Maps: A “Must Have” Item for Genealogists

RUSA Genealogy Preconference Las Vegas, Nevada

June 27, 2014

Katherine RankinSpecial Collections [and maps] Cataloger,

Libraries’ Genealogy LibGuide creatorUniv. of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries

Parts of a mapScale

Coordinates

Coordinates

Image from Wikipedia

Projection

Relief

Legend

Types of MapsPolitical

1861

Types of MapsPolitical

1856

Political map--Nevada

1863

Types of MapsPolitical

1856

Political map--Nevada

1867

Thematic

Panorama

Cadastral

Cadastral

Image courtesy of the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries

Cadastral

Image courtesy of the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries

Google Earth

Google Earth

Trail Maps

Census District Enumeration Maps

http://stevemorse.org/census/

1940 Census Page

Google Earth

Cemetery location

"Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin."

City maps showing cemetery

"Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin."

Forest Cemetery Map—Circleville, Ohio

Cemetery maps

Roseville, Ohio

Topographic maps

Geo-rectified maps

Home Owners’ Loan Corporation

Map Mistakes

From blog about strange maps posted by Frank Jacobs on February 11, 2014

Cartographic toolsGazetteers

Print:• U.S. Board on Geographic Names—Gazetteer of Convention Names for United

States. Other titles for other countries• Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America• Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World• Times Index-Gazetteer of the World Online:• US Gazetteer – Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer

Place names

• Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)http://geonames.usgs.gov/

• GEOnet Names Server http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/index.html

• National Geospatial Intelligence Agency https://www.nga.mil/Pages/default.aspx

More cartographic tools

• Topographical dictionariesHistorical; often a lot of information about a locale; like

Victorian England.Example: Topographical Dictionary of England • Directories

Reverse, postal, telephone books

• AtlasesA book of maps--Current and historical

More map web sites

• Map History/History of Cartographyhttp://www.maphistory.info

How to locate map collections

Print:• Map Collections in the United States and Canada: a Directory, edited by David K.

Carrington and Richard W. Stephenson, 4th ed., Special Libraries Association, 1985 • Guide to U.S. Map Resources, Map and Geography Round Table of the American

Library Association, edited by Christopher J.J. Thiry, 3rd ed., Scarecrow Press, 2006 Online:• The John R. Borchert Map Library at the University of Minnesota website:• https://www.lib.umn.edu/borchert

Online map gateways

• Cyndi's List - Maps, Gazetteers, & Geographical Informationhttp://www.cyndislist.com/maps.htm

• Old Maps Onlinehttps://sites.google.com/site/oldmapsonlineorg

Public libraries• Library of Congresshttp://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/

• New York Public Libraryhttp://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/map-division

Sources of maps: Major map collections

Academic libraries

• American Geographical Society Library, Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/digilib/maps/index.html

• Perry Castañeda Map Library, University of Texas (Austin)http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/index.html

• Alexandria Digital Library, Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbarahttp://alexandria.sdc.ucsb.edu/

Academic libraries--Nevada

University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries’ digital map collection Southern Nevada: History in Mapshttp://digital.library.unlv.edu/collections/maps

University of Nevada, Reno Libraries’ digital map collectionNevada in Mapshttp://www.delamare.unr.edu/maps/digitalcollections/nvmaps/Default.htm

Private map libraries

• Newberry Library (Chicago)http://newberry.org/collections/mapoverview.html

• LDS Family Library Cataloghttps://familysearch.org/catalog-search

Archives

• National Archives and Records Administration. Cartographic & Architectural Branch

http://www.archives.gov/research/formats/cartographic.html

• Bureau of Land Management. Land & Mineral Recordshttp://www.blm.gov/lr2000/

US General Land Office (GLO)

Federal maps • US General Land Office (GLO)http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/Visitors/GLO.asp

• National Mapping Information - USGS (United States Geological Survey)

http://mapping.usgs.gov/

• Bureau of Land Management. Land & Mineral Records

http://www.blm.gov/lr2000/

Archives

• National Archives and Records Administration. Cartographic & Architectural Branch

http://www.archives.gov/research/formats/cartographic.html

• Bureau of Land Management. Land & Mineral Recordshttp://www.blm.gov/lr2000/

US General Land Office (GLO)

Archives

National Archives and Records Administration. Cartographic & Architectural Branchhttp://www.archives.gov/research/start/by-format.html#cartographic

Museums, historical societies, private collections

• David Rumsey Historical Map Collectionhttp://www.davidrumsey.com/

• Oregon Historical Societyhttp://www.ohs.org/

Where to buy maps

• Can buy maps from federal agencies from U.S. Geological Surveyhttp://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/b2c/start/%28xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd%29/.do

• International Map Trade Association http://www.imiamaps.org/

• Omnimap.com http://www.omnimap.com

• East View Geospatial http://www.geospatial.com/

• There is a map store here in Las Vegas:Gotta Getta Map at 1566 Western Avenue (NW corner of Oakey and Western) 702-678-6277

• Other cities also have independent map stores

• Rand McNally has stores in some cities and also sells maps online

Buy at a local store

Learning more about using maps in genealogy

Genealogy “guidebooks’ may have a section on using maps:• ‘Geographic Tools: Maps, Atlases, and Gazetteers’ by Carol Mehr Schiffman in

Printed Sources, a Guide to Published Genealogical Records, edited by Kory L. Meyerink, published by Ancestry in 1998

• Chapter 19, ‘Cartographic Records’ in Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives of the United States, edited by Anne Bruner Eales and Robert M. Kvasnicka, 3rd ed., published by the National Archives and Records Administration in 2000

• Online maps information• http://geography.about.com/od/understandmaps/Understand_Maps_and_Cartography.ht

m

Advantages of electronic maps

• Increased access to map collections

• Allow user to select and display information for a particular geographic area or on particular themes

• Easier to produce maps and to revise them; genealogists can include them in publications

• Computers can also help us manipulate data derived from traditional maps in increasingly sophisticated ways (GIS and historical mapping)

Advantages of print maps

• Can see the "whole“

• Nothing replaces the experience of seeing and handling the “original”

Disadvantages of electronic maps

• Web is not necessarily organized and easy to use; quality and reliability of content can vary greatly

• Usually only a small portion of map can displayed at any give time; can be hard to use without having entire map available

• Size of file and download time can cause problems

• Image quality can be poor for a number of technical reasons

• Map files can take a long time to transmit, especially without a high-speed network

Disadvantages of print maps

• Can be difficult to handle because of size and condition

• Can be hard to locate collections because of inadequate cataloging

• Perhaps less accessible – private collections, visiting foreign libraries, etc

Credits

Images not otherwise credited are from UNLV’s Special Collections and most are from our digital map project.

Where to go for more information

• MAGIRT—Map and Geospatial Information Round Table of ALA

http://www.ala.org/magirt/

• WAML-Western Association of Map Librarieshttp://www.waml.org/

Questions?

Katherine RankinSpecial Collections Catalog Librarian

University of Nevada, Las Vegas Librarieskatherine.rankin@unlv.edu

702-895-2224