Research Guides: Historical Travels: Fire Insurance Maps

Fire Insurance Atlases

Key to "Insurance maps of the City of New York. Surveyed and published by Sanborn-Perris Map Co., Limited, 115 Broadway, 1890. Volume 5." NYPL Digital Collections Image ID 2001705 Fire insurance atlases were created to allow insurance companies to have accurate information about property that was being insured. As such, these atlases provide zoomed in view on various cross sections in urban areas, with detailed information on blocks, lots, buildings in the area, what buildings are made of, and what buildings were used for (ex. residential versus "special hazards"). In addition, these atlases often also show piers, railroads, water lines, and lines of local transit. As such, fire insurance atlases can answer questions like:

Where were the ports/stations of arrival and departure?
What would someone have seen, upon arriving or leaving an area?
What lines of local transit would be available?
What would it have been like, for a person to walk around the neighborhood?

Fire insurance atlases can answer these questions, and many more.

To find locations within these fire insurance atlases, volumes will include indexes to search by either address, block and lot number, and/or coverage in an outline map.

See below for a list of examples of fire insurances atlases that you can start your research with, as well as additional online resources.

Image Source: Key to "Insurance maps of the City of New York. Surveyed and published by Sanborn-Perris Map Co., Limited, 115 Broadway, 1890. Volume 5." NYPL Digital Collections Image ID 2001705

Catalog Tips

When searching the Online Research Catalog for fire insurance maps, in the Advanced Search, checkmark "Cartographic" under Format and type the following into the Keyword Field for most results:

Keyword Search: [area of interest] Insurance

You can include the area of interest as the city of interest or the state of interest. The latter is especially useful for searching for atlases from the Sanborn Map Company.
- Example: Chicago Insurance
- Example: New York City Insurance
- Example: California Insurance
- Example: Massachusetts Insurance

An alternative search requires knowing a specific publisher of interest. Some examples of publishers in NYPL's collection include Sanborn, Bromley, Hyde, Robinson, and Perris.

Keyword Search: [area of interest] + Author Search: [Insurance Company]

Example: New York City Sanborn
Example: Brooklyn Robinson

NYPL has a large collection of New York fire insurance atlases. When looking for insurance maps related to New York City, we do recommend starting with the following catalog records:

When searching for fire insurance atlases, please be mindful that many atlases were printed in more than one volume. As such, different volumes will represent different regions of an area.

For atlases created by the Sanborn Map Company, Library of Congress' Sanborn Atlas Volume Finder is a useful tool for determining which volume you would need for your research.

In addition, many fire insurance atlases were updated by taking older atlases and gluing paste-ins to represent any changes. As such, if a call number includes either "Updated" or "Upd.," please observe the later date as the year that is represented in the atlas.

Digitized Collections of Fire Insurance Atlases

NYC-Specific
- NYC Fire Insurance, Topographic, and Property Maps
  - Listing of digitized insurance atlases from NYPL's Digital Collection
  - Covers from 1852-1955
- Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970
  - Requires NYPL Library Card
  - Covers up to approximately 1951
- Fire Insurance Maps Online (FIMO)
  - Courtesy of Brooklyn Public Library
  - Requires a Brooklyn Public Library Card to access. You can use the e-card to access.
General Collections
- Library of Congress: Sanborn Maps
  - Sanborn maps for the entire United States, within LOC's collection
  - Fire Insurance Maps Online Libguide (University of Milwaukee Wisconsin)
    - Aggregates information on which institutions and digital collections hold insurance maps from around the country

Maps of the city of New York / surveyed under directions of insurance companies of said city. 1852-54
- Map Div.+++ (New York City) (Perris, W. Maps of the city of New York. 1852)
- Available via NYPL Digital Collections: Click here to access
Staten Island, New York Published by the Sanborn Map and Publishing Co. Limited, 117 Broadway, New York. July 1885
- Map Div. (Sanborn Map Co. Insurance maps of N.Y.) Atlas 159, New York (City), Richmond, 1885
- Found in the catalog record: Insurance maps of New York
- Available via NYPL Digital Collections: Click here to access
Robinson's atlas of the city of Brooklyn, New York : embracing all territory within its corporate limits; from official records ... / by and under the supervision of E. Robinson and R.H. Pidgeon, civil engineers. 1886
- Map Div.+++ (Brooklyn) (Robinson, E. Robinson's atlas of the city of Brooklyn)
- Available via NYPL Digital Collections: Click here to access
Atlas of the borough of the Bronx, city of New York : based upon official plans and maps on file in the various city offices; supplemented by careful field measurements and personal observations, by and under the supervision of Hugo Ullitz. 1900
- Map Div.+++ (Bronx, New York) (Hyde, E. B., Map Co., Inc. Atlas of the borough of the Bronx, city of New York. 1900)
- Available via NYPL Digital Collections: Click here to access
Atlas of the City of New York, Borough of Queens, Long Island City, Newtown, Flushing, Jamaica, Far Rockaway, from actual surveys and official plans / by George W. and Walter S. Bromley. 1909
- Map Div. (Queens, New York. 1909) (Bromley, G.W., & Co. Atlas of the City of New York, Borough of Queens)
- Available via NYPL Digital Collections: Click here to access

Image Source: Staten Island, V. 2, Plate No. 113 [Map bounded by Newark Bay, De Hart Ave., Merserau Ave.] NYPL Digital Collections Image ID 1989968

Insurance maps of the city of Philadelphia / surveyed and drawn by Ernest Hexamer & Son. 1873
- Map Div.++++ (Hexamer. E. Insurance maps of the city of Philadelphia)
- Atlas created by E. Hexamer & Son.
- Includes paste-overs and corrections, to Oct., 1876.
Salem, Massachusetts. Aug., 1883.
- Map Div.+++ (Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, Limited. Miscellaneous insurance maps. v. 10) v. 10
- Atlas created by the Sanborn Map Company
Insurance maps of San Francisco, California. 1886-1893
- Map Div.+++ (San Francisco, Calif. 1886-1889) (Sanborn Map & Publishing Co. Insurance maps of San Francisco, California)
Seattle, Washington territory. 1888
- Map Div.+++ (Washington (state)) (Sanborn Map and Publishing Co., Ltd. Seattle, Washington territory)
- Atlas created by the Sanborn Map Company
Denver, Colo.
- Map Div. 94-6926
- Atlases created by the Sanborn Map Company that cover 1965-1967
Insurance maps of Chicago, Illinois [cartographic material].
- Map Div.+++ 09-5698
- Atlases created by the Sanborn Map Company that cover 1966-1968