Sanborn Maps
About Sanborn Maps
Sanborn Maps were produced by the Sanborn Map Company during the 19th and 20th centuries for use by fire insurance companies in urban areas of the United States and some other countries. These details maps plotted out each structure on each street, waterways, railroads, parks, etc. These provide an excellent look back in time at a city or other urban area, and can be overlaid on top of present day maps using tools like Google Earth.
This 9 minute video by the Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation uses a case study to explain Sanborn Maps and demonstrate how to analyze them to research the history of a site.
Library of Congress Collection
The Library of Congress provides free access to Sanborn Maps that reside in the public domain. Many of these have been digitized and are available online.
- LOC Sanborn Maps Online: All Los Angeles CountyThis search query displays a subset of the Library of Congress online Sanborn Maps collection filtered on all of Los Angeles County. These digitized maps are in the public domain and are freely available online.
- LOC Sanborn Maps Online: By Los Angeles County CommunitiesThis search query allows you to filter on just a particular Los Angeles County community, within the Library of Congress online Sanborn Maps collection. These digitized maps are in the public domain and are freely available online.
Other Map Collections
General Maps
- Library of Congress Digitized Maps: Los Angeles CountyThe Library of Congress provides free access to several digitized map collections that reside in the public domain and are available online. This includes Sanborn Maps as well as other collections. This search query filters on those pertaining to Los Angeles County. Review the Rights & Access terms on each item record.
- Calisphere: Digitized MapsCalisphere includes digitized maps from the University of California campuses, as well as other libraries and archives from throughout California. This query is for a general search on the term "maps," which is a good starting place. Some of the digitized items reside in the public domain. You need to consult the Rights Information on each item record to determine if the item is in the public domain, or if you need to contact the contributing institution for usage information.
- California State Archives: Diseños CollectionWithin the Diseños Collection there are 493 hand-drawn sketch maps, or diseños, that were created from approximately 1866-1871. These sketch maps were hand-copied from originals that were created from approximately 1827-1846. These images are freely available to use for non-commercial purposes.
- Calisphere: DiseñosCalisphere includes digitized diseños (maps for Spanish and Mexican land grants) from the University of California campuses, as well as other libraries and archives from throughout California. This query is for a general search on the term "diseño," which is a good starting place. Some of the digitized items reside in the public domain. You need to consult the Rights Information on each item record to determine if the item is in the public domain, or if you need to contact the contributing institution for usage information.
U.S. Census Geography Tools
- FamilySearch: United States Enumeration District Maps for the Twelfth through the Sixteenth US Censuses, 1900-1940 (FREE)Enumeration district maps for the 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940 censuses digitized from NARA microfilm. These are not indexed or searchable by state, territory, county, locality, or street names. The collections is broken into smaller sub-collections organized online by state name (A-Z) with territories listed last. Census years are mixed together. Find the waypoint for your state and county of interest and review that sub-collection image-by-image to identify maps of interest.
- FamilySearch: U.S. Census Enumeration District Descriptions (FREE)This series of collections have been digitized from NARA microfilm. These provide written descriptions of census tract divisions, not actual maps, for the following decennial censuses: 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1910, 1920, and 1930.
- NARA: Enumeration District and Related Maps, 1880–1990 (FREE)The Bureau of the Census prepared these maps in advance of each decennial census, starting with 1880, to control population data collection. The 1940 and 1950 digitized maps are available to view in the NARA Catalog. Searching within the series by census year + county + state (ex: 1950 + Los Angeles County + California) and narrow it down more by adding the city or town (ex: 195- + Los Angeles County + California + Long Beach).