Daring FireballDec 10, 2024
The Spectacular Typography of the Sanborn Fire Maps
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/12/10/the-spectacular-typography-of-the-sanborn-fire-maps
The Spectacular Typography of the Sanborn Fire Maps

Link to: https://sanbornfiremaps.com/

Daring Fireball
Show threadChancerubbageDec 10, 2024

@daringfireball I wish the MAPS themselves were in one place on the web. They are a great resources for the layout and location of buildings during the 20th century, through the early 50s. As they may only be able to show 25 city blocks per page, if that much, it can be a slog to go ‘find that spot’ they are poorly indexed where they are on the web, requiring jumping between volumes for a city.

Library of Congress has tons of them. A physical atlas in front of you is faster searching.

Show threadDavid
@Chancerubbage here's a crowdsourced effort to put the maps on the map, it's far from complete though: https://oldinsurancemaps.net
OldInsuranceMaps.net

A crowdsourcing site for creating and viewing georeferenced mosaics of historical Sanborn fire insurance maps

Dec 10, 2024 at 9:53pmWeb
Show threadChancerubbageDec 13, 2024
@ds it’s a much better interface, but a lot the difficulty of finding a location is sort of endemic to the source material.