This collection comprises just over 620 American railroad maps at both the national and state levels. This digital collection corresponds to the LC Railroad Maps collection which was assembled by Library of Congress staff out of the assorted holdings in our uncatalogued collections. That original physical collection in turn corresponds to Railroad Maps of the United States: A Selective Annotated Bibliography of Original 19th-century Maps in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress, compiled by Andrew M. Modelski (former reference librarian in the Geography and Map Division), which was created with the intent to highlight the vast types and extent of railroad map holdings within our uncatalogued collections.

The Transportation and Communication collection is both larger and broader than our Railroad collection. With a little over 1,100 items, this collection comprises cartographic materials depicting railroads, roadways, canals, telegraph lines, and other transportation and communications mediums. While there is significant overlap with the Railroad 1828-1900 collection, this collection includes more modern materials dating from after 1900 and also includes international resources.