Historic Map Works™ Library Edition

• Format: Maps
• Media: Electronic/Online

• Coverage Dates: 1500s - Present
• Sources Covered: Over 1.5 million maps

Historic Map Works™ Library Edition is one of the most extensive digital map collections available, with over 1.5 million high-resolution, full color historic maps.

Discover the physical places of the past—from big cities to small farms—with Historic Map Works Library Edition. With access to more than five centuries of maps, genealogists, historians, and researchers can gain insight into how physical and human geographies have changed over time.

The core of the collection consists of land ownership (cadastral) maps illustrating the geographic and developmental history of the United States. This unique content allows users to track the "residential genealogy" of families and locations.

Historic Map Works collections include:

Property Maps, over 1.3 million cadastral maps cover the development of the United States since the late 1700's to the present day

Antique Maps, over 100,000 antiquarian maps covering the world from the 15th to 19th centuries, drawn from the University of Southern Maine's Osher Map Library

Directories & Illustrations, with tens of thousands of related listings, images, business ads, and statistics from city directories, atlases, bird’s eye views, and more

The special attention given to image quality allows users to see the details that are so important to the use of maps in research. High-resolution digital scanning clearly reproduces even the smallest features, including street and property names, plat dimensions, and structural details.

The straightforward interface lets users search Historic Maps Works by keywords, location names, and other advanced features. Unique search features include:

• World Map uses an intuitive point-and-click world map to help locate data visually.
• Search by Address finds maps by street name, city, and state. Plus, by using the Geo-code functionality, you can compare a modern Google map with the historic map to see details over time.
• GPS Mapfinder pinpoints maps via latitude and longitude coordinates, using the geo-coded map data.
• Points of Interest features over 60 different “Points of Interest” such as buildings, cemeteries, churches, hospitals, lakes, parks, summits, by which to browse maps.

Plus, features like image previews, zoom in/out, and image cropping make reviewing and using the maps easy.

Historic Maps Works Library Edition is an exclusive distribution and development partnership between ProQuest and Historic Map Works, which brings the collection to libraries globally.