-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Newibrary of Congress website New online edition of "Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress" Date: Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:11:56 -0400 From: Edward James Redmond <[log in to unmask]> To: Maphist <[log in to unmask]>, Maps-l <[log in to unmask]> The Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, is pleased to announce the addition of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Online Checklist, an online version of the popular but out-of-print Library publication entitled "Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress: Plans of North American Cities and Towns produced by the Sanborn Map Company (Library of Congress, 1981). The new website can be accessed directly via http://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/sanborn/ The printed volume, and now the online version, describe the nearly 700,000 sheet collection of maps published by the Sanborn Map Company from 1867 to the 1960’s in the Library's collection, the single largest and most comprehensive collection of maps published by the Sanborn Map Company. These maps were acquired by the Library as a result of copyright deposits, government agency transfers, and gifts. For those who may be unaware, fire insurance maps and plans show detailed, accurate and large scale building “footprints” of individual structures and are often the earliest large scale urban mapping available for small cities. In addition to a searchable database which lists all editions and number of sheets for each city/town/village represented in the collection, the online checklist will be continually updated to reflect new acquisitions. Most importantly, the online checklist contains links to existing downloadable digital images from the collection and will be continually updated as new digital images are added to the online checklist. The web site includes essays on the history of large scale mapping related to fire insurance efforts and examples of how large scale maps can be used by historians, geographers, and researchers in virtually any discipline. For additional information contact Ed Redmond, Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division at [log in to unmask]