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New York City Property Map Collections at NYPL: Bronx

This guide describes the ways researchers can navigate NYPL's various NYC real property cartographic collections via the research catalog and Digital Collections to locate cadastral, fire insurance, topographical, and real property auction maps.

The Bronx (Bronx County)

The majority of the Library's Bronx cadastral maps are from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century when the borough was undergoing rapid urbanization.  The best way to locate these maps in the research catalog is by using keyword search terms combined with the borough name such as:

Below are a few highlights from the collections with links to the research catalog and Digital Collections when available:

 

The Library's collection of fire insurance maps are available via atlases, sheet maps, the Digital Collections, online databases, and microfilm. Our collections include depictions of the block and lots of the Bronx starting in the late 19th century to the present.

Atlases and Sheet Maps

Locating maps can be challenging because the subject heading Fire insurance -- New York (State) -- New York is all-encompassing and will result in records for all five boroughs. It's best to search the research catalog using  terms such as:

Highlights from the collections that show the Bronx listed in chronological order from the late 19th century to the present: 

Digital Collections Images

Over the past decade the Library has uploaded scans of most of our copyright free NYC fire insurance atlases to the Digital Collections. Browse the NYC Fire Insurance, Topographic and Property Maps research guide to locate Bronx plates created between 1873 and 1921.

Online Database

The Library has a subscription to the ProQuest Digital Sanborn Map database which can be accessed at all branch libraries or via your own device when you login using your NYPL library card. To view maps of the Bronx select "New York" under the state tab and then select "New York City." This database includes maps from the last decade of the 19th century to the early 1950s of the Bronx and Manhattan under the New York City header, maps of the Bronx will appear toward the end in higher numbered volumes.   

Microfilm

The Library also has copies of late 19th century and 20th century Sanborns on microfilm, this format may be preferred if you need to document the transformation of site over a long period of time.  To view maps published before 1952 browse the catalog record Sanborn fire insurance maps - New York; for maps published from the 1960s to the 1990s see the record Fire insurance maps from the Sanborn Map Company archives.

 

 

The Library's collection of Bronx topo maps start in the late 19th century when the City of New York annexed neighboring parts of Westchester County to create the northern most borough and continue to the late 20th century.  Topographic surveys of the Bronx rarely include names of property owners, however some include building footprints, and property boundaries. This type of cartographic material usually has a catalog record title that includes the word topographical and may be discovered using the keyword search terms "Bronx topographical."

Below are a few highlights from the collections with links to the research catalog and Digital Collections when available:

 

 

Real property auction maps, also known as "farm maps," are sheets or pamphlets created by auctioneers containing maps. birds-eye views, and or descriptions of land for sale. The majority of the Library's collections that show property for sale in the Bronx were published between the late 19th and early 20th century and document the gradual transformation of the borough from a collection of small towns and country estates into a contiguous urban expanse with narrow residential streets, bustling commercial avenues, tree lined parkways, and modern expressways.

Searching the catalog

Most online records for this type of cartographic material include the subject heading Real property auctions - New York (State) - New York - Maps, however to locate items depicting areas in the Bronx it 's best to search using the keyword term "Bronx real property auction". 

Below are a few highlights from the collections with links to the research catalog and Digital Collections when available: