American Manuscript Maps in British Repositories : Part 1 : From the Peace of Paris to the American Revolution : 1760 - 1872.

            The maps and plans held by The National Archives in London have immense historical value, both as cartographic artifacts in their own right, and as graphic documents which create a record of the events and places to which they relate. From the time of the Seven Years War, maps and plans of all sizes and scales became increasingly indispensable to civil authorities and to the British military. The Crown commissioned much of the mapping that was carried on during this period, either by military officers or by paid appointees. Maps and plans originated from many different government departments, but the colonial administration and the war office generated the most activity. After the American Revolution, maps collections became more organized and most, eventually, made their way to the Public Record Office. For each map reproduced in this microfilm collection, the earlier provenance is shown in the catalogue entry, and many have been given a Map Room reference in addition to their original designation.            

            Selected from the vast collection in The National Archives, three criteria were applied to the selection: maps of North America and the West Indies as a whole or specific areas of political jurisdiction within these regions; maps dated between 1760 and 1783, with some later editions of earlier maps from the same period; and manuscript maps or printed maps with significant manuscript additions. The maps represent the purpose they were designed to serve, and therefore, vary greatly. There are general small scale topographical maps of large areas; route and river maps; marine coastal charts and detailed harbour plans; inter-colonial boundaries; native or indigenous boundaries; surveys of Loyalist estates; plotting of land grants and layouts for new settlement sites; town plans; and a great many military maps showing battle plans, sieges, fortifications, troop movements, and many others. Many contain annotations regarding population, quality of land, timber resources, fishing, trade, navigation and natives or indigenous peoples. Cartography and cartographers are the main subjects, spanning a time frame from the end of the French and Indian War to the American Revolutionary period. 

Arrangement:

Reel 1 - North and South America, and Canada
Includes general maps of North America and Canada including British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec Province.

Reel 2 - Canada and United States
Includes a map of the St. Lawrence River -Quebec Province, general maps of the United States of America and maps of Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut.

Reel 3 - United States
Includes maps of the United States of America including Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York.

Reel 4 - United States, West Indies, Bermuda
Includes maps of the United States of America including New York, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont; maps of the West Indies and Bermuda including Antigua, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent and Tobago.

Addenda - Maps of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Vermont.


All items are listed in: Penfold, Peter A., ed., "Maps and Plans in the Public Record Office," Volume 2, America and West Indies, HMSO, 1974 (in the Harriet Irving Library at call no. HIL-GOV SG81 FP41 m297pp, 2 vols). The full entry in this bibliography, for selections chosen for these microfilmed, has been reproduced in the contents list that accompanies the microfilm, and the maps have been microfilmed in the same geographical order as they appear in the printed guide. Maps and plans from collections consisting entirely of maps were examined throughout for American material.  These consist of the maps and plans in the Colonial Office (CO 700), Foreign Office (FO 925), Ordnance Survey (OS 5), State Paper Office (SP 112), Treasury (T 62 and 63), and the War Office (WO 78). 

The maps vary in quality according to the intended use, the instruments and materials used, the physical conditions under which they were prepared, and the training and skill of the surveyor, draftsman, or others involved in their production. Almost 140 individual cartographers were involved in creating the maps and plans in this collection. A few examples include: Captain James Cook (who learned his surveying along the Newfoundland coast), Captain Thomas Hurd (future hydrographer of the Navy), John Montresor (chief British engineer in North America), and Samuel Holland and William Gerard de Brahm (respectively "general surveyors" of the northern and southern districts of North America), as well as, military surveyors such as Lieutenant John Hills and draftsmen William Brasier and Charles Blaskowitz. American patriots during the American Revolution are also among the list of cartographers, such as Thomas Hutchins and David Rittenhouse.            

            A guide describing each of the maps is available, prepared by John Brian Harley and Minda C. Phillips, University of Exeter, and includes sections on provenance and cartographers, an alphabetical list with reel and reference numbers, and select bibliography. This is found in The Loyalist Collection red binder and on the shelf under the call no. HIL-MICGDL E208 .G73 (2 volumes). The listing of West Indies or Caribbean maps from the guide is available electronically (see Electronic Finding Aid section).            

See Part 1 of this series at: https://loyalist.lib.unb.ca/node/4445.