Map Specialist
Heather Ross
she/her
Contact:
1 Pattee Library
Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information
Penn State University Libraries
University Park, PA 16802
Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information
Penn State University Libraries
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-1349
Website
Subjects: Campus: University Park, Maps
Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information
The Sanborn Map Company
Founded in 1867 by D. A. Sanborn, the Sanborn Map Company first gained recognition for creating richly detailed fire insurance maps - maps that are so full of valuable information that they are still widely used today.
Rich with valuable and detailed information, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps - originally created as a product to help insurance companies assess the potential risks involved in underwriting policies - have developed into a tool with myriad uses for multiple industries.
Sanborn Fire Insurance maps typically include the following information:
- Building addresses
- Building height
- Building footprints
- Street names
- Number of stories per building
- Building construction materials
- Building use
- Right of way
- Sanborn Map CompanyGathering information and mapping buildings for more than 140 years
- Sanborn Maps: Introduction to the CollectionFrom the publication: Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress
- History of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps [UC Berkeley Library]General information on LC's collection and includes a list of other libraries with Sanborn holdings.
- Color Key to Sandborn MapsImage of color key explaining Sanborn maps features
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Typography
Typography is one of the extra-cartographic features of interest in Sanborn maps collections. Some examples:
- BibliOdyssey: Sanborn Fire Insurance Map TypographyTitle pages, headings and letterforms clipped, cropped and isolated
from maps and map publications issued between about 1880 and 1920 - graphicart news: Fascinating old typography of "Sanborn New York City Maps"Title pages from the Insurance maps of New York
- Logobird: Sanborn Fire Insurance Map TypographyTitle pages and headings clipped from maps and map publications issued between 1880-1920
- Typedeck: Incredible vintage typography from Sanborn Map CompanyOrnate typographic titles which appeared on maps between 1880 and 1920