Maps provide a visual representation of an area, which can be useful in a variety of ways when studying real estate. The Library of Congress has map collections that provide information on U.S. cities and towns. The Digital Scholarship Laboratory of the University of Richmond provides interactive maps that assist in visualizing inequities from the New Deal era and the displacement of families during Urban Renewal. Maps are also useful when homeowners need to assess where the property lines are for their house. Check the official website for the assessor’s office in your municipality for these maps.
The Geography and Map Division, established in 1897, has custody of the bulk of the Library's cartographic materials and would be the staff at the Library that could answer questions about the digitized and undigitized map collections through Ask-A-Librarian. Following are links to Library of Congress collections of interest when researching real estate.
The information displayed on the University of Richmond Digital Scholarship Lab site assists users in understanding housing inequalities that developed as a result of redlining in the New Deal and the displacement of families during Urban Renewal. These programs continue to impact urban neighborhoods and affect current economic conditions of cities. Users can interact with these resources by viewing various cities, selecting different neighborhoods within those cities, and filtering further. The site provides instructions on viewing the materials and downloading the images. This unique site provides information only found using resources housed in multiple locations.
