Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps in Branner Library

Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections

Contents

• General Information
• Digital Sanborn Maps of California
• California
• Nevada
• British Columbia
• Other Sources

General Information

• Building footprints
• Building material (adobe, brick, frame, etc.)
• Height or number of stories
• Doors, windows, chimneys, elevators
• Address and lot lines
• Use (dwelling, hotel, church, etc.)
• Street widths, water pipes, hydrants and cisterns
• Ethnicity of the occupants (occasionally), etc.

While originally produced for insurance purposes, the maps are now useful in disciplines such as history, architectural history, ethnic studies, and urban archaeology.

California Sanborn Maps Database Online

Stanford affiliates can view the Digital Sanborn Maps of California through an online database. The Digital Sanborn Maps database includes maps of California from 1867 through 1970. Maps may be viewed online or downloaded in .pdf format. This database is restricted Stanford resource. It is not available to the general public.

Sanborn Maps or Microfilm Held at Branner

For call numbers not given in the checklist below, and for additional fire insurance maps, search Socrates under the subject: INSURANCE, FIRE. For example: INSURANCE FIRE ENGLAND LONDON MAPS

California

Nevada

British Columbia

Other Sources

• Fire insurance maps in the Library of Congress : plans of North American cities and towns produced by the Sanborn Map Company : a checklist. [Z6026.I7 L5 1981 GRN-REF/STACKS and ART]
• Union list of Sanborn fire insurance maps held by institutions in the United States and Canada. [Z6026.I7 .H63 EARTH-SCI/MAP-REF]
• Sanborn maps at California State University, Northridge
• Sanborn maps at Los Angeles Public Library — includes reel indexes for Los Angeles and California in PDF format
• Union List of Sanborn and Other Fire Insurance Maps — includes holdings compiled from the three lists of Sanborn maps published by the Western Association of Map Libraries (WAML)
• University of California, Davis Sanborn Map Collection
• University of California, Berkeley Sanborn collection — includes a Sanborn map legend

Compiler: Phil Hoehn. Comments to Julie Sweetkind-Singer

Last modified: August 15, 2008