Historical Maps Online archives over 400 digitized historical maps and topographical descriptions from Illinois and the Northwest Territory from 1650 to 1976. A joint project between the University of Illinois Library and the University of Illinois Press, it is part of the Digital Imaging Initiative that was established to provide digital access to the University of Illinois Library's collections. Most of the maps used in the project are from the Map and Geography Library and the Rare Book and Special Collection Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign. Select maps are from the Newberry Library, an independent research library in Chicago that houses an extensive collection of rare books, maps, and manuscripts. While most of the maps cover the state of Illinois and the Midwest, other geographic areas in North America are also included.
Users can browse the entire collection by thumbnails arranged in alphabetical title order or browse maps selected by preset themes such as former colonies in North America, early maps, Indians of North America, waterways, transportation, and specific states. Warner and Beer's Atlas of the State of Illinois (1876) as well as entire topographical descriptions are scanned into the database. The collection can also be searched by keyword. The search screen actually allows searching across several of the libraries digital collections, so it is necessary to limit the search to Historical Maps Online. Results can be viewed by the grid pattern (the default), by thumbnails, by bibliographic description or by the image title. The grid screen displays a thumbnail of the image, the title, the subject covered, and a brief bibliographic description. Clicking on the image or title will display a larger image and the full bibliographic record. Since details on these images are generally illegible, many images have a link in the bibliographic record that enables zoom viewing using MrSID technology. Choosing this option opens another window where two identical images are displayed side by side, one that remains static and one that can be magnified.
Maps can be marked as My Favorites for future viewing as a slide show or for side‐by‐side comparison of two images. HTML pages can be created to use in presentations, to send in an e‐mail, or to add to a web page. The help page is very useful for explaining how to use this feature. Users should be aware that the images are for educational use only such as faculty research, student projects, and instruction.
This site is an excellent source for researching the history of Illinois and the American Midwest. The images that are displayed are of good quality and the zooming feature allows examination of the smallest detail. The ability to create HTML pages will be especially useful for teachers and presenters. This site is recommended for any library serving researchers of American history as well as cartographers interested in historical maps.
