Fire Insurance and Real Estate Atlases of Boston at the BPL
Norman B. Leventhal Map Center - Hours
See the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center gallery hours, special hours, and research hours on their website.
Remote Reference and Research Services:
https://www.leventhalmap.org/research/
How Do I See the Atlases?
1. Make sure you have a BPL Library Card.
2. If your research pertains to Boston, determine which atlases you need by using this guide.
3. Arrange an appointment by emailing reference@leventhalmap.org with a list of the atlases you'd like to view. Or, if you are interested in atlases of other towns in Massachusetts, email with a list of dates and locations you wish to view and staff will respond with atlas availability.
Related Resources
How to Use Atlascope-
Massachusetts State Library Atlas Digitization ProjectReal estate atlases digitized and online in Flickr albums and as PDFs.
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Library of Congress Sanborn Maps CollectionSanborn atlases of various U.S. cities digitized by the Library of Congress
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Researching Your HomePost about researching the history of your home and the people who lived in it
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How to Research a Historic Building in Boston (.PDF)Guide to additional resources for researching buildings in Boston from the Boston Landmarks Commission.
Search by Map
You can find an atlas by location using our tool, Atlascope.
You can learn how to use Atlascope from the Atlascope User Manual.
Warning! There are a few Boston atlases that the library holds physical copies of, but are not available in Atlascope. We cannot provide full direct access to imagery still covered by copyright, so many of our Sanborn atlases from after 1924 are available for in-library use only. You can use the "List" tab of this libguide to find citations for all Boston atlases physically held by the BPL.