Online: Massachusetts Maps

The Massachusetts Historical Society is pleased to make 104 unique and rare manuscript and printed maps of Massachusetts available through 36 web presentations. The maps presented include twenty-four manuscript maps of local towns and counties dating from 1637-1809 and eight iconic printed maps of Massachusetts and Boston. Seventy-two meticulously drawn manuscript maps by Samuel Chester Clough (1873-1949) present a wealth of information about property owners in Boston during the 17th and late 18th centuries. During the course of his life, Clough compiled an enormous amount of data about Boston landowners from town, court, and tax records and he indexed it in a way that allowed him to create maps of Boston at different time periods. Clough's reconstructed maps included on this website consist of one oversize map of Boston in 1648, one oversize map of Boston in 1676, a multi-page atlas (one key map and 60 additional pages) depicting Boston property owners in 1798 and an oversize atlas (11 plates and one index page) depicting Boston property owners in 1798.

Funding for the Massachusetts Maps website and digitization project was provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act grant as administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

Please select a town or geographic area using the interactive map, or explore the detailed atlas of Boston property owners in 1798, or browse the entire list of digitized maps.