Booklist Online: More than 130,000 book reviews for librarians, book groups, and book lovers - from the trusted experts at the American Library Association

Historical atlases are a useful, if ancillary, part of the history reference collection, complementing encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other sorts of reference tools. Two standard examples are the Atlas of World History published by Oxford University Press, and the Times Atlas of World History published by Hammond. At one time these were considered “must-haves” for most reference collections, but they haven’t been updated in awhile, perhaps because of the availability of  free digital alternatives. University of Oregon’s Mapping History Project, for example, is very much like a traditional historical atlas, but with animation and interactivity.  

Thanks to digitization, a whole world of archival maps is now available to students and researchers. Map History/ History of Cartography (maintained by a retired British Library map librarian) and the Web site of the Perry-Castaneda Library map collection at the University of Texas are good gateways. Historic Map Works is a huge collection that can be browsed and searched for free, although there is a charge for “premium features” such as printing and downloading. Historic Map Works has partnered with ProQuest to distribute Historic Map Works Library Edition. 

There is still a place for print atlases, especially if they tell a compelling story. Two interesting specialized historical atlases that recently came across my desk, Historical Atlas of the American West and National Geographic Atlas of the Civil War, are excellent examples of the kind of story I mean.  Historical Atlas of the American West includes not only archival geographical maps but also special-purpose maps created by railroad companies, real estate developers, and tourist bureaus. National Geographic Atlas of the Civil War combines rare period items (many published here for the first time) with new views commissioned by the National Geographic Society.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 11:50 am and is filed under Reference Sources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.