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American Treasures in the Library of Congress. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997. To
learn what may be available for an area, go to
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American Treasures in the Library of Congress. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997. To
learn what may be available for an area, go to
|
"During the first half
of the nineteenth century, most fire insurance companies were small and
based in a single city. Consequently, the underwriters could themselves
examine properties they were about to insure. However, as insurance companies
became larger and expanded their coverage to numerous cities, a mapping
industry developed to support this need. The Sanborn Map Company of New
York eventually came to dominate the insurance mapping business . . . over
7000,000 fire insurance map sheets for more than twelve thousand American
cities and towns . . . Today, fire insurance maps are used for a wide
variety of research purposes including genealogy, urban history and
geography, historical preservation, and environmental studies."