WWI Military Maps

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Origin of the Collection:

In the early 1970s, McMaster University Library acquired a World War I collection of archival material. Included in this collection were over 400 World War I military maps which now reside in the William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections.

Content:

• Most of the maps were produced by the British Ordnance Survey for the Allied forces, although a few German, French and other maps purchased privately by officers exist within the collection.
• They range in scale from very detailed operations maps used for trench raids to very broad overview maps used to show the entire front.
• The majority of the collection is made up of 1:10,000 scale "trench maps ", 1:20,000 scale "artillery maps", and 1:40,000 scale "officer's planning maps".
• The bulk of the collection is from the latter part of the war in the years 1917 and 1918 when map production had increased dramatically. Many are of the Canadian sector of the front during the so-called "Last Hundred Days" of the war (August 1918 - November 1918).

Requesting a Paper Print or Digital Image:

"Screen-captures" of maps and photos are permitted free of charge provided they are used for individual research and educational purposes only and that McMaster University Library is properly cited as the source of the image.

Reproductions of maps and air photos in McMaster’s World War I Military Collection are available for purchase in most cases where digital images appear in our webpage indexes (http://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/ww1/home.htm).

There may be instances when reproduction is not possible because of copyright restrictions, size of the original material or possible damage to the archival material.

For more information click here or on the "Request an Image" link in the left navigation bar.

Map Reference Numbers

Symbols

Information Appearing in the Margins

Abbreviations

Evolution of Mapping on the Western Front