5000 Vintage Maps of New York

There is now a new way to find and discover old vintage maps of New York. The New York Public Library has a large collection of historical maps of the city. Most of these maps have been geo-rectified, which means that they can be viewed using an interactive mapping platform such as Google Maps.

You can now browse and search this collection using the NYPL's new Maps by Decade map search application. Maps by Decade lets you search the over 5,000 digitized maps of New York by location and time.

Essentially Maps by Decade consists of ten separate interactive maps - one for each decade. These maps show the outlines of the vintage maps available on top of the streets of New York. When you mouse-over the Maps by Decade map the vintage maps from that location and decade are shown in the map sidebar. Each of the available vintage maps has a number of links, including a link to view the map overlaid on Maps by Decade.