The maps and atlases in the Trentoniana Collection range from hand drawn to bound plate books. Some of the maps were found inside city directories, which were the telephone books of their day. A list of hard copy maps and atlases for use in the Trentoniana room can be found here, as well as a list of hard copy city directories and phonebooks.
Volumes of Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of the Trenton area are available for in-room use, and have also been digitized for 11×17” copying. Sanborn maps are large scale plans showing the outline of buildings, their size, shape and construction and the location of windows and doors. They also give street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers (both in current and previous usage). Textural information on construction details such as steel beams or reinforced walls is often given, while shading indicates different building materials. Names of factory owners and what was being manufactured are also included. Some of the maps can also be accessed via the links below:
- Sanborn Maps of New Jersey (Princeton University)
- Sanborn Maps – New Jersey (Library of Congress)
Over 100 maps from the Trentoniana Collection have been digitized through a grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a Division of the New Jersey Department of State. The digital map collection is hosted online by the New Jersey Digital Highway (Rutgers University) and can be browsed via the portal below or by this link.
PLEASE NOTE that as of 2020 Adobe has stopped supporting Flash and most web browsers have pulled it as a result. Rutgers is addressing this issue and has started converting their files to non-Flash versions.
Online Map Repositories
- Historical Maps of New Jersey (Rutgers University)
- Maps of New Jersey (Rutgers University)
- Historic Maps Collection (Princeton University)
- Nova Caesaria – A Cartographic Record (Princeton University)
Online Mapping Projects
- Trenton in 1775 (Trenton Historical Society)
“History is not just something that happened long ago and far away. History happens to all of us all the time. Local history brings history home; it touches your life, the life of your family, your neighborhood, your community.” – Thomas J. Noel, historian & author
