on its website.

Related Article at FamilyTree.com:

* The David Ramsey Map Collection Could Enhance Your Research

* Maps at the Library of Congress

* Maps – More Than Just for Locations