Site Help

Search Help

Search Methods

There are seven search methods available; Keyword, Advanced, Address, GPS, Town & City, Illustrations and Directories. All of these search options and available by clicking on the Search button in the menu. Keyword search is also available on every page of the site by using the search box located in the navigation bar.

Keyword Search

Keyword search queries our database for map names, atlas names, directory content, publishers, dates, and locations that match your keywords. Results that contain all of your keywords are returned. They are divided into categories; Maps, Atlases, Bird's Eye Views, Charts, Directories and Directory Pages for the United States. Maps, Atlases and Special Collection for the World.

Advanced Search

Advanced search is similar to keyword search, but keywords can be entered seperately using multiple search fields with the options "contains" and "doesn't contain", as well as "exact match". The option to specify a category to search within is also available. This is a powerful search that allows you to narrow your results.

Search Within Results

Both keyword and advanced search have the ability to search within results. Click on the "search within results" link at the top of the results page to expand another search box. Enter additional keywords to search within the current set of results and further narrow your search.

Address Search

Address search queries our database of geocoded United States maps and returns maps containing your address. If no exact match is found, results for the city or town entered are displayed. Click here to see a complete list of address searchable atlases.

GPS Search

GPS search also queries our database of geocoded United States maps but allows you to search by latitude and longitude coordinates, in degrees. A list of maps containing the coordinates are returned. Click here to see a complete list of GPS searchable atlases.

Town & City Search

Town & City search allows you to narrow your search by only looking for town or city names that appear in the names of maps. The option to specifiy which state to search in is also available.

Illustration Search

Illustration search looks for family names, business names, and city or town names that match your keywords and returns a list of illustrations only (no maps). You can also specifiy which state to search within. Click here for a complete list of atlases containing illustrations.

Directory Search

Directory search looks within the text of our directories and returns a list of pages containing the text that you searched for.

Browse Help

To begin browsing, click the BROWSE button in the menu.

Our browse page features an interactive (clickable) world map. Click on a continent to view a detailed map of that continent. Mouse over a country to display it's name, and click on it to view atlases and maps of that location. Click the Browse Continental Maps button above the continent map to view atlases and maps covering the entire continent.

Clicking on an atlas name to display thumbnail images of all of the plates within the atlas. Tabs at the top of the page allow you to select the category of images to show (if available) e.g. "Maps", "Illustrations", etc. Clicking on a thumbnail will display a large, pannable, zoomable view of the plate. Click anywhere zoom in, click and drag to pan, or use the buttons found at the bottom of the viewer to navigate the image.

Use the blue buttons above the map to print or save the image. Click the crop button to select a specific area of the image to print or save.