Many of our databases contain primary source maps within them. Below is a small selection. MultiSearch contains a full list of History databases.
British Library: Ministry of Defense mapsThis link opens in a new windowThe maps accumulated by the Ministry of Defence and selected for this cartographic survey of the long nineteenth century include maps and plans created by the most sophisticated cartographers with the greatest corporate and governmental institutional support and hand-drawn sketches rapidly drafted in secret in preparation for combat.
Crace collection of maps of LondonThis link opens in a new windowDate rage of documents: 1570-1860. Reproduction of the originals from the British Library.
Empire OnlineThis link opens in a new windowThis fulltext database offers approximately 60,000 images of original documents linked to essays by leading scholars in the field of Empire Studies. The five sections cover Cultural Contacts, 1492-1969; Empire Writing and the Literature of Empire; The Visible Empire; Religion and Empire; and Race, Class and Colonialism, c1783-1969.
Gale Primary SourcesThis link opens in a new windowCross-searchable gateway to: Eighteenth century collections online; Nineteenth century collections online; The making of modern law: legal treatises, 1800-1926; Crime, punishment, and popular culture 1790-1920; The Economist historical archive, 1843-2011; The Independent digital archive, 1986-2012; The Times literary supplement historical archive; The Listener historical archive, 1929-1991; Archives of sexuality and gender; The Financial Times Historical Archive, 1888-2010.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration & Cultural ExchangeThis link opens in a new windowDate range: 16th-20th Centuries
Geographical focus: Britain, US, Americas
Providing access to a vast range of visual, manuscript and printed materials exploring the history of fifteen major commodities and examining the ways these commodities have changed the world. Also includes data visualisation for commodity prices.
The National Archives: Selected maps representing the long 19th centuryThis link opens in a new windowThe nineteenth-century maps and plans selected from the National Archives of the United Kingdom for this digital collection collectively picture Britain's striving for, defining of, and defense of its empire on every continent on the globe.
Modern History
Dixson Map CollectionSir William Dixson's map collection reveals the history of European exploration and settlement of the Pacific.
Australia
Atlas of the Suburbs of SydneyThe Atlas of the Suburbs of Sydney is a series of late-nineteenth-century commercial maps that provides a portrait of the city during a period of rapid growth and suburbanisation.
Birds Eye SydneyA NSW State Library collection of digitised maps showing bird's eye views of Sydney.
NSW Subdivision PlansThis is a large collection of posters advertising new subdivisions and sale of land in NSW.
Sydney by DecadeA selection of maps from the NSW State Library highlighting the changes to Sydney and the Cumberland Plains from the 1770s through to the 1960s.