50 Websites for Finding Maps

Topographic maps and soil maps should help us identify a community, including neighbors, ferries, mills, cemeteries, historic houses, and many other landmarks. By using a combination of resources, the picture of this community will be more visible and more clearly understood.

This presentation will suggest strategies to correlate large amounts of information often developed in urban research, with a significant emphasis on the use of cartographic resources. Generally, researchers of urban settings have an abundance of sources to consider. Many times, the challenge is to connect and analyze multiple, even overwhelming, amounts of information. A variety of resources will be discussed, especially, cadastral maps (land ownership), Sanborn fire insurance maps and city directories.

The library holds the world’s largest collection of maps—over 5.2 million maps according to their website. This webinar will describe the collections most valuable for genealogical research. We are going to explore the online resources and how they can help our research. Exploring the phenomenal learning resources is also on the agenda. We will also talk about finding aids, research guides, reproduction capabilities, and alternative ways to access the map collections. Lastly, we will discuss the resources that are only available onsite, such as the cartographic library, cartographic exhibits, and other unique holdings.

A survey of both online and physical map repositories located in the Washington, DC, area is presented in this webinar.

Learn to use these new tools to expand your research tools. GIS (geographic information system) is a database of geographic information. Google Earth is an example of a large and very sophisticated GIS application.

Every ancestor, at every moment, occupied a specific, physical location. Maps decode and amplify the significance of those locations by providing context and background information. This heavily illustrated lecture shows examples of the map types best-suited to genealogy, and the syllabus provides links to quality online sources for those maps....

Military maps have some obvious value to the family researcher. If our person of interest was in a military unit or fought in a battle we might want to understand the battle or locate his unit, knowing he was there at that time and place.

Why did people migrate from one location to another? What routes did they follow, and how can identifying migration trails help you find your ancestors? Learn from maps and historical details how to follow the trail of your ancestors into and out of the Southern states.

In this webinar, you will discover genealogy research methods for finding your ancestor's point of origin. Learn how to use tools such as maps, atlases, and gazetteers to research localities through place name changes and ever-shifting political and geographical boundaries.