----------------------------Original message----------------------------
 
               State University of New York at Stony Brook
                       Stony Brook, NY 11794-3331
 
                                            David Y Allen
                                            Library-Reference
                                            516 632-7110
                                            22-Jul-1996 10:47am EDT
FROM:  DYALLEN
TO:    Remote Addressee                     ( [log in to unmask] )
 
Subject: Re.: Atlas of Historical County Boundaries
 
        The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries is a project of the Center
for Family and Community History of the Newberry Library and supported by a
grant from the NEH.  In spite of the strong credentials of this series, I think
it is a questionable purchase for map libraries.  Since it is being published
on a state by state basis, it is no bargain, although it might make sense to
buy the volume for your own state.  An alternative is William Thorndale and
William Dollarhide, _Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses_, which covers the
entire country.  Although the maps are more detailed in the Newberry series
(and cover a wider range of time), they are not necessarily more accurate.  In
fact, I found an error in the Newberry volume for New York which is avoided in
the Thorndale and Dollarhide volume.  For those who need to know which side of
a county boundary a particular street was on, there is still no substitute for
locally produced sheet maps.