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Cartographic Resources at Stanford

Stanford has an exceptional collection of cartographic resources for use in scholarship.

These resources come in three primary formats: physical material, digital map images, and geospatial datasets and webmaps.

Primary formats

Physical maps, atlases, and globes

Most of our physical maps are housed in two libraries: the David Rumsey Map Center and Branner Earth Science Library & Map Collections. The Rumsey Center primarily specializes in rare and historic material that needs special care and must be viewed by appointment in the center. Branner primarily houses more contemporary (20th c. and newer) material which can usually be checked out. Depending on your research topic you may find useful maps in both collections. Library staff in both branches are available to help you locate and work with relevant collection material regardless of where it is physically stored.

Digital images of maps

Digital map images can be used in a variety of ways and incorporated into web-based interactives, presentations, and storytelling platforms.

Digital map images are even more useful when they have been georeferenced, meaning that information about the location of the place represented on the map has been incorporated into the digital file. This enables mapmaking software to correctly layer the map image over a contemporary base map so it can be combined with other geospatial information.

Much of the material in our collections has been scanned and the images made available for use in various applications. We do not yet have digital images for everything in the collections but new material is added on an ongoing basis.

Some collections are digital only, and Stanford does not possess the physical items. These images are acquired through digital philanthropy, where owners of maps allow us to use images of their collection materials.

Library staff can help you locate existing digital map images, get material scanned, georeference map images if necessary, and select and learn to use the right software tools for your project.

Geospatial datasets and web maps

Accessible through the Earthworks data portal, Stanford’s collections include over 100k spatial datasets and cartographic resources, with over 60,000 of those freely available under permissive licensing. Through licensing agreements the Stanford Geospatial Center provides access to additional external datasets like Planet.com’s daily image of the Earth and those provided by SimplyAnalytics, a web-based mapping application using thousands of U.S. demographic, business, and marketing variables. Library and Stanford Geospatial Center staff are available to help you find and use relevant datasets, employ related tools like geocoding services, and select and learn to use Geographic Information System (GIS) software to create maps and data visualizations.

Types of Cartographic Information

Stanford Libraries continually evaluates and improves its collections of information resources based on the needs of our researchers, educators, and learners. Below are some of the different types of collections you will find in the library.

Links at the end of each section lead to material in Stanford Libraries’ collections unless otherwise indicated.

Atlases

“An atlas is a collection of information in a graphic format, consisting of text, tables, graphs, and accompanying maps used to describe an area. It provides a comprehensive look at a geographical region, whether the world, a country, a state or province, a county or city, or specific areas of interest such as a watershed or park.”

“General atlases…show physical and political features of individual countries or groups of countries, highlighting topics such as physical geography, economic activities, demographics, and climate.”

“Thematic atlases cover a specific subject, such as geology, hydrology, military history, ornithology, climatology, railroads, land ownership, land use, (or) forestry…(and) concentrate on a specific area, which can range from a small community, to a continent.”

Typically “atlases are categorized by scale: continent, nation, state or province, and county.”1

Topographic, City, and Town Maps

“Topographic maps are general-purpose maps that are detailed and accurate graphic representations of both human-made and natural features on the earth’s surface, including toponyms, administrative boundaries, and cultural, hydrographical, relief, and vegetation-based information.” 2

“City and town maps depict urban areas, recording the evolution and growth of cities over time…This map category includes cadastral maps, land ownership plans that show boundaries and ownership of land including owner names, parcel numbers, certificate of title numbers, positions of existing structures, lot numbers, and more.” 3

Railroad, Road, and Other Transportation Maps

“(Historic) maps that show specific, established routes of travel, whether by road, rail, waterway, or flight line, are a great way to see what the options for past journeys might have been and to narrow down the specifics of possible point to point routes via a particular mode in a certain period of time and place.” 4

Geological Maps

“Geological maps represent the distribution of rock formations beneath the soil and other materials on the earth’s surface. … Many kinds of geological maps exist, including those emphasizing surficial features, bedrock and sediment, subsurface rocks, and geophysical features such as heat flow and gravity…Geological mapping is conducted mostly by government agencies at the national (e.g. USGS) and state levels.” 5

“Geologic maps often serve as the foundation or starting point for derivative or topical research such as resource studies (groundwater, energy, metallic and industrial minerals) and geohazard portfolios. Today most geologic maps are produced in digital forms such as geographic information system (GIS) databases, downloadable Internet files, and interactive website maps that provide users with many options, increasing availability and usefulness.” 6

Sanborn Maps and Other Fire Insurance Plans

Sanborn Fire Insurance maps are a “uniform series of large-scale maps, dating from 1867 to the present and depicting the commercial, industrial, and residential sections of some twelve thousand cities and towns in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The maps were designed to assist fire insurance agents in determining the degree of hazard associated with a particular property and therefore show the size, shape, and construction of dwellings, commercial buildings, and factories as well as fire walls, locations of windows and doors, sprinkler systems, and types of roofs. The maps also indicate widths and names of streets, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers.” 7

Because of their detail and uniformity over time, these maps are now heavily used to study the history of a place by historians, genealogists, urban planners, and ethnic studies. Stanford Libraries holds maps mainly of California and has scanned those that are out of copyright.

Aerial Photos

“Aerial photography became an important part of the mapmaking process in the twentieth century. Aerial photographs provide a straightforward depiction of the physical and cultural landscape of an area at a given time. When skillfully interpreted, these aerial images supply geographers, historians, ecologists, geologists, urban planners, archaeologists, and other professionals with a pictorial basis often critical to their studies. Increasingly, members of the legal profession have used aerial photography in the settlement of cases involving property disputes, riparian rights, and transportation rights-of-way.” 8

Bird’s-Eye View Maps

“A bird’s-eye view map is an elevated oblique-angled view of a geographic area from above, often drawn from a photograph. … They are an artist’s representation of what a specific geographic area looked like at a specific point in time and are generally not drawn to scale.”

A bird’s-eye view “provides large-scale detailed drawings of residential and industrial buildings, trees, gardens, horse-drawn carriages, even ships and trains. The details seen in these drawings enable researchers to see whether homes had garages, additions, and trees, as well as to determine the street names at the time of production.”9

Geospatial Data Sources

“Geographic information generally consists of facts, data and/or exidence pertaining to events, activities and things located on (or near) the surface of the earth.” 10

Datasets include the kinds of information seen on paper maps but made available as numeric or text values associated with locations and attributes, and arranged as tabular data or grouped in database files.

Gazetteers

Gazetteers provide exact latitude and longitude for cities, towns, and geographic places, along with population statistics where relevant.

  • Guide to Gazetteers

  • Gazetteers, Chapter 16 in Dodsworth 2018 (external link)
    Organized into lists for Canada at national, provincial, and county level, and the US at national and state level.

Bibliographies

“A bibliography is a list of resources, such as books, articles, maps, and other documents, that share a common principle such as subject, authorship, place of publication, or publisher. Bibliographies can play a large role in the research process, providing users with reading lists, threads for further information, sources of reliable material, and assistance for developing collections in new areas. For researchers who are studying specific subjects, a bibliography dedicated to that subject provides a comprehensive listing of related materials. Researchers studying cartography or GIS may benefit from a list of, for example, air photos published for a specific geographic region or a list of all historical topographic maps published within a given year. Not only is this comprehensive, specialized list an excellent way to begin the research process, but, for many, it is all that is needed to find the relevant resources.” 11

Other Significant Collections

David Rumsey Collection

David Rumsey began collecting maps in the mid 1980s and continues to expand his collection, now entrusted to Stanford Libraries, to this day. The collection spans the 16th to 21st centuries and includes atlases, wall maps, globes, school geographies, pocket maps, books of exploration, aerial photographs, maritime charts, artists’ works, and a variety of other cartographic materials. The physical material is held in the David Rumsey Map Center in Green Library.

Conrad Collection on Dutch Waterways

The Conrad Collection on Dutch Waterways is the personal collection of Jan Frederik Willem Conrad, a 19th century Dutch engineer and former chief inspector of Rijkswaterstaat. Included in this collection are cartographic and technical materials that document the construction of the Dutch waterway and coastal infrastructure during the 17th to 20th centuries.

Gaihozu: Japanese Military Maps

Japanese military and imperial maps, referred to as gaihozu, or “maps of outer lands” were produced starting in the early Meiji (1868-1912) era and the end of World War II by the Land Survey Department of the General Staff Headquarters, the former Japanese Army. The first charge was to map specific territories beyond Japan’s borders. Over time the mapping efforts grew to including “mapping of interimperial boundaries, cadastral surveys of the colonies, and detailed drawings of strategic cities and fortifications.” Geographically the Stanford maps cover a broad area including Japan, China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, the Philippines, and beyond.

California as an Island

Between 1500 and 1750, European cartographers frequently represented California as an island on their maps. Stanford Libraries hold more than 800 of these maps, most of which were acquired from Glen McLaughlin by the university in 2012.

Maps of Africa

Stanford’s Maps of Africa Collection became a major research resource in August of 2001 with the acquisition of the Oscar I. Norwich Collection of Maps of Africa and its islands, 1486 – ca. 1900. This acquisition added 316 maps to Stanford’s existing holdings of Maps of Africa. The collection nearly doubled in size in 2010 with the purchase of 294 maps from Caroline Batchelor. In 2011 a small set of maps was acquired from Rodney Shirley. In addition, Stanford currently has digital maps from the Barry Lawrence Ruderman Collection, the David Rumsey Map Collection, and the University of Cape Town Collections.

Antarctic Radar Film Digitization Project

This work is the culmination of an international effort to recover, scan, and publicly release a collection of historic airborne radar observations of the Antarctic Ice Sheet acquired nearly a half century ago, providing the scientific community with public access to the full resolution version of the earliest continental-wide survey of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and its subsurface. This effort extends the available ice-sheet-scale observations of Antarctica from the early 2000s to the 1970s, providing a critical window into the coupled glaciological, geological, biological, and climatological processes of the Antarctic system over the multi-decadal timescales needed for generating actionable climate projections in assessments like the IPCC.

Barry Lawrence Ruderman Digital Map Collection

The Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection is an actively growing collection of more than 20,000 digital scans created from material that has passed through the map dealership of Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps, Inc. The content focuses primarily on Western European and North American cartographers and printers dating from the late 1400’s to the 1950’s.

  1. Eva Dodsworth’s A Research Guide to Cartographic Resources p53 ↑

  2. Dodsworth p93 ↑

  3. Dodsworth p95 ↑

  4. The New York Public Library’s Historical Travels: Maps research guide (external link) ↑

  5. Dodsworth p123 ↑

  6. The Utah Geological Survey’s Practical Uses Of Geologic Maps (external link) ↑

  7. Introduction to the Collection, Library of Congress ↑

  8. National Archives Aerial Photography collection webpage ↑

  9. Dodsworth p223 ↑

  10. Geographic Information; Organization, Access, and Use, Bishop and Grubesic 2016 ↑

  11. Dodsworth p311 ↑