Primary Sources

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. Maintained by Stanford University.

Digital Public Library of America exhibit explores cultural and historic impact of mapping through four specific moments in American history: migration along the Oregon Trail, the rise of the lumber industry, the Civil War, and the popularization of the automobile and individual tourism.

Digitized collection of nearly 700 maps from Charles O. Paullin and John K. Wright's Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, first published in 1932. Enhanced with georectification and animation. Click Enter the Atlas or Table of Contents to select beginning chapter.

This category includes maps that typically portray the physical environment and a variety of cultural elements for a geographic area at a particular point in time. The maps in this category show a geographic area larger than a city or town and do not display a subject that is part of one of the thematic categories. Filterable by date and location.

Cartographic representations held by JCB Library. Filter by location, creator, date. Dates: 1482-1932.

In the 1930s the federal government created redlining maps for almost every major American city. Mapping Inequality lets you explore these maps and the history of racial and ethnic discrimination in housing policy.

The PCL Map Collection contains over 250,000 maps and links to additional map collections. Most maps are from the 1900's to 2021. Filterable by state.

Collection of “persuasive” cartography: ​more than 1200 ​maps whose primary intent or effect is to influence opinions or beliefs - to send a message - rather than to communicate geographic information. The collection reflects a variety of persuasive tools ​, including​ allegorical, satirical and pictorial mapping; selective inclusion; unusual use of projections, color, graphics and text; and intentional deception. Maps in the collection address a wide range of messages: religious, political, military, commercial, moral and social.

Contains over 2,000 historical maps from 1750-1789 representing cartographers from seven countries. Browse featured or select Collection Items tab at the top to keyword search.