LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Libraries has received a $30,000 grant to digitize a series of historical maps were highly detailed, full-color maps that documented 241 cities and towns in Kansas. The grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission allowed Spencer Library to digitize and put on-line community maps created by the Sanborn Map Company from 1883 through 1922. Spencer Library curator Sherry Williams said historians, researchers and city planners love the Sanborn maps because they contained huge amounts of information including where windows were located, number of stories to a building, and what roofs were made of. The maps provide invaluable snapshots of how the communities changed and grew, she said. Among the cities covered by the Sanborn maps and included in the Spencer on-line collection: Ottawa, Osawatomie, Paola, Baldwin City, Burlingame, Burlington, Carbondale, Garnett, Lawrence, Lyndon, Olathe and Osage City. The on-line is collection, comprising 5,245 images, at http://cds.lib.ku.edu/sanborn-maps. The collection is searchable by city, county and date. For more information, visit http://spencer.lib.ku.edu.
Wednesday, June 29, 4 p.m.
