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New York City Property Map Collections at NYPL: Queens

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.

Queens (Queens County)

Most of the Library's Queens cadastral maps were created between the mid 1800s and the early 1900s 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 name of the borough or neighborhood, 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 blocks and lots of Queens 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 Queens' expansion from the late 19th century to the present:

 

Digital Collections Images

Over the past few years we have 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 Queens plates published between 1891 and 1919.

 

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 Queens select "New York" under the state tab and then select "Queens County." This database includes Queens Sanborns from 1898 to the early 1950s.   

  
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 a 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 majority of the Library's collection of Queens topographic surveys were published by the USGS and may be viewed online via their topoView web portal. However, there are also a few other surveys created between the mid 19th and early 20th century that include names of property owners and in some cases include depictions of buildings, property boundaries, and landscaping.  These maps may be located in the research catalog using the keyword search term "Queens New York 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 sometimes 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 Queens were published during the first half of the 20th century and document the  transformation of the borough from a seemingly random collection of sparsely populated towns, and cemeteries into a patchwork of dense urban blocks, independent planned communities, and suburban sprawl. Searching the research catalog using the term "Queens New York auction" is the best way to locate this material.  

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