Tag: delaware

Delaware Bird’s Eye Views Available on the Web

A portion of the Milford, DE Map of 1885 published by O.H. Bailey & Co. Source: The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library
A portion of the Milford, DE Map of 1885 published by O.H. Bailey & Co. Source: The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library

Bird’s-Eye-Views, a popular cartographic form during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were painstakingly drawn by sketch artists.  Although they were not drawn precisely to scale, they provided helpful snapshots of towns frozen in time.  Showing busy communities, the artistic renderings revealed streets filled with carriages, stores surrounded by activities, and trains approaching stations.  They also depicted major perspectives on the landscape, and offered several detailed vignettes of certain buildings, which had been included on the view.  Of course, the subscriber paid a fee to have his building included in the inset.

The Boston Public Library’s Norman B. Leventhal Map Center has a collection of these artistic Delaware works available on the Internet.  An 1885 cluster contains O. H. Bailey & Co. products for Clayton, Smyrna, Georgetown, Harrington, Middletown, Milford, and Dover.  In 1874, H. H. Bailey & Company sketched out Wilmington.

The Norman B. Leventhal Center at the Boston Public Library is dedicated to the creative educational use of its cartographic holdings, which extend from the 15th century to the present.  In pursuit of its mission, the Center collects and preserves maps and atlases, promotes research in the collection, and makes its resources available to the public through its website, exhibitions, publications, lectures, and other programs.

Be sure to check out this collection the time you need maps from these communities and also search for other Delaware items in the library.  Here is the link to the search engine.

 

The 1885 Bird's Eye View of Clayton, DE., published by O H. Bailey & Co. Source: The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library
The 1885 Bird’s Eye View of Clayton, DE., published by O H. Bailey & Co. Source: The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library

 

Milford Public LIbrary Digitizes Old Delaware Newspaper

The Milford Public Library has greatly increased the usability of an important research resource by digitizing its collection of local newspapers.   The new products, replacing the old, original microfilm, are not available on the web, so e-copies must be used on a computer workstation at the library.

The town on the line between Kent and Sussex counties had a strong Delaware product, the weekly Milford Chronicle.  It started publishing in 1883 and each week the editors’ packed the pages with fresh, insightful area news from the town and nearby neighborhoods.  When investigating downstate subjects, the strength and quality of this serial usually makes it one to check out for the pages are crammed with original, local news.   The library has carried the run of the Chronicle forward to present times.  A paper of more recent origin, the Beacon was also digitized.

These professionally scanned, high-quality images are valuable and join a growing body of digitized Delaware newspapers.  Thank you Milford Public Library.

Milford Chronicle
The Milford Chronicle at the Milford Public Library
The Milford Chronicle
The Milford Chronicle has been digitized by the Milford Public Library

Large Collection of Online Historic Delaware Maps Help Researchers

Part of the 1859 Map of Kent County Delaware (French), showing Leipsic. Source: Library of Congress
Part of the 1859 Map of Kent County Delaware (French), showing Leipsic. Source: Library of Congress

Over the past several years there has been an enormous increase in the number of historical maps that are available online.  These digital, on-demand collections are a great aid for those seeking to understand the past, whether it is for a scholarly investigation, local history study, or genealogy project. While the

 

Part of the 1859 map of Kent County Delaware showing Smyrna and part of Camden. Source: Library of Congress
Part of the 1859 map of Kent County Delaware showing Smyrna and part of Camden. Source: Library of Congress

maps, many centuries old, have always been available in special collections repositories around the nation, access was limited as trips to widely scattered archives and access rules created obstacles for some researchers.

Here are a couple of general starting points.  One of the best is  Old Maps Online, an easy-to-use web portal to historical maps in libraries around the globe.  It allows users to search across a number of collections, via a user friendly geographical search interface.  Another strong one is the Library of Congress.  The products can be downloaded and the scans, which are of high quality, can be magnified, in most instances.  Some of repositories require you to register to get full free access.

These and other research e-resources are revolutionizing the way we conduct historical research and are invaluable for those working in the past.  Here are some specific online Delaware resources, which you should find helpful.

  • The Library of Congress has the J. H. French Map of Kent County Delaware (1859), It can be downloaded in a large format in order to magnify the product.  There is also the Birds-Eye View of Wilmington Delaware (1874) in addition to over 30 more products.
  • Old Maps Online provides a portal to the full Beer Atlas of 1868, a most valuable product for researchers.  Here is the link to Georgetown Hundred but the other plates are there too.  
  • The USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection provides acce3ss to more than 193,000 topograph maps published by the USGS since the inception of the national mapping program in 1884.  It includes the Delaware products.  Also here is another free source for these maps.  
  • Historic aerial maps of Delaware, beginning in the 1930s and running to the present, are available online through a service provided by the Delaware Geological Service’s Delaware DataMil (Data Mapping and Integration Laboratory).  This virtual service allows researchers to easily acquire detailed visual representations showing the nature of development on parcels at specific points in time.
  • On one of the local heritage weblogs we follow, the Mill Creek Hundred History Blog, we found out about some great e-cartographic content at the “New Castle Community History and Archaeology Program” site.  The publisher of that site, Jim Meeks, has made some great produts available, including a zoomable copy of the Rea & Price Map of New Castle County (1849).

You will also find a collection of historic First State Maps at the Delaware Public Archives, as well as Official Highway Maps provided by DelDOT.  The first e-product there was published in 1906 and the Official Highway Maps start in 1920.

Check these site out the next time you are working on a Delaware project, regardless of where your inquiry takes you around the State.  You will find many other maps of interest once you start searching these and other databases and with each passing year more of these resources are open sourced, greatly expanding efficiencies for those studying the past.

A plate from the Pomery & Beers Atlas of Delaware (1868) showing White Clay Creek and Newark.
A plate from the Pomery & Beers Atlas of Delaware (1868) showing White Clay Creek and Newark. Source: David Rumsey Collection via oldmapsoline.org

 

 

 

Thousands of Digital Delaware Picture Postcards Depict State History at Public Archives

caley 1
The Lighthouse & Keeper’s House at Taylor’s Bridge. Source: Delaware Public Archives, George Caley Postcard Collection

The Delaware Public Archives, a special collections institution that provides outstanding leadership in creating digital products to support the study of First State heritage, has just launched another valuable resource.  It is the George Luther Caley Postcard Collection, a group of almost 7,000 twentieth century images of the State and Delmarva.

George, a Smyrna resident, was a well-known genealogist, author and local historian and an avid postcard collector.  During his life-time, he assembled this valuable assortment of Delaware and Delmarva images.  When he passed away in 2005, his wife generously donated the photos to the Delaware Public Archives.  Now the professionals at this fine repository have made those images available to researchers on the World Wide Web.

Picture postcards caught on about 1906 and remained popular, sought after items throughout the 20th century.  Itinerant photographers traveled the area, from the Peninsula’s wide spots in the road to the larger towns, snapping up pictures of just about everything to supply the market.  When people vacationed, they mailed those tiny items back home.  Or when someone from Delaware corresponded with far away friends, they exchanged picture postcards of their towns.  Toward the end of the 20th century the items that had been stored away in trunks decades earlier started coming out of attics.  Those tiny pieces of cardboard became valuable, sought-after collectibles as local history enthusiasts snapped up the historical pictures of the region, many of them nearly 100-years old.

Now thanks to Mrs. Caley and the Delaware Public Archives this valuable  collection has been carefully preserved and it is available to a wide audience.

Click here to visit the postcard collection

The Caley Postcard Collection Homepage at the Delaware Public Archives website
The Caley Postcard Collection Homepage at the Delaware Public Archives website