Historical County Maps
Maps created in a particular year a genealogist has interest in is worth its weight in gold. The Evans Map Room has maps drawn at various time periods in United States history.
However, we also have software which allows a user to create a historical county map of any of the contiguous states. You can pick a year and see a map of the state as it looked during that year. This is particular helpful because counties changed their boundaries and their names. You can also plot cities and towns to make their importance more relevant to readers of your genealogies.
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AniMap 3.0 with SiteFinder U.S. place name database
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Call Number: Evans Map Room CD-ROM G 1201 .A1 E88 2008This software displays maps showing all the changing county boundaries in the 48 adjacent states for every year from colonial times to the present. It includes searchable databases with over 800,000 locations including cities, towns, churches, schools, cemeteries, courthouses, and historical sites. New overlays show rivers & streams, railroads, and township/range grids for the public land states. The latitude longitude readout can be displayed as traditional degrees/minutes or as decimal degrees to conform with most GPS output.
You can only use the software in the Evans Map Room or purchase a copy of it for your own personal use from Goldbug. -
SiteFinder
Call Number: Online resourceA version of SiteFinder is now available online. You can search for specific types of sites such as cemetaries or schools and plot those sites on a Google Earth map.
Atlas of Historical County Boundaries from the Newberry Library
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Atlas of Historical County BoundariesFrom the Newberry Library in Chicago, this is a new product available online to download. These downloadable zipped files contain additional files with the shape files.
Maps from Animap
Here are some simple maps of New England states showing extent from the late 17th century to the 20th century.
Acknowledgement
(Text and resources taken from the print edition of: Jaccaud, Robert D, comp. Passages to Family History: A Guide to Genealogical Research in the Dartmouth College Library. Rev. ed. Hanover: Dartmouth College Library, 1994).