Highlights from the 20,000+ maps made freely available online by New York Public Library

The New York Public Library have made available online, free from all restrictions, high resolution copies of more than 20,000 historic maps. Containing maps from the 16th through to the early 20th century, the collection focuses mainly on the United States, particularly New York, but also features maps from other countries. The images of Manhattan and surrounding boroughs offer a fascinating snapshot of the development of one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The maps can be viewed through the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections page, and downloaded, through the Map Warper - a wonderful project which aims to make historic maps viewable as overlays on modern maps. Here's our highlights from the collection, focusing on maps made of New York City.

Medium

Images

Theme

Maps

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Epoch

Tags

	Source	New York Public Library

More New York Public Library content on PDR (33)

	Underlying Work Rights	PD U.S.
	Digital Copy Rights	No Additional Rights Labelled “Free to use without restriction" or “public domain” by source See their general rights page We offer this info as guidance only
	Download	Right click on image or search on Map Warper for higher res versions

Central Park (1863) - Source.

Aerial survey, Manhattan Island, New York City (1921) - Source.

New York City, Zoning, 1915 (1)Tentative Use Districts (2) Tentative Height Districts - Source.

Preliminary Study for the Design of Morningside Park (1873) - Source.

Revised general plan for Morningside Park, to accompany report by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux (1887) - Source.

Public squares, parks and places in the city of New York (1852) - Source.

Map of the City of New York, showing its political divisions and subdivisions (1870) - Source.

Plan of the Bronx International Exposition, East 177th Street, Borough of the Bronx, New York City (1916) - Source.

The Narrows Tunnel: chart of borings (1922) - Source.

The West End Plateau of the city of New York (1879) - Source.

New York City map. Including an index to the streets of New York and Brooklyn (1857) - Source.

(Would you like this on your wall? We made it into a giant poster which you can buy here from our online shop.)