Maps and Geographic Information Systems: Historical Maps

Provides free samples of historic aerial photography of the L.A. area as far back as the 1930s and 40s for some locations. Historical comparisons can be made of the same area. Images can be purchased.

An atlas of large aerial photographs of the county taken in 1964. Located in Library Special Collections.

A set of 33 aerial images taken of the Long Beach area, ca 1953. Located in Library Special Collections

An atlas of aerial fotographs, 1987 of L.A. County.

Areial images of Orange County taken in 1974. Located in Library Special Collections.

A large atlas of detailed aerial images of the county taken in 1964. Located in Library Special Collections.

Created by CSU-Chico, it contains hundreds of scanned historic topo maps of California dating back to 1890.

Beautifully scanned and presented historic maps, including over 1600 of California cities, counties and locales.

Online links to downloadable historic quadrangles for California.

Access thousands of scannded maps of the United States. California sheets expected to be on the server in Fall 2011.

Produced by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, view the earliest nautical charts of the Southern California Coast, including San Pedro Bay.

Search for and view historical charts of the U.S. Coasts going back to the 1700s.

A community sourced database that indexes and finds online over 400.000 maps worldwide from 1700 to the present. Map libraries and archives worldwide provided their online content.

25 viewable historic topographic maps of the San Diego area dating back to 1900.

List of Historic USGS Topographic maps of Southern California in our Special Collections.

Use this site to identify what libraries have historic, detailed downtown district maps. Maps used to identify ownership and purpose of structures for fire insurance. CSULB library has two microfilm reels of Los Angeles City 1888-1900 (Microfilm Reel Y4389) and Los Angeles Suburban, including Long Beach, 1885-1907 (Microfilm Reel Y3490)

U.S. Geological Survey and Esri, have partnered to put the rich tapestry of U.S. Historical Maps into the hands of everyone. Accessible on all digital devices, the USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer brings to life more than 178,000 maps dating from 1884 to 2006.

Works Progress Administration Digital Archive provides 345 hand-colored maps from the 1933-39 land use survey of Los Angeles. Detailed and colorful maps of the built up L.A. region.