This came to me via H-New Jersey, but I think it will be extremely useful for the study of Virginia history. Here's the link to Virginia county maps: Here's the link to the Virginia county maps: http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/statepages/Virginia.html Martha Katz-Hyman >Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:20:21 -0600 >From: Otterstrom- HistGeog <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Atlas of Historical County Boundaries now available online > >From: Douglas Knox [[log in to unmask]] >Date sent: 12 Jul 2010 > >Atlas of Historical County Boundaries now available online > >The Newberry Library is pleased to announce the completion and >release of its Digital Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, a >dataset that covers every day-to-day change in the size, shape, >location, name, organization, and attachment of each U.S. county and >state from the creation of the first county in 1634 through 2000. > >Nearly every aspect of American life can be described, analyzed, and >illuminated through data gathered and organized by county or >available in county records, and knowing how and when boundaries >changed is often the key to finding and understanding great >quantities of historical data. For example, a farm may have been in >one family for many generations, but over the decades changes in >county lines may have effectively moved that farm from one county to >another. When looking for old family records, how does the modern >genealogist know which county seat will hold great-grandmother's >marriage certificate? How does an attorney know which county seat >recorded the deed to great-great-grandfather's farm? > >In addition, population figures are commonly aggregated at the >county level, but comparing statistics from one enumeration to the >next may not accurately reveal actual change. Was a change in the >figures from census to census due to population movement or to a >change in the boundaries of the reporting counties, or to a >combination of both? > >With the Newberry's Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, >genealogists, geographers, historians, political scientists, >attorneys, demographers, and many more now can find accurate county >data that will greatly assist them in their research. > >The data are organized by state and are available online in four versions: > >* Viewable, interactive maps (electronic analogues to printed maps) >on which the historical lines have been plotted against a background >of the modern county network > >* Downloadable shapefiles for use in geographic information systems (GIS) > >* Downloadable KMZ files for use with Google Earth > >* Downloadable and printable PDF files (each full-page frame shows a >map of a different version of each county, with the historical >boundaries displayed against a background of the modern county >network) > >Supplementing the polygons and maps for each state are chronologies, >commentary on historical problems, long and short metadata >documents, and a bibliography. > >The project began in 1988, with principal funding provided by the >National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal >agency. Additional support came from the Newberry Library, which >also served as headquarters, and from other foundations and >individuals. The Newberry Library is the copyright holder; all files >of the Digital Atlas of Historical County Boundaries are free for >use under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Creative >Commons License. Queries should be addressed to [log in to unmask] >The Website for the Atlas is publications.newberry.org/ahcbp. ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html