Civil and church records, as well as archival collections, are organized by geographic location. An important first step to locating these records is to determine your ancestors' town of origin. This can be further complicated by language and border changes, which means its important to consult resources like maps, gazetteers, atlases, guidebooks, and town directories.
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. "Polonia." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1603. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e4-6671-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. "Poland." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1681.
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. "Poland with its dismemberments and Prussia" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1798 - 1804.
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. "Poland" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1814.
Skorowidz Gazetteer Online to find parish locations
Spis Gazetteer, Volume 1, provinces and locations of civil registration offices
Mapa.Szukacz.pl with modern provinces, jurisdictions, population, postal codes
Historische Pläne und Grundrisse von Städten und Ortschaften in Polen , bibliography of old maps
The website of the Małopolskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne [Little Poland Genealogical Society] - tons of digitized directories, address books, catalogs, schematisms, etc... helpful for the former province of Galicia.
Library of Congress research guide, Cartographic Resources for Genealogical Research: Eastern Europe and Russia
The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division,
The New York Public Library.
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building,
476 Fifth Avenue (42nd St and Fifth Ave)
First Floor, Room 117.
Contact: maps@nypl.org