Access is available on and off campus to current McMaster University students, faculty and staff.
This database is available at McMaster through April 2022 as part of the ProQuest Access & Build pilot project.
Coverage: 1867 to 1970
Contains more than 660,000 Sanborn maps that chart the growth and development of more than 12,000 U.S. towns and cities over a century. Sanborn maps are large-scale plans of a city or town, drawn at a scale of 50 feet to an inch. They were created to assist fire insurance companies as they assessed the risk associated with insuring a particular property.
The maps typically include building outline, size and shape, windows and doors, street and sidewalk widths, boundaries, and property numbers. Plans often include details on construction materials and building use and also depict pipelines, railroads, wells, water mains, dumps, and other features likely to affect the property's vulnerability to earthquake, fire, and flood.
Browse for maps by state, city, date and volume (edition). Once displayed, the maps can be manipulated, expanded, printed, and downloaded.
