Fire insurance and real estate atlases make exceptional resources for researching urban history between 1860 and 1940. However, these physical atlases can be cumbersome to use, especially when one needs to compare a place across multiple volumes. Through our Atlascope project, the Leventhal Center has geotransformed over 145 atlases of towns and cities across Massachusetts.
With Atlascope, you can explore historical geography in a dynamic and interactive fashion. Some examples of what you can use Atlascope for include:
Explore the filling of Boston’s Back Bay
Step into the lost wharves of Provincetown
Walk through industrial history in Lawrence
And much more!
Sponsor an atlas
We're currently expanding Atlascope to cover more locations across the state of Massachusetts. Visit this page to learn how you can get your city or town into Atlascope!
Fire insurance and tax atlases published in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries provide detailed information, down to the building-level, about historical urban neighborhoods. The Leventhal Center holds about 60 such atlases for Boston, most of which have already been brought into Atlascope. Thanks in part to a collaboration with the State Library of Massachusetts, we also hold atlases for many other Massachusetts cities, including Brookline, Cambridge, Lynn, Quincy, Somerville, Springfield, Worcester, and many more.
With your help, Atlascope can be used as a tool for historical research and discovery in your town or city, too—and across our whole state.
Atlascope outside of Massachusetts
If you live outside of Massachusetts but would still love to see Atlascope in your city, send us an email. We’re eager to support the creation of Atlascope for cities and towns elsewhere in the United States, in partnerships with libraries, universities, and cultural heritage institutions.
Past Atlascope events
Please visit our YouTube channel to see previous events featuring Atlascope, including our "Neighborhood by Map" series.
Atlascope credits
Atlascope was developed by the team at the Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library. Primary design and development of the Atlascope app was conducted by Garrett Dash Nelson, and supported by Ian Spangler and Emily Bowe. Belle Lipton developed early prototypes and oversaw Atlascope’s first phase of atlas digitization and transformation. Digitization and preparation of initial atlas layers was made possible by the Council on Library and Information Resources and the Associates of the Boston Public Library.
Atlas layers have been prepared by multiple teams of interns including Ian Donnelly, Hanaan Yazdi, Abby Duker, Rachel Mead, Luwei Chen, Brian Kominick, Madison Bastress, Liz Kellam, Victoria Mak, Joshua Aldwinckle-Povey, Aditi Shankar, Phoebe McMahon, Olivia Lynch, Denyse Tan, Zoe Colimon, Salman Uddin, Natalie Gilbert, Dina Gorelik, Olivia Hewang, Carlos Cueva Caro, Simone Tricca, Anna Zhang, Erin Olding, Julie Raporte, Carmen Hansen, Idana Wilson, Azalea Thompson, Caroline Chea, Kate Lautenbach, Brenda Zhang, and Erin Melley.
We are grateful to the following institutions an individuals for continuing to sponsor this work:
Abbot Public Library, Marblehead
Susan Goganian
Alex C. & support from individual donors from Weymouth, Braintree, and Quincy
Old Colony History Museum, Taunton
Attleboro Historic Preservation Society
College of the Holy Cross
Swampscott Public Library
Smith College Spatial Analysis Lab
Other questions?
Please reach out to us!