The UC Berkeley community now has access to the complete collection of Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970, covering the entire United States. This purchase was made possible through the increased collections funding the Library received following the Report from the Commission on the Future of the UC Berkeley Library. Prior to the Spring 2015 semester, the Library only subscribed to the digital Sanborn collection covering the state of California. This new purchase guarantees perpetual access to not only Sanborns of California, but also the remaining 49 states.
Sanborn maps are historical tools for urban specialists, social historians, architects, geographers, genealogists, local historians, planners, environmentalists. Founded in 1867 by D. A. Sanborn, the Sanborn Map Company was the primary American publisher of fire insurance maps for nearly 100 years. The Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 collection from ProQuest gives the UC Berkeley community access to more than 660,000 large-scale maps of over 12,000 American towns and cities.