About a dozen years ago I discovered Sanborn maps. I was trying to find the locations of certain bank buildings in the state of Nevada. At the time very few archives of the maps were available on the 'net, so I drove to Reno, the University of Nevada. The maps there had all of the information I wanted and more; in addition, they were very large and very beautiful!
Since then I have devoted two thirds of my time to gathering every bit of information relative to the production and distribution of the maps. Sanborn was the most prominent of the mapmakers. There were many others: Rascher, Hexamer, Dakin, Bennett, Scarlett & Scarlett, Teague, Goad, to name just a few.
Among many other things I typed 50,000 copyright records into spreadsheets. These records are for everything submitted by any fire insurance mapmaker. The records are not complete because only the ones after 1891 are available outside the copyright office. And that's how I found the editions of the Sanborn Map Company's Surveyors Manual. 1898, 1905, 1911, 1923, 1936. The 1898 is certain to be the first edition because of information found elsewhere.
MapsOnFire, post: 377289, member: 11789 wrote: The records are not complete because only the ones after 1891 are available outside the copyright office. And that's how I found the editions of the Sanborn Map Company's Surveyors Manual. 1898, 1905, 1911, 1923, 1936. The 1898 is certain to be the first edition because of information found elsewhere.
Does this mean that you have seen the 1898 and 1905 editions of the "Instructions for Surveyors"?
Nope. Just the copyright listings.
