Sanborn – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com Blogging about maps since 2003 Tue, 11 May 2021 22:15:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.maproomblog.com/xq/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cropped-logo-2017-04-32x32.jpg Sanborn – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com 32 32 116787204 A Guide to the Library of Congress’s Collection of Fire Insurance Maps https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/05/a-guide-to-the-library-of-congresss-collection-of-fire-insurance-maps/ Tue, 11 May 2021 22:15:36 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1790935 More]]> Fire insurance maps are an invaluable tool for history research: they give a detailed snapshot of a city’s built environment at a given point in time. And they were made for just about every city, town and village. The Library of Congress has 50,000 fire insurance maps (700,000 individual sheets) in its collection, most of which were produced by the Sanborn Map Company. The Library has just released a resource guide to help researchers navigate its collection, and explain which maps are available (copyright is an issue with more recent maps). Announcement here.

Previously: Fire Insurance Maps Online.

]]> 1790935 Fire Insurance Maps Online https://www.maproomblog.com/2021/02/fire-insurance-maps-online/ Tue, 23 Feb 2021 14:43:50 +0000 https://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1790210 More]]> Penn State University Libraries’ collection of Pennsylvania Sanborn fire insurance maps dates to 1925, which means that as of this year they’re in the public domain—and freely available to use. Meanwhile, Maps Mania has a roundup of other fire insurance maps resources. The Library of Congress has a collection of 50,000 Sanborn atlases, 35,000 of which are available online (collections, navigator). In the United Kingdom, fire insurance maps were produced by Charles E. Goad Ltd.; Goad maps are available via the British Library and the National Library of Scotland.

Fire insurance maps are an invaluable resource for historical researchers: they’re extremely detailed snapshots of the built environment of virtually every city and town, and there are usually several such snapshots (I’ve seen at least three for my little village, for example), so you can chart a town’s growth over time at a level of detail an OS, quad or topo map can’t match.

]]> 1790210 Sanborn’s 150th Anniversary https://www.maproomblog.com/2016/04/sanborns-150th-anniversary/ Wed, 13 Apr 2016 12:57:00 +0000 http://www.maproomblog.com/?p=1522 More]]> Monday was apparently Sanborn’s 150th anniversary. Known for its detailed fire insurance maps during the late 19th and early/mid 20th centuries—a treasure trove for historians—Sanborn has since diversified into a geospatial company, though fire insurance maps are still one of their business lines. [WMS]

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