New York Maps

United States   New York    Maps

The New York State Library, New York State Archives, New York Public Library, New-York Historical Society, and most university and public libraries in major cities have extensive map collections. The Family History Library has few original maps but has many on microfilm and microfiche.

Detailed patent maps may show where early settlers lived. An inventory of these is David Ellicott Evans Mix, Catalogue of Maps and Surveys in the Offices of the Secretary of State, State Engineer and Surveyor and Comptroller and the New York State Library (Albany, New York: Charles van Benthuysen, 1859; Family History Library film ; or ). The New York State Archives also has a finding aid that lists the location of specific patent maps.

Street and ward maps are extremely helpful in doing research in city records. Successful census research often depends on finding maps that show ward boundaries, enumeration districts, or election districts. A large collection of pre-1900 ward maps for every major American city, including Albany, Brooklyn, Buffalo, New York, and Rochester, is Ward Maps of United States Cities (Family History Library film ; microfiche ). A helpful atlas for New York City research is Hagstrom Map Co., Hagstrom New York City 5 Borough Atlas, 22 edition.(Maspeth, New York: Hagstrom Map, 1987; Family History Library book ).

An important set of maps at the Library of Congress is available at the Family History Library on microfiche. The Land Ownership Map Collection contains 109 maps for New York counties, showing the names of landowners and the location of their property (Family History Library fiche ). They date from 1668–1899 but most are from the 1850s. They are listed in the Family History Library Catalog Locality Search under UNITED STATES - MAPS. A description of each map is found in Richard W. Stephenson, Land Ownership Maps: A Checklist of Nineteenth Century United States County Maps in the Library of Congress (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1967; Family History Library book ).

United States Census Bureau State and County Map. This map will allow you to zoom in on any state or county in the United States and read the names of all of the neighboring counties.

A simple outline map of New York counties is provided by the University of Texas, or by digital-topo-maps.com, or by NY Gen Web.

'''County and Town Formation and Boundary Changes ===


 * For maps showing county and town formation in New York, see:

Thorndale, William and William Dollarhide. Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790–1920. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1987. (Family History Library book .)

County Formations and Minor Civil Divisions of the State of New York. Series B, Number 4. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Genealogical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1978. (Family History Library book Ref Series B, no. 4; fiche .)


 * For maps showing the county boundary changes in the New York City area, see:

Thorne, Kathryn Ford, compiler. New York Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. New York, New York: Simon &amp; Schuster, 1993. (Family History Library book .) Maps show when and where each county changed boundaries from colonial times to 1990.

Topographic Maps
To find 7.5-, 15-, and 30-minute topographic quadrangle maps for New York published between 1884 and 1972, use:

United States Geological Survey. Topographic Maps of the United States: Historical Reference File. Suitland, Maryland: National Archives and Records Service, 1978. The maps are arranged alphabetically by the name of the quadrangle:

To get the name of the quadrangle, use the Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America, mentioned in New York Gazetteers.
 * Adams-Buffalo (Family History Library film )
 * Buffalo-Cambridge (Family History Library film )
 * Cuyler-Grindstone (Family History Library film )
 * Grindstone-Ithaca (Family History Library film )
 * Kasoag-Monticello (Family History Library film )
 * Mt. Marcy-Owla Head (Family History Library film )
 * Oxford-Port Jarvis (Family History Library film )
 * Rochester-Roxbury (Family History Library film )
 * Stoney Creek-Yankee Lake (Family History Library film )

You can order topographic maps from:

Branch of Distribution U.S. Geological Survey 507 National Center Reston, VA 22092 Telephone: 703-648-6045 Internet: http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/

United States/Canadian Map Service P.O. Box 249 Neenah, WI 54957-0249 Telephone: 414-731-0101 Internet: http://www.gvsu.edu/library/govdoc/index.cfm?id=A4623179-DD2F-55E1-544D0EB814FE6111

Web Sites

 * http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/


 * http://www.archives.nysed.gov/aindex.shtml


 * http://www.nypl.org/


 * https://www.nyhistory.org/web/


 * http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/

Printable maps are also available from the National Atlas of the United States -- http://nationalatlas.gov/printable.html