----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I haven't seen the Hyde and Company maps, but I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss their importance to real estate salemen, particularly those specializing in commercial sales of vacant land, industrial/commercial structures, or leasing of either -- not all realtors sell houses. But another group that might have a specific use for these property maps could be title insurance companies (thus keeping the nomenclature "insurance maps" partially valid?). I have seen title companies using similar volumes published by the Hopkins Company of Philadelphia for general reference, while drawing their own detail maps for individual parcels and blocks. This identifies what may be the chief reason for the Hyde atlases: to provide the general business community (and no sub-set in particular) with parcel-based maps of their municipality containing more detail than available from common street maps published by city directory companies, oil companies, etc. That is, the detail was to support a *particular* segment of the business community, but rather to provide enough detail for *any and all* potential users. Incidentally, the Sanborn Company was recently written up in an issue of Historic Preservation magazine, the publication of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (I looked for the exact citation, in vain, but it was the summer or fall of 1993 sometime). The H-URBAN discussion list recently had a thread about Sanborn maps and their research value, which should be available in its archive. Inquire at the list's marvelous co-moderator Wendy Plotkin ([log in to unmask] psu.edu) for details. Bill Barrow [log in to unmask]