The University of Chicago Map Collection: A Brief Guide

The University of Chicago Map Collection is one of the largest university map libraries in North America. Its 425,000 maps, 10,000 air photos, 2000 books, and hundreds of gigabytes of spatial data constitute a rich source of information for scholars and other users.

The following pages contain a brief guide to the Collection.

Collection Scope

The University of Chicago Map Collection has particularly strong holdings of: (1) topographic maps; (2) urban maps; and (3) thematic maps.

(1) Topographic Maps

More than half the sheets in the Collection are topographic maps: detailed accurate maps of small areas, usually produced by government agencies. They depict relief features, place names, transportation infrastructure, and settlement patterns; even individual houses are included on many series. For the scholar, topographic maps furnish an extraordinary record of both the built and the natural environment. The Collection's holdings cover the entire world but at different scales for different periods and places. The Collection holds an original copy of the 18th century Cassini map of France, said to be the world's first national topographic map set. For the 19th century, there are fairly good holdings for much of Western Europe and the United States. Coverage was extended to large parts of Latin America, Asia, and Africa during the Collection's first decade, 1929-1939, when about a third of its topographic maps were acquired. In some cases more detailed coverage is available for this period than for the years since. Another substantial part of the Collection's holdings was obtained as a result of the Army Map Service's depository program, which was particularly active between 1945 and the early 1960s. In recent years considerable effort has been put into updating topographic map holdings. During the 1980s contemporary topographic sets for much of Latin America as well as for certain other parts of the Third World were purchased. During the 1990s, the Collection began acquiring the newly available topographic maps of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, as well as Soviet topographic maps of the Middle East, China, India, North Korea, Malaysia, and elsewhere. Some effort has also been made to build on existing strengths, and the Collection now has 1:50,000 topographic coverage for most of Western Europe, Southern Canada, Mexico, interior India, and elsewhere, and 1:25,000 coverage for much of Great Britain, France, Nepal, and elsewhere.

(2) Urban Maps

Urban studies have always been a research concern at the University of Chicago, and the Map Collection has supported such research by acquiring urban maps from all periods for all parts of the world. Its holdings of 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century maps of European and American cities are particularly noteworthy. Recently, the historical urban-map collection has been enriched considerably by the systematic acquisition of facsimile sets of early maps of European cities and Soviet military urban maps of cities all over the Eastern Hemisphere. In addition to historical maps, the Collection holds contemporary maps of cities and towns in all countries, including numerous thematic maps (e.g., planning maps and transit maps). Its Chicago collection is respectable.

(3) Thematic Maps

Any phenomenon that is not spread uniformly over the surface of the earth is mappable. Maps focusing on the distribution of features of a particular sort are generally known as thematic maps. The Collection holds thematic maps of all types. Perhaps half are geology maps. Most continents, countries, and states are covered by at least small-scale maps. The Collection is a depository for geology maps published by the United States Geological Survey and the major geological surveys of Canada, Australia, South Africa, and several U.S. states and Canadian provinces. The Crerar legacy includes hundreds of 19th-century geology and mining maps. These will probably have little interest for modern geophysicists but furnish an extraordinary record of the history of geological thought. There are also additional thematic maps focussing on almost every other imaginable subject, e.g., cultural and economic geography, climatology, property ownership, and so on.

(4) Other Areas of Strength

The Collection has several additional areas of particular strength. For example, it probably has the most complete collection of Survey of India maps in North America. Its holdings of 18th-century maps of Germany are also quite good. It also maintains an excellent collection of nautical charts, including several generations of U.S. charts, a large number of British Admiralty charts, as well as contemporary or recent series from Canada, India, and Indonesia. Finally, as a depository of U.S. government maps, it has excellent coverage of national parks, forests and, other recreation areas.

Cataloging

The Map Collection's sheet map holdings are only partially cataloged. As of the fall of 2006, only about 60% of the titles in the Collection were fully cataloged. Since most existing records were derived from other libraries' records, older and rarer materials are particularly likely to be uncataloged. The best way to find out what the Collection holds is still to visit, write, call, or e-mail (see below, "Using the Map Collection").

Digital Data

Cartographic information has more and more come to be available as digital data. The Map Collection has been acquiring digital cartographic data since 1992. In addition to data, it holds software packages--including ArcView 3.3 and ArcGIS 9.3--that can be used to turn data into maps. It also has data-base management programs that can be used to manipulate data. The Collection also holds numerous stand-alone mapping packages that contain both data and software. It also has a printer for printing maps and a scanner for digitizing them. Cartographic Information in Digital Form at the University of Chicago Map Collection describes these resources in more detail.

Books

The Collection houses about a thousand atlases, including most major world, national, provincial and urban atlases as well as numerous thematic atlases. These "atlases" include an increasing number of bound sets of facsimile maps: such publications enable the user to fill the major gaps that are inevitable in any one collection. In addition, there are approximately five hundred reference books available, including most of the standard cartobibliographies. Finally, a modest travel collection is maintained. This contains both classics (e.g., WPA guides, Baedekers) and a representative selection of contemporary guidebooks.

Using the Map Collection

The Map Collection is located in room 370 of the Joseph Regenstein Library, 1100 E. 57th Street, Chicago 60637. Hours are Monday to Friday, 12 to 5. Telephone: (773) 702-8761 (a.m.: (773) 702-8147). E-mail: wintersc@uchicago.edu.

Many users want to copy maps. The Map Collection has an 11 x 17 inch photocopier with which one can make reasonable-quality black-and-white photocopies. It also has an Epson Twain scanner that allows users to create digital images of maps. These can be saved as files or printed on an 11 x 17 inch color printer. It is also possible to make arrangements to have larger scans or photographic copies made or to bring one's own camera.

Cartographic Materials Elsewhere at the University of Chicago Library:

Atlases

The Map Collection houses only about a quarter of the atlases at the University of Chicago Library. Most reading rooms have their own small atlas collections. Thus, for example, several business atlases are kept in the main reference collection; many historical atlases as well as most linguistic atlases are housed in the Third-Floor Reading Room; a few atlases of religion are found in the Fourth-Floor Reading Room; and some atlases of the Middle East, South Asia, the Far East and the Classical World are held in the Fifth-Floor Reading Room. In addition, Crerar Library holds many science atlases. Hundreds of additional atlases are kept in the Regenstein stacks, including most of the Library's U.S. and Canadian county atlases. Most early atlases are kept in Special Collections.

Maps in books

As in any research library, most maps are found neither in the form of sheet maps nor in atlases but in scholarly books, either as illustrative material in texts or else bound in or kept in pockets. Books and journal articles are especially rich sources of thematic maps. Locating these maps is not easy, but the Map Collection holds several standard bibliographies, and Map Collection staff can help you use them.

Cartographic Materials at Other Institutions

No map library has "everything." The nature of map publishing and collection has been such that all map collections have major gaps. Many scholarly users will wish to consult materials at other institutions. A good place to begin a search is OCLC's WorldCat, which now has more than half a million map records, all with holdings information. But few map libraries have created electronic records for all their holdings, and the Map Collection has numerous cartobibliographies and paper catalogs that can help. In Chicago, the Newberry Library (60 W. Walton St., (312) 943-9090) has an extraordinary collection of historical maps. Other local institutions with important map holdings are the Chicago History Museum, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northwestern University. Historical and other maps can now be found by the thousand on the Internet.

Christopher Winters
Bibliographer for Anthropology, Geography, and Maps
a.m.: JRL 262, (773) 702-8147
p.m.: JRL 370, (773) 702-8761
e-mail: wintersc@uchicago.edu