Fayetteville Public Library acquires online maps collection
Posted on Sunday, January 15, 2006
The Fayetteville Public Library is now offering the latest in map services with the online Digital Sanborn Maps 1867-1970. With digital access to Arkansas towns and cities, the maps provide greater flexibility and greater viewing possibilities, including the ability to magnify, zoom in, and layer maps from different years. Genealogists, historians and urban planners applaud the map collection as an invaluable tool for tracking the history, growth, and development in cities and towns. "These maps are a good record of the city from the past,"said reference librarian Kelly Kirk. "Things that get destroyed by time are captured in the Sanborn maps. It’s a good investigative tool,"she said. Urban specialists, planners and environmentalists use the map detail to track land use and more carefully plan for future growth.
Originally used by insurance companies to assess the fire risk for properties, the Sanborn maps continue to be functional today not only for insurance purposes but for other needs as well. "The Sanborn maps allow researchers to track property ownership and development over time, which is especially useful to historians and genealogists,"said reference librarian Heather Robideaux. "These maps are significant for genealogists because they can see who owned a business or piece of property from 1867 until today,"genealogy associate Mickey Clements said. "Even when not every city is included every year, we can still track the history of a store or church or a piece of private property fairly well."
The Sanborn maps can be accessed by computer through the library Web site, database link. The database link may be explored from a library computer or from a home computer. Only Arkansas cities and towns are included in the FPL database. Not all cities are included every year.
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