Historical County Atlases
by Angie Cope
Historical county atlases show property boundaries and land ownership for every parcel of land in a county. In addition to rivers, hills and roads, these maps showed churches, cemeteries, schools, administrative boundaries, railways and roads. Each region had unique features such as Clarion County, Pennsylvania’s orchards, oil wells and coal banks.
These historical county atlases provide a detailed snapshot of much of the United States during periods of great population expansion of the 19th and early 20th Century.
Preparation was often financed through support of local patrons who paid a fee to door-to-door salesmen. The atlases would then include patron directories and biographies, giving credit to this financial support. Many atlases include detailed illustrations of patrons and their homes, businesses and families. As in the example of this Clarion County, Pennsylvania atlas, the illustrations are numerous and beautiful.
These atlases can be found in libraries across the country but the paper used wasn’t always the best quality. At the AGS Library even re-binding didn’t guarantee use of acid-free materials.
Scanning atlases is a way to provide increased access, preserve information and limit handling to avoid additional damage. At the AGS Library we have nearly 1,000 atlases of this type. Other libraries are also scanning their atlases and making them available to researchers.
Atlas of Waukesha Co., Wisconsin : drawn from actual surveys and the county records, to which is added a rail road & sectional map of the state of Wisconsin / published by Harrison & Warner ; engraved by Worley & Bracher ; printed by H.J. Toudy & Co. ; Oldach & Mergenthaler, Bookbinders, 1873.
https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/3626/rec/2
Illustrated historical atlas of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin / by H. Belden & Co., 1876.
https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/3746/rec/4
American Geographical Society Library 
September 19, 2024 at 4:04 pm
I’m writing an article on the Illustrated Atlases of the mid to late 1800’s for the Coopersville Historical Society in Coopersville, MI. Really appreciate what you have offered in your article of 2-21-2020.
At the Dayton Museum on Flight I came across information on the Civil War Balloon Corps. It was mentioned that balloons were used in creating the pictures used in these books. So many of the illustrations seem to have been drawn from a height above the ground to possibly show off the owner’s “vast” property. Do you have any information on the process used to develop the pictures? I’d figured out due to the various sizes of the illustrations, that they must have been sold as part of an ad campaign. My fascination is with the illustrations which are so rich with detail.
I own a battered “Illustrated Historical Atlas of Ottawa & Kent County, Michigan 1876” by H. Belden & Company. It was once the property of my great grandfather who served as a Supervisor for Wright Township of Ottawa County.
Mary Modderman at Cowpaint@gmail.com