Fun Friday Resources

Let’s look at maps. They’re useful as images, of course, but writers also need maps: if you’re writing a book set in Newnan in 1900, or London in 1840, you want to make sure you get the street names right—and don’t place your characters in a building that doesn’t exist!

First, our very own Library of Congress has 37,000 maps for your research. All are downloadable.

Newnan, 1900. That blank spot in the center is where my house will be built in 29 years.

Next up is Europeana, the mega search engine of items and images from museums and collections all over Europe. Maps are here. If you’re just browsing, click on the Browse button on the search line and choose Images. A noteworthy feature of this site is that each item is clearly labeled with a “Can I use it?” line, answered with a simple YES or NO and the reason. You can also limit your search by copyright/usability.

For all your fantasy novels that use Malmö Citadel as a portal…

Finally, there’s the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection out at Stanford University with its 91,000 maps.

Here’s an 1810 map of the United States. (It curiously omits the Louisiana Purchase from 1803.)

Here’s the coolest thing about this website: When you find a map, like the one above, notice the View in Georeferencer button at the top of the page. When you click it:

…it overlays your map on the current state of the world. There’s even a slider where you can control the opacity of your map so you can see how badly the southern colonies were mapped. (Although to be fair, our boundaries were by no means certain; Georgia is still arguing over our border with Tennessee.) Go play with it.