Historical Travels: Local Transit Maps

Many cities have a rich and vast transit system, that has helped residents and commuters navigate the city. With the use of elevated rails and underground subways, transit has evolved and grown. As such, local transit maps can answer questions like:

• What stations used to exist and are no longer in service?
• When did certain stations get used?
• What type of transportation would a commuter use at a specific point in time?
• What companies were/are running the various transit systems in NYC?
• Where are transit "deserts," both past and present?

Local transit maps can answer these questions, as well as many more.

See below a listing of essential transit maps.

Catalog Tips

When searching the Online Research Catalog for road maps, in the Advanced Search, checkmark "Cartographic" under Format and type the following into the Keyword Field or Subject Field for most results:

• Subways [Name of borough or NYC or New York City or non-NYC location]
  • Keyword Example: Subways Queens
  • Subject Example: Subways -- Queens.
  • Keyword Example: Local Transit Paris
  • Subject Example: Local Transit -- Paris.
  • This search mainly works effectively if utilized as a keyword search.
  • Keyword Example: Rapid Transit Chicago

  You can also search under the entity that was in charge of the transportation, as an Author or Keyword. Examples for NYC-related transit companies include:

  • Interborough Rapid Transit Company [you can also search under IRT]
  • Metropolitan Transit Authority [you can also search under MTA]

  For holdings of other years and places that are not in the Online Research Catalog, please search in the printed Dictionary Catalog of the Map Division (available online via HathiTrust), in:

  • Volume 9, p. 371, under Subways
    • NYC-related subways start on p. 373
    • NYC-related transportation starts on p. 648