The Map Collection is housed at the Toronto Reference Library.
Here you'll find :
Current and historical maps, atlases and gazetteers
- Cartography books and periodicals
- Catalogues of antiquarian map dealers
- Catalogues of map collections in other libraries
The Map Collection is international in scope.
Many of the maps can be viewed on the Digital Archive.
The World
- Current world atlases, maps and gazetteers
- Notable early atlases and maps of the world in reprint editions
- Atlases focusing on world and military history, genealogy and archaeology
- Current and historical atlases and gazetteers of countries and regions
- Road and administrative maps of countries
- Street maps of major cities
- Uniform topographic coverage of the world at 1:1,000,000 scale
- More detailed topographic coverage of the United States, Mexico, Central America and West Indies, parts of South America, Western Europe and major islands of the world
- Current and historic ordnance survey coverage of the British Isles
- Joint Operations Graphic (Air) Series
- General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans
Canada
- National Topographic Series (coverage complete as published, all scales)
- Retrospective large scale topographic map coverage for Ontario and major cities across Canada
- Maps of Canada from the 17th century to the present
- Current and retrospective editions of provincial road maps
- Nautical charts of the Great Lakes region
- Reprint editions of the 19th century Ontario county atlases
- Current and retrospective street maps of Canadian cities
- Fire insurance plans of major cities across Canada and early plans for many Ontario and Quebec towns
Toronto
- Maps of Toronto from 1788 to the present
- A comprehensive collection of Toronto fire insurance plans in photostat or microfiche format
- Goad atlases in photostat or microfiche format
- Current and retrospective topographic and photomap coverage of the Toronto area
Manuscript Maps:
- Maps of Toronto from 1788 to 1913, many with annotations and inscriptions; available in Historicity.
- Survey maps of Upper Canada showing the development and the settlement of lands and roads, consisting of Canada Company maps from 1820-1853 and Charles Rankin maps from 1820-1874.
The Map Collection covers many topics, including:
- Location of places
- Latitudes and longitudes
- Place name changes
- Distances by road, air or sea
- Elevations
- Sea depths and features
- Map projections
- Dictionaries of cartographic terms
- Map libraries and map librarianship
- History of cartography and early map makers
- Bibliographies of maps
- Map collecting as a hobby and investment
- Antique map prices and dealers
- How to select an atlas
- How to interpret or read maps
Facilities
The Map Collection provides:
- Two light tables
- Microfiche readers
- Magnifying glasses
- A photocopier for enlarging and reducing
Photocopying of large atlases and original early maps is prohibited.