Tag: sanborn maps

California Map Society Fall Meeting

The California Map Society’s Fall Meeting took place in the Cal State Fullerton Pollack Library, bringing together researchers, librarians, and cartographers to discuss interesting map and cartographic projects: Matt Zebrowski, cartographer with the UCLA Geography Department, discussed the department’s large Fairchild and Spence air photo collections; Charlie Frye, Chief Cartographer at ESRI, discussed his project using GIS to conduct genealogical research on…

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Back in the library…in southern California!

Beginning March 30, 2015 I will be starting a new position as the Map Curator in the Department of Geography at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). As Map Curator I will be responsible for managing a collection of historical maps, atlases, photographs, and reference materials related to maps, cartography, and geographic information systems. As part of my responsibilities, I will…

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Historical image of LA's Red Car on the Fletcher Street Bridge.

Lost L.A.: The Abandoned Corralitas Streetcar Line

In the triangle-shaped neighborhood between the Silver Lake Reservoir, the Glendale Freeway, and the I-5 Freeway is a little piece of Los Angeles history that is lost, but not forgotten. The Corralitas Trail is a little-know urban hike that follows an abandoned Pacific Electric streetcar line that used to run between downtown Los Angeles and the city of Glendale. Before…

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Using Google Tools to Improve Findability and Access to UCLA’s Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

UCLA’s Young Research Library maintains a great collection of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of the metropolitan Los Angeles area, including Venice, San Pedro, Culver City, and North Hollywood. From about the 1870s until the 1970s, the Sanborn Company was one of a few companies that specialized in producing fire insurance maps for the purpose of assessing fire risk and helping…

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