Historical Data and Maps

The following links point to NC State University collections, regional sources, and large volume websites for online historical data and maps.

Pre-Digital Age Maps

Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 - Sanborn maps covering the United States are available to NC State University researchers through the NC LIVE Web site. Patrons of North Carolina public libraries and other schools have access to North Carolina maps through NC LIVE. See the Digital Sanborn Maps webpage for more information.

Historic Topographic Maps

North Carolina Maps - Collaborative digitization project by the North Carolina State Archives, North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill, and Outer Banks History Center. Contains hundreds of maps from the late 1500s to the 1960s, and includes at least one detailed map for each NC county.

Historic Aerial Photographs - NC State University Libraries maintaines a listing of sources for both digital scans and prints.

North Carolina County Road Maps - Maps showing state maintained roads, by county. Eight collections, spanning from 1930-1968 in TIF and PDF formats. See also Archived State Travel Maps for NC.

NC Maps for Genealogy Research - County Formation Maps for NC, 1664-Present. Links to historical records and other states.

Newberry Library Atlas of Historical County Boundaries - Interactive maps and GIS shapefiles for download of past boundary lines.

Carolina Places in Time - Many old maps for North and South Carolina, mostly the Charlotte/Mecklenburg area.

Trading Path Association - An organization based in Hillsborough, NC that focuses on mapping and preserving former trading routes, stream fords, mills, and relics from the past. The staff use GPS and GIS extensively for mapping, and welcome project collaboration.

The Library of Congress American Memory Project - Many map collections including National Parks, Railroads, Revolutionary War, and Civil War.

William P. Cumming Map Society - Website for a North Carolina based cartographic society. Links to maps from the 16th-19th centuries focussing on southern US and North Carolina.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection - Over 10,000 maps online focusing on rare 18th and 19th century North and South America maps and other cartographic materials. Historical maps of the World, Europe, Asia and Africa are also represented.

National Historic GIS (NHGIS) - Over 12,000 aggregate US Census tables and 430 GIS shapefiles spanning the entire United States from 1790 to 2010, available for download on a free website.

County and City Data Books (1947-2007) - Links to HathiTrust.  Primarily a ranking resource published by the U.S. Census Bureau, a wide range of demographic, economic, political, and health topics are covered. Data are available for states, counties, cities, and places.

Born-Digital Legacy Data

NC State University Libraries Geodata Collection Search - Much of our archive contains data from past years that's now superseded

State Archives NC Digital Collections: Superseded geospatial data - from state and local agencies, including past NC OneMap data.

State Archives "Discover Online Catalog" - Mostly records for a 1998 content transfer from NC OneMap; does not provide download links.