Learning from Old Maps

Image: Knowol, which sells prints of this map
and hosts many other fascinating maps and images
Click to enlarge

During the New Bedford Fortnight class, we will spend most of our time in direct experience of the present-day city, its cultural landscape, communities, and institutions. It is a city with a rich history, however, and we will be studying that from a geographic perspective.

Among my favorite tools for this kind of work are very detailed Sanborn fire insurance maps, which we will be looking at in some detail, both at the New Bedford Public Library and through the digital version to which BSU's Maxwell Library subscribes. 

I learned of the 1871 map shown above from a friend who has spent his whole life (so far) in the city and who will be part of this course. The map is stylistically similar to the Sanborn maps, but it is at a smaller scale that will be useful for our initial look at historic changes in the city and in adjacent areas of Fairhaven. The bridge connecting the two, for example, does not follow its current trajectory, nor does a broad boulevard separate downtown New Bedford from its working waterfront.