Historical maps in BHS’s collection span the years 1562 to 2015 and depict the five boroughs, New York City, Long Island, New York State, New Jersey, New England, the mid-Atlantic, the eastern United States, and beyond. The collection contains a variety of different types of maps, including physical maps, political maps, transportation maps, property maps, survey maps, pictorial maps, manuscript maps, topographic maps, cultural maps, and nautical charts. Among the holdings include Bernard Ratzer’s 1770 Plan of the City of New York in North America – one of only four in existence.
Map Collections at Brooklyn Historical Society
Reproductions
If you are interested in obtaining digital reproductions of maps for personal, scholarly, nonprofit, or commercial uses, please review our terms and complete an application form here. Fees will apply for commercial use.
Takedown policy
In an attempt to make the library and archival collections available to the widest audience possible, Brooklyn Historical Society has placed our map collections online. For each item, we have tried to make sure that we have secured all necessary rights. If you believe that we have made a mistake, please contact us so that we can correct it.
Credits
Project Staff
Maggie Schreiner, Manager of Archives and Special Collections, Project Co-Director
Julie Golia, Vice President for Curatorial Affairs and Collections, Project Co-Director
Julie May, Director of the Library and Archives, Project Co-Director
Dan Brenner and Tess Collwell, Digital Projects Archivists
Laura Juliano, Maps Assistant
Camille Lannan and Lisa Miller, Map Catalogers
Ursula Mitra, Paper Conservator
Hillel Arnold, Project Consultant
Special thanks to Pat Dandonoli, Elena Locascio, and Carolyn Hansen.
Support
The Brooklyn Historical Society Map Portal has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Additional funding was generously provided by the Robert D. L. Gardiner Foundation and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.