Skip to Main Content

Using Maps to Research Armed International Conflicts: US Armed Forces Maps

Learn how to find cartographic materials related to international warfare, at NYPL's Map Division.

About

The United States Armed Forces has created and utilized maps during times of armed conflict. While the United States Armed Forces creates maps both on an international and national scale, this page will only focus on maps that are relevant for international armed conflicts. 

Please note that:

  • maps that are created and published by a branch from the U.S. Armed Forces are detailed in the box titled Armed Forces.
  • maps that are about a specific army regiment are detailed in the box titled Army Regimental Histories.
  • maps that are created and published by a specific segment/agency within a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces are often indexed according to the name of the segment/agency. In our guide, significant segments/agencies in our collection pertaining to mapping of armed international conflicts are detailed in individual boxes labeled with their name.

To learn about resources from today's US Army Corps of Engineers,  please review its listing under "Additional Online Resources" in the tab Additional Resources. 

Before reviewing the material below, we do recommend reviewing the Department of Defense's site on Military Units. This site covers the terminology associated with various subsections within each Armed Force branch.

Armed Forces

Photograph of Master Sgt. Oliver Mason of Hickory, Kentucky, embarking on transport

 

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the 6 branches of the Armed Forces currently are Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard (with reserve components: Army National Guard and Air National Guard).

Within NYPL's collection, our biggest holdings for maps by and for the U.S. Armed Forces are maps from the Army branch, with additional holdings from the Navy and Air Force. 

This box focuses on maps that are created and published by a branch from the U.S. Armed Forces. For maps by specific segments/agencies within a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, please scroll down to the appropriate box. 

 

Image source: NYPL Digital Collections Master Sgt. Oliver Mason of Hickory, Kentucky, embarking on transport Image ID 1260305

United States Army

Air Forces Department.

  • Dictionary Catalog: 
    • Starting on Volume 9 page 794 search under the author name "United States. Air Forces Department"

Armed Forces in the Far East.

  • Dictionary Catalog:  
    • Starting on Volume 9 page 796 search under the author name "United States. Armed Forces in the Far East"
    • Please note that maps under these headings primarily focus on World War II. 

Armed Forces in the Middle Pacific.

  • Dictionary Catalog: 
    • Starting on Volume 9 page 796 search under the author name "United States. Armed Forces in the Middle Pacific"
    • Please note that maps under these headings primarily focus on World War II. 

 Army Air Forces

  • Dictionary Catalog: 
    • Starting on Volume 9 page 800, search under the author name "United States. Army Air Forces"

Navy

 

Cartographic Materials

Supplementary Materials

 

Army Regimental Histories

Army regimental histories on maps often constitutes focusing on a specific regiment and the various campaigns that they undertook.

These maps are really useful for genealogy research, as the maps detail the specific locations that a regiment would have passed through. In addition, these maps will occasionally include the names of military personnel on the map itself.

While some of these maps will have a standard geographic focus, others are more pictorial in nature, with cartoonish aspects sometimes included. 

  • Advanced Search function of the Online Research Catalog:
    • Subject Search (with Cartographic checkmarked): Regimental histories United States Maps
      • Please note that many of these maps concerning regimental histories in our collection will be referencing World War II.  
    • As many military personnel wrote additional documents concerning the history of their unit and/or units,  it would be useful to also do a Subject Search (with Cartographic NOT checkmarked) to find these additional materials. Feel free to utilize the Date facet and including the region of interest in the Subject Search, to narrow down your search:
  • Dictionary Catalog: Starting on Volume 9 page 797, search under the author name "U.S. Army Name of Unit"
    • Examples:
      • United States Army. 7th Corps.
      • United States Army. 12 Corps.

Cartographic Materials

Supplementary Materials

American Expeditionary Forces

Index Map from Instructions concerning maps.

As mentioned by the Library of Congress' blog post The American Expeditionary Forces, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was led by General John J. Pershing and a part of the United States Army. It operated mainly on the Western Front during World War I.  Arriving in Europe in June 1917, the AEF joined the front in October with their First Division at Nancy, France. 

During this time - as noted in Section 4: Military Maps of Osher Map Library - the AEF relied on and reproduced many of the French military maps, including the French Plans Directeurs trench maps, via their topographic unit that was called the 29th Engineer Regiment. These maps would then be printed and updated for use by both the American and French forces.

According to NYPL's blog post The Great War and Modern Mapping: WWI in the Map Division, "at least 40 of the maps in the collection of the Map Division are examples of these American reprints [French Plans Directeurs]. There are also a smaller number of American Expeditionary Forces maps that were produced using the French GCTA methods but which are American originals." 

Please note that this collection is still being processed, and is not fully listed via the research catalogs. 

Image Source: Index Map from Instructions concerning maps.

  • Advanced Search function of the Online Research Catalog:
    • Author Search (with Cartographic checkmarked): American Expeditionary Forces
    • As the AEF write a number of documents and supplementary materials, it would be useful to also do an Author Search (with Cartographic NOT checkmarked) to find these additional materials.
  • Dictionary Catalog:
    • Starting under Volume 9 page 797, search under the author name "United States Army. American Expeditionary Forces 1917-1919"

Cartographic Materials

Supplementary Materials by AEF

Army Map Service

The Army Map Service; its mission, history and organization, page 10, people drawing mapsAs noted by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Army Map Service (AMS) "was responsible for the publication and distribution of military topographic maps for use by U.S. military forces" between 1941 to 1968.  The creation of AMS was the result of the Engineer Reproduction Plant merging with the Library and Cartographic Section of the War Department General Staff, and this agency operated under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

While the main focus of the AMS was to produce maps, they also worked on developing mapping techniques, improving specifications, and continuing to accumulate map sources. In addition, as noted on page 3 of The Army Map Service; its mission, history and organization, they also created "three-dimensional relief plastic relief maps; Engineer intelligence data, both technical and strategic; logistical studies pertaining to Engineer portions of master war plans; data and publications pertaining to geodetic and lower-order control (including field surveying); and various map intelligence data." 

Image Source: The Army Map Service; its mission, history and organization, page 10

Advanced Search function of the Online Research Catalog:

  • Author Search (with Cartographic checkmarked): Army Map Service
  • As the AMS write a number of gazetteers and additional documentation, it would be useful to also do an Author Search (with Cartographic NOT checkmarked) to find these additional materials: Army Map Service

Dictionary Catalog:  

  • Starting on Volume 9, Page 802,  search under the author name "Army Map Service" and/or "AMS"

Cartographic Materials

Supplementary Materials

  • AMS technical manual.
    • Map Div. (United States. Army map service. AMS technical manual)
    • NYPL has volume no. 2-67(Incomplete)
  • Grids and magnetic declinations...1945
    • Map Div. (United States. Army map service. Grids and magnetic declinations)
    • Full title, as noted in the Dictionary Catalog: Grids and magnetic declinations...The policies and practices of the Army map service in showing standard grids and grid data on military maps including British, American polyconic, and United States domestic grids; the content and composition of declination diagrams and notes; grid protractors,; the treatment of various grid interals, overlapping grids, grid notes and reference boxes.
  • Notes on map identification. 1945
    • Map Div. (United States. Army map service. Notes on map identification)
    • Full title, as noted in the Dictionary Catalog (Volume 9, Page 803, Row 4, Column 2): Notes on map identification: general policies and standard practices governing the content and composition of series, editions, and issues of maps, identification notes, diagrams, marginal information, and the format of sheets.
    • Includes 2 folded maps
  • The Army Map Service; its mission, history and organization.