Map Databases
- U.S. Serial Set and Serial Set Maps (1789-Present) This link opens in a new windowAccess House and Senate documents and reports from congressional committees, from the late-1700s to present, as well as high-resolution maps from 1789-2007, from the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Geological Survey, among others. Coverage: varies. Full text. This purchase was funded in part by the Walter E. Beach Library Fund.
- Mapping the World: Maps and Travel Literature This link opens in a new windowAccess battle and boundary maps, fictional travel narratives, guidebooks, pamphlets, trail and road maps, and more, from several United Kingdom and United States collections. This collection is part of Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO). Coverage: 19th century, contains primary sources. Full text.
The Map Library
Print geologic maps are located on the lower level of the Waidner-Spahr Library.
While the library catalog does contain some entries for maps, most maps are not cataloged.
Please do not attempt to re-file maps once you have finished with them. Instead, simply place them on the refilling table and a student assistant will re-file them.
If you have any questions about locating a map please feel free to contact the Science Liaison Librarian, Nick Lonergan
Finding Maps
On the library lower level, there are cabinets of maps against two walls. The cabinets with large flat drawers house the non-folded maps (topographic quadrangles, assorted geologic maps, and over-sized maps) and the file cabinets house the folded maps.
For the non-folded maps, each set of drawers has been given a number and each shelf has been labeled with a letter. In order to ease the process of locating materials in the repository, we have created a separate guide to help you determine which drawer(s) may contain the maps you are seeking.
USGS topographic maps are organized first by scale, then alphabetically by state and then by quadrangle name. For example: a drawer labeled: 1:24,000 FL- A-J would contain maps of 1:24,000 scale of Florida for quadrangles starting with A through J. For help determining what quadrangle corresponds to your location of interest, you can consult the USGS FAQ available here.
For information on the folded maps, first look at the USGS database. This database has extensive options for searching and provides online versions of some of the maps. The database includes the series number for the map, which you will need in order to locate the map within our collection.
Map Organization
The folded maps are arranged according to series and then within each series by map number and they are located in the filing cabinets. The letters at the front of the map number correspond to the type of map or features that it details. A list of the meanings of these letters is included below:
A: US Antarctic Research Program
C: Coal Investigations
CP: Circum-Pacific
GP: Geophysical Investigations
GQ: Geologic Quadrangle
HA: Hydrologic Investigations
I: Miscellaneous Investigations Studies
MF: Miscellaneous Field Studies
WRI: Water Resources Investigations
