Historical Map & Chart Collection of NOAA's Nautical Charts, Hydrographic Surveys, Topographic Surveys, Geodetic Surveys, City Plans, and Civil War Battle Maps Starting from the mid 1700's

The Historical Map and Chart Collection of the Office of Coast Survey contains over 35000 historical maps and charts from the mid 1700s up through the 2020s, including the final cancelled editions of NOAA's raster charts. These images are available for viewing or download through the image catalog at https://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/. The Collection includes some of the nation's earliest nautical charts, hydrographic surveys, topographic surveys, bathymetric maps, annual reports, coast pilots, geodetic surveys, city plans, and Civil War battle maps. The Collection is a rich primary historical archive and a testament to the artistry of copper plate engraving technology of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Notable offerings include maps of Vancouver's explorations, the "Wilkes Atlas" of the U.S. Whistler's Anacapa Island chart, an extensive Civil War collection, a large scale topographic series of Washington, D.C., city plans, the reengraving of the famous 1792 L'Enfant and Ellicott plan for Washington D.C., and many artistic perspective sketches that were once an integral part of hydrographic surveys and published charts.

Since 1996, the Coast Survey has been engaged in a long term project to develop high resolution digital images of its entire archive of historic maps and charts. These archived maps have very significant historical value in and of themselves, and also provide a thorough documentation of the evolution of cartographic and engraving techniques over the past two centuries.

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The Coast Survey and its predecessor agencies have been producing maps and chart products for over 150 years. In the early 1800's, the United States consisted of some interior territory and 16 states along the eastern seaboard. Commerce between the states was mostly waterborne. Foreign trade, necessary for the survival and expansion of our national economy, was entirely by sea. A lack of nautical charts made navigation dangerous in the unknown watersalong the U.S. coasts and in the young nation's harbors. Inadequate sketches of a few areas and written descriptions such as Blunt's Coast Pilot were the only printed information available to the mariner. Shipwrecks were common, insurance rates high, and products of commerce correspondingly highly priced.President Thomas Jefferson, among others, foresaw the need for comprehensive, reliable nautical charts to safeguard shipping. On February 10, 1807, Congress passed an act authorizing President Jefferson ". . . to cause a survey to be taken of coasts of the United States, in which shall be designated the islands and shoals and places of anchorage . . ."The first U.S. Government-produced nautical chart, a black and white print made in 1835 from a stone engraving, was of Bridgeport Harbor, Connecticut. Although lacking in the detail of today's charts, it was compiled to an exceptional cartographic accuracy that has been a consistent characteristic of U.S. nautical charts throughout the years. Acquisition of a copperplate printing press in 1842 enabled the Coast Survey to publish a chart of New York Bay and Harbor in 1844 with finer definition than was possible from stone engravings. The addition of color, first added to the charts by hand in the 1800's and then by color lithographic processes in the early 1900's, enhanced the usefulness of the charts.From its inception, Coast Survey was in the forefront of new surveying innovations. It used schooners to perform surveys, lead lines to measure soundings, and astronomic fixes and dead reckoning to position a survey ship when out of sight of land on the first hydrographic surveys in late 1834 and early 1835. Through the maps and charts Coast Survey produced from the early 1800's to present, the history of cartographic techniques and applications can be traced from early stone engravings to today's computer generated negatives. Coast Survey historical charts and surveys contain some of the finest landscape perspectives and harbor views drawn in the 1800's.

All maps and charts in public domain. Usage is not restricted.

Historical maps and charts on this website are considered to be in the public domain. Historical Charts are not for Navigation. Screen captures of Historical Charts do not fulfill chart carriage requirements for regulated commercial vessels under Titles 33 and 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations. For navigational charts, please visit the Office of Coast Survey website.

The Historical Map and Chart Collection is available for free usage by the general public, other Federal, State or Local agencies, and educational institutions. If the images are used in a publication, presentation or exhibit, the Coast Survey requests an appropriate credit line be included such as "From the Image Archives of the Historical Map & Chart Collection/Office of Coast Survey/National Ocean Service/NOAA".

Historical map and chart images are not georeferenced.