eReviews: Historic Map Works™ Library Edition

ProQuest, www.proquest.com

Historic Map Works™ Library Edition is a digital map collection of more than 200,000 high-resolution, full-color historic maps, including property and land ownership maps depicting the geographic and development history of the United States. The collection includes over 100,000 property maps from the late 1700s to the present, over 100,000 antiquarian maps of the world from the 15th to 19th centuries (from the University of Southern Maine's Osher Map Library), city directories, and thousands of related business ads, illustrations, images, listings, and statistics. Maps are added to the file throughout the year. The product is a distribution and development partnership between ProQuest and Historic Map Works.

A colorful continental map of the world opens this product, stretching across the screen with a top tool bar containing Search, Browse, and Help buttons, as well as a Search box. Between that tool bar and the map is a series of tabs for Browse, Search, Address, GPS Mapfinder, Illustrations, and Directories. Scrolling down the screen, you find three more buttons for Maps and Atlases of the World, Directories, and Special Collection. Beneath those buttons are a Map and Directory Keyword Search box, a text description of the product, and (at the time of this review) a box noting that "We currently have 6,603 atlases composed of 215,721 maps and illustrations online," with a link to a detailed list of maps in the file.

I began by clicking on the Boston region of North America on the world map. That brought up a map of North America and a button to Browse North American Continental Maps, as well as a list of the 50 states in the United States. I clicked on Browse North American Continental Maps and got a curiously jumbled list of maps, with dates all over the place. Then I saw the instruction to "Click on a column header to sort table" and clicked on Date; the table sorted itself into ascending dates, ranging from 1556 to 1925. The first map in the list, "Brevis, Exactaq. Totivs Novi Orbis, et Pervviae/regionis Descriptio, Recens Edita" by Joannis Bellero, in 1556, shows Florida, New Hispania, Bermuda, the Azores, and South America, among other land masses.

I was given the option of viewing the original image of the map or a restored version. I looked at them both and was truly amazed at their level of detail and clarity. It's easy to zoom in and out; to move up, down, left, and right to view the entire map. I was able to print a reasonable facsimile of the map on my HP LaserJet 1200 printer, and it was extremely easy to save the map and crop it.

Then I saw the purchase button at screen left, clicked it, and was given the option to "Choose a Print: 7 in. x 8 in. Fine-Art Reproduction* ($32.99) or 11 in. x 17 in. Color Research Print ($9.99). *Our Fine-Art prints are original size and will have center seams and major imperfections removed from the image. Click here to see a sample of our image restoration." I clicked, I saw, I was mightily impressed—you're going to have to see this metamorphosis to believe it, but trust me, they have restored these maps well. The prices seem reasonable if the prints are as good quality as the images here.

Then I went back to the home page, clicked the Search button, and did a search for "sidney new york." My results: three maps and an atlas titled "Sidney 1887 Bird's Eye View," published by L.R. Burleigh. Two of the maps were Bird's Eye Views of Sidney in 1887, one measuring 16" × 26", the other 23" × 37". The third map was of "Sidney, Sidney Centre, Sidney Plains" from 1869, published by F.W. Beers. I found landmarks and family names I recognized on these maps, and again, the detail and clarity were wondrous.

My address search for my sister's house in Amsterdam, NY, gave me nine maps of the city on New York State maps and 14 more city maps, eventually leading me to a 1905 satellite image of the house that was so detailed I could see the trees in the yard clearly. It also supplied me with the geocode for the address. And, of course, a Bird's Eye View map from 1881. Hot stuff.

The GPS Mapfinder search "queries [the] database of geocoded United States maps by latitude and longitude coordinates, in degrees. A list of maps containing the coordinates are returned." I did locate my town on these maps but couldn't get a geocode off the 1871 county map I found.

When I browsed through the list of Atlases containing Illustrations, I was dumbfounded to find none at all for Massachusetts. There were over 50 listed for South Dakota. That's curious, because overall this product seems to have much more content, and more detailed content, on eastern states than western.

My search for "milk" and "milks" (my mother's family name) in the Directories yielded a relevant result of a kinsman in an 1889 Boston directory. The directories are a bit harder to navigate than the maps; however, oddly enough, the images are harder to read.

This is available as an annual subscription. The price varies by type of library and its size according to FTE or population served. For example, for a four-year academic institution with an FTE of 10,000, the subscription price would be approximately $4050. Consortial pricing is also available.

In its present condition, this is a resource that could rate anywhere from an eight to a ten, based entirely on its content. On its design, ease of use, and navigability it rates a ten. If it contains the material you and your researchers are seeking, it's a strong ten again. If the relevant information isn't there yet, it may rate at an eight or nine for your researchers. It would strongly behoove you to try out for yourselves in situ before deciding to acquire it now, or possibly later, when more maps have been added.

For those areas it presently covers in detail, this product will be a real boon to historical and genealogical researchers, bringing many pieces of information together powerfully and attractively. Enthusiastically recommended for public, academic, and special libraries that would be served well by its content.