Most researchers are familiar with street maps. Street maps usually have a street index, and some may also show various public buildings, railroad lines and geographical features. In addition to determining the location of a particular street, these maps can be useful in finding cemeteries, churches and other local features, and may be helpful for locating ward boundaries for the 1900-1930 U.S. censuses. (Since some states are not indexed nor soundexed for these census years, determining the correct ward to search in can save a great deal of time.)

The NEHGS map collection includes a number of Boston area street maps and street maps from New England cities, as well as maps from around the country. NEHGS’ collection of Boston city street maps range from the early 1800s to the 1920s and some of these have been duplicated for census use on the fourth floor Microtext Reading Room. A recently published book, Mapping Boston, reproduces many street maps and historical maps of the city, and details the maps available in other nearby repositories. The majority of the NEHGS Boston map collection (including maps of towns around the Boston metro area) is cataloged and resides in the fifth floor map case.

The U.S. Geological Survey has been printing topographical maps of the country since the mid-twentieth century with frequent updates to show population growth and other changes. These maps show the contours of the land and other geographic features, but also show building locations, roads and other man-made structures. As these maps are updated, buildings are added and shorelines are re-defined, making different editions of the maps useful in showing population and geographic change. Topos (as they are often called) will be even of greater use in the future to genealogists as they try to trace twentieth century ancestors. These maps can give a sense of transportation routes and help determine the location of an ancestor’s house.

Many historical societies and state archives have reprinted early maps of their areas, and a number of these are in the map collection at NEHGS. State archives often reproduced the early hand-drawn maps of their states; these tend to have a topography not recognizable today mostly due to changing shorelines and the limited technology of cartographers in the colonial era. NEHGS has a small collection of early state maps, including a few for New England. Local historical societies often publish early maps of their towns and these tend to be of the most use to genealogists since the maps show landowners and their locations. A large number of these ‘landowner’ maps were published in the nineteenth century, but some historical societies researched the earliest landowners and published maps reflecting their town’s founding years. In addition, printed town histories are frequently the best source for early printed maps, as publishers of these histories often provided tipped-in maps in appendices, or on the end papers.

In addition to flat maps, the NEHGS Research Library has a number of atlases that are useful to genealogists. Several New England counties and cities published large atlases showing cemeteries, buildings (and their owners), parks, railroad lines, and city ward boundaries. These urban atlases (similar to Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps) are more detailed than street and topographical maps and provide an expanded view of town features. The NEHGS Library has a good number of these late nineteenth century atlases for Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, as well as some state atlases for the New England states.

John Long has edited several volumes of the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries series, which show the evolution of counties for various states. These books show, map by map, the changes in the boundary lines of each county of a state on a very detailed level. These volumes not only show what counties form from what parent counties, but also show any lands claimed by more than one state, e.g., Eastern Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, and any slight shifts in county lines. Not every state has been covered in this series yet, but most of the Eastern Coast has, including all of New England, New York, and New Jersey.

Many states have published historical atlases that cover aspects of the state’s history in a cartographic form. These atlases show various historical trends ranging from population changes, migration and settlement to railroad growth and economic activity. Although these atlases, such as The Historical Atlas of Massachusetts, cover a wider range of topics than what most genealogists will need, they are an essential reference tool for historians.