Collection Number

1999.15

Contact Information

The University Library, Special Collections
Cal Poly Humboldt
One Harpst Street
Arcata, California 95521
URL: https://specialcollections.humboldt.edu/hcc-map-collection

Processed By

Ryan Lewelling Winford, Edith Butler, MA, CA, Joan Berman

Date Collection Processed

1998; 2011

Language

English

Collection Creator

Cal Poly Humboldt Library Special Collections staff

Dates Covered by Collection

1853 – to date

Size of Collection

420 maps in database plus approximately 10 series

Abstract

The geographic focus of the HCC Maps Collection is Northwestern California, including towns, timber lands, railroad lines, waterways, and mines. Maps range in subject matter and purpose: coastal surveys, environmental inventories and analyses, geologic studies including earthquakes and landslides, public lands, maritime activities including shipwrecks, flood insurance and Sanborn maps, topographic and orthophotoquad maps.

Access

The collection is open for research.

Copyright

Copyright has not been assigned to Cal Poly Humboldt. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce in any format, please contact the Special Collections Librarian.

Acquisition Information

Individual maps as well as sets are received from various sources.

Biographical Information

Notable cartographers and map publishers include: Lentell; Doolittle; Forbes; Denny; Herrick; Belcher; Metsker; Susie Baker Fountain; Alderon Laird; Norman Smith; USGS; etc.

Scope and Content of the Collection

The geographic focus of the HCC Maps Collection is Northwestern California, including towns, timber lands, railroad lines, waterways, and mines. Maps range in subject matter and purpose: coastal surveys, environmental inventories and analyses, geologic studies including earthquakes and landslides, public lands, maritime activities including shipwrecks, flood insurance and Sanborn maps, topographic and orthophotoquad maps.

An initial effort to inventory and process this collection occurred in 1998 when two students created worksheets for each map; minimal repair was done at this time. An additional map filing case was purchased with preservation grant funding from NEH in 2006 to allow for further growth of the collection. In 2011 an experienced cartography student, Ryan Lewelling Winford, further inventoried and processed the collection, entering information about each map into a Microsoft Access database which can be searched on the Special Collections Map Collections page.

Container List

• Humboldt County, early - 1853-1925, Doolittle, Forbes, Lentell, Denny, Belcher (3-1)
• Humboldt County, post-1946 - Metsker, Freese, Compass, CSAA (7-2)
• Mid-County Area; - Arcata-Eureka, Humboldt Bay communities (see 3-5 for city details) (3-4)
• Humboldt County Street maps - County street atlas sets: 1970, 1976, 1979, 1988 (7-4)
• Public Lands - King Range NRA, Redwood N&SP, Six Rivers NF, Trinity Alps Wilderness (7-5)

• Arcata, HSU campus - 1903-1980 (3-2)
• Arcata, post 1980 - 1980-present (3-6)
• Eureka, early - 1850-1925, Eureka subdivisions; (3-3)
• Eureka, post 1940 - 1940-present (3-7)
• Belcher Atlas/ Other Local Towns - Belcher Atlas 1921, 24pcs/ All towns except Arcata and Eureka(3-5)

• Geology - General, earthquakes, Special Studies Series (4-1)
• Geology - Landslide series, Lower Klamath River Basin (4-2)
• Natural Resources - Ecological, wetland inventories (4-3)
• Marine Disasters, Nautical Charts - Shipwrecks, C&GS series (general) (4-4)
• Humboldt Bay - 1806-present, C&GS series (4-5)

• Sanborn Maps - Block-level building footprints for select cities (1-1)
• Miscellaneous/Other Northern California Counties - 1990 Census Block/tracts, R.R., Mining, Tribal Lands/ Del Norte, Mendocino, Siskiyou, Trinity (1-2)
• Eel and Smith Rivers - Alderon Laird Collection: Cross-sections, environmental analyses (1-3)
• Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM)/ Flood Prone Areas/ Scott Dam Inundation Maps (1-4)
• Aerial Photo Indexes - CVL series 1941-1983 (1-5)

• Historical Aerial Photos - 1941-1942, 1974, 1974 remote sensed image (2-1)
• Aerial Photographs - NHAP 1983, 1:80,000, No.372-78 to 404-102 (2-2)
• Aerial Photographs - NHAP 1983, 1:80,000, No. 404-109 to 408-259 (2-3)
• Aerial Photographs - NHAP 1983, 1:80,000, No. 410-4 to 426-61 (2-4)
• Mid-County Topographic - ca1970 bluelines, 75pc set, Clair A. Hill publisher (2-5)

• USGS Topographic Quadrangles - 7.5’ and 15’ quad maps, various publ. dates (5-1)
• Orthophotoquads - 1:24,000, Alderpoint – Fortuna (5-2)
• Orthophotoquads - 1:24,000, Gasquet - Owl Creek (5-3)
• Orthophotoquads - 1:24,000, Petrolia - Youngs Peak (5-4)

Bibliography

Related Collections

F. E. Herrick Collection
Shuster Aerial Photograph Collection
Thornburgh Timber Maps Collection
Louisiana Pacific / Hammond Lumber Company Collection
Susie Baker Fountain vol 93 Hoopa maps (images 144-150)
Humboldt Pamphlet Collection, see “[place name, e.g., Arcata] – Maps” and “Recreation – Maps”
Online Archive of California, Northwestern California Forest Communities Collection

Subject Headings

Real property - California - Humboldt County - Maps