The primary research interests at the University of Connecticut include Connecticut, New England and the Middle Atlantic States, Europe, Eastern Europe, Central America, and parts of South America. The collection of Connecticut is comprehensive and includes maps down to the very detailed engineering scale of 1:2400. For Connecticut, this collection includes the published and unpublished maps United States Geological Survey (USGS) beginning in the 1800's, hydrographic charts from the early 19th century to the present, town maps, microfilm of historical atlases, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, and aerial photos from 1941 to the present.
MAGIC also has a large and constantly increasing presence on the Internet through the University of Connecticut Library's MAGIC website (http://magic.lib.uconn.edu ). The site is a resource for geo-spatial data of Connecticut provided by the U.S. federal government and Connecticut stat agencies such as the Departments of Environment Protection and Transportation.
Maps are an ideal source of information for businesspeople, educators,
foresters, geographers, geologists, backpackers and hikers, historians,
hydrologists, land owners, naturalists, prospective home buyers, scouts,
students, surveyors, town and municipal officials, to name a few.
Maps provide historical and physical information about the changes and
conditions in our world in a graphical format. If a picture contains
a thousand words, a map holds thousands more. Visit MAGIC at UConn
or on the Web and enter a fascinating world of discovery.
The coverages for 1970, 1986, 1990 and 1996 are full state coverage.
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( * maps split between two adjacent cases) |
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New England &
Mid-Atlantic |
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont,
Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C.,
New Jersey, New York* |
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Mid-Atlantic & Great Lakes | New York*, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana * |
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Great Lakes & South Eastern | Indiana*, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Alabama * |
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South Eastern | Alabama*, Florida |
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South Eastern | Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina* |
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South Eastern & North Central | South Carolina*, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Iowa |
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North Central | Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska (partial) |
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North Central & South Central | Nebraska*, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas |
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South Central,
Islands, U.S. Borders |
Louisiana, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Puerto Rico
Canada/U.S. Border (photoimages) Mexico/U.S. Border (photoimages) |
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South Central | Texas |
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South Western | Arizona, California * |
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South Western | California*, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah |
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North Western | Colorado, Idaho, Montana* |
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North Western | Montana*, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming* |
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North Western & Other | Wyoming*, Alaska, American Samoa, Guam |
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Large scale USGS maps
& US Virgin Islands. |
USGS Topographic Maps 1:250,000
US Land Cover and Use 1:100,00 & 1:250,000 US Fish and Wildlife 1981 scale 1:250,00 US Virgin Islands |
This collection of charts is produced by National Imagery and Mapping
Agency - Hydrographic Office.
Index book from 1992 is annotated with all MAGIC holdings. For Connecticut,
MAGIC holds nautical charts from the early 19th century.
In October, 1967, it was decided to organize the Library’s map collection for use in a newly established Map Room as part of the Special Collections Department. At that time the collection consisted of an estimated 24,860 maps and charts, at least 24,000 of which had been received since 1945 from the depository program of the U.S. Army Map Service, a predecessor of the Defense Mapping Agency. The Army’s maps, for the most part, depict the physical features of land outside the United States. The other 860 maps and charts included U.S. Office of Strategic Services intelligence maps, and U.S. Hydrographic Office nautical charts. Also included in the Map Room at that time was a small collection of atlases and related materials which were selected fromt he collections in Reference and Government Publications. They related mostly to the Physical Sciences, or class "G" in the Library of Congress scheme. The 214 volumes in the collection contained 12 atlas titles, 142 gazetteers, and 18 volumes of as international cartographic bibliography.
The Map Room closed sometime in 1968 and did not reopen until 21 September 1970, under the auspices of the Government Publications Department. During the period prior to the reopening, the librarian in charge had completely organized a new collection of maps, the U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps which cover the United States. Some atlases and gazetteers had also been acquired by the Library and added to the Map Room collection during the two-year period. In 1970-1971 the Map Room was given the Petersen Collection (a group of photostats of old town maps of New England) and started to collect such items as geologic maps and Connecticut city street/town road maps.
Because the Map Room was staffed only 15 hours each week from September 1970 until September 1973, the types of materials acquired remained static during the three years. In 1973, when the Map Room was instituted as an independent department and a commitment was made by the Library administration to expand the numbers of staff and hours of service, the numbers and categories of materials collected expanded accordingly. Aerial photographs of the entire state of Connecticut and nautical charts for the Connecticut- Massachusetts shoreline were acquired, a file of dealers’ catalogs for maps and atlases was begun, and the Map Room received a gift of Fodor travel guides covering much of Europe and Asia.
The following year (1974-1975) the Map Room’s noteworthy purchases included over 500 thematic maps of Connecticut towns and quadrangles plus about 30 facsimiles or photographic reproductions of historic maps showing Connecticut and other north-eastern United States towns and cities. In 1975-1976 the depository agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey was expanded to include topographic maps at scales other than what had been received previously as well as geologic, hydrologic, mineral resource, and petroleum resource maps. The Map Room also became a depository for the Metropolitan District which publishes topographic and street maps for the towns and cities in the Hartford area. Throughout the four years since 1973, the librarian has attempted to improve the atlas collection, increase selectively the hiking and other travel guides, and increase the town road/city street map collections. Also added, very selectively, have been topographic maps of Canada, historic maps of Connecticut and its towns, and maps which show the growth of planned communities (such as Lowell, Massachusetts) in the United States."
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Last updated 19 Nov 98.