City and Town Plan Reproductions for Genealogy
From Generations Press Maps
http://members.aol.com/townplans/
The central portion of Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) from an 1890 map. This is a typical sample of
the detail and color available on the maps listed below.
Introduction
Map Samples
Map Catalogs
Regional Maps
Order Form
Generations Press
Other Map Sites
Introduction 
Would you like to see what your ancestral home towns looked like when your ancestors lived there? Look no
further! Generations Press, the genealogical publishing company of professional genealogist Ted Gostin, now
offers almost 850 highly detailed maps of over 600 cities and towns in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and
the Americas. These maps are quality reproductions made from a number of original sources, including atlases, travel
guides, and other published maps. They show what these cities looked like before the massive changes caused by
revolutions, two world wars, the "sovietization" of Eastern Europe, and the dominance of the automobile.
They are excellent resources for genealogy, since most list street names; civic buildings; schools and universities;
factories; places of worship and cemeteries by religious denomination; parks; etc.
Some of the European maps come with complete street and building indexes, and most have been enlarged to improve
detail. (Some of the maps listed show only the central or main portion of the town or city; some outlying areas
may be omitted.) Maps are generally in the national language of the city or town, with a few exceptions. For example,
maps of the ex-Soviet republics are mostly in German. The original scale on the maps ranges from 1:7,500 to about
1:50,000 for the European maps, and about 1:35,000 to 1:65,000 for the American maps. For comparison, a typical
AAA map is at a scale of about 1:44,000. Most of the U.S. maps are less detailed than the European ones.
Several samples of the maps can be viewed below and on the individual catalog pages for each country. The catalog
pages list the maps currently available by country. Each listing shows the order number, town or city name (with
variants), whether the map is in color or black & white, the size of the reproduction page in inches, the original
year of publication, the original scale and the price.
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Map Samples 
The samples below are full-sized reproductions of maps in the catalogs. They range in size from 117 KB to 240
KB, and may take from 1-3 minutes to download, depending on your modem speed and web browser. To view smaller and
faster loading samples, just click on the country that you want to see maps of, and select samples from the catalog
page. (The samples on the catalog pages are only sections of the map, but are limited in size to 20 to 50 KB for
faster loading. On most web browsers at 28,800 baud, these samples will take only about 15 seconds to download.)
- Odessa, Ukraine
- This map of Odessa is from the 1892 German language edition of Baedeker's Russland, a travel guidebook
of Russia. It shows the level of detail and coloring typical of the majority of maps in the collection. 240
KB. Estimated download time at 28,800 baud: 2 minutes.
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Many of the maps provide detail of central city areas. This 1910 map of the central part of Amsterdam, the
Netherlands, is from Baedeker's Belgium and Holland. These central city maps are usually accompanied by
maps showing the entire city area. 228 KB. Estimated download time at 28,800 baud: 2 minutes.
- Baden-Baden, Germany
- Not all of the maps are for large, major cities. A number of smaller towns and cities are also included in
the collection. This 1896 map of Baden-Baden, Germany, is one such example. The town itself had a population of
only 15,000 when this map was published, but was a popular "watering-place," or health resort, of the
19th century. 151 KB. Estimated download time at 28,800 baud: 1.5 minutes.
- Winchester, England
- Many of the maps show the environs surrounding a city or town, or include a small section showing the environs
on the plan itself. This 1910 map of Winchester, England, is an example of a town plan that includes a small section
showing the surrounding area as well. 117 KB. Estimated download time at 28,800 baud: 1 minute.
- Sample index sections - Odessa
- Over 100 of the city maps offered by Generations Press are sold with complete street and place name indexes
prepared and copyrighted by Ted Gostin. These samples of index sections accompany the 1892 Odessa map above. The
preparation of indexes for the additional maps in the collection has been temporarily discontinued. Click
here for a complete list of all maps that are currently indexed. The list includes those maps for which indexes
are in preparation; these are identified by asterisks after the town name.
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Country by Country Catalogs 
The following catalogs contain full listings of all maps currently available. The catalog pages were designed
to be viewed using the full screen width and SVGA resolution settings of at least 800 x 600. For the clearest viewing,
enlarge your web browser window to full-screen size before viewing the catalog pages. If your monitor is set at
normal 640 x 480 VGA resolution, some text may wrap around to the next line, or you may need to scroll to the right
to view the entire line.
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Regional Maps 
Generations Press has recently begun to sell a limited number of 19th century regional maps of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Click here for a full catalog of available regional maps.
These maps come from several different 19th century atlases. There are several other map sellers who carry a number
of good regional maps.
- Jonathan Sheppard Books sells a number of good quality regional maps from the 18th and 19th centuries. Their
collection includes maps of most parts of Europe, with a special emphasis on Germany. They probably have the best
available collection of contemporary regional maps for genealogists. You can reach them at:
- Another source of regional maps is the company Genealogy Unlimited,
which sells a variety of genealogical products, including maps. They have a free catalog, and you can reach them
by phone, fax or on the web.
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How to Order 
At this time, Generations Press is only accepting mail orders with payment by check or money order. If the volume
of orders is sufficient, credit card orders will be accepted in the future. Please check back regularly to see
if a credit card option has been added. To order, download and print the order
form. Complete the order form and mail it with your check or money order payment.
Please feel free to forward any questions or comments to Generations Press. We will be happy to answer any questions
about our maps before you order. Please visit our main home page (http://members.aol.com/genpress/)
for information on other Generations Press products.
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About Generations Press 
Generations Press is the genealogical publishing company of professional genealogist Ted Gostin. Generations
Press publishes a variety of genealogical books and research tools in the following areas:
- Jewish Genealogy
- Southern California Resources
- Immigrant Resources
- Historical Maps
The city and town plans described on these linked pages are the first publications of Generations Press. Some
of the future publications currently planned are:
- Genealogical Resources in Southern California, by Ted Gostin.
- A detailed guide to genealogical research sites in Southern California, with the emphasis on Los Angeles County.
Includes libraries and public records offices, with separate chapters on each research site and research subject
area.
- Los Angeles County Deaths Reported in Newspapers, by Ted Gostin.
- While California became a state in 1850, official recording of most vital records in Los Angeles County did
not begin until many years later. The earliest birth records at the County Recorder are in 1866 for the county
and 1879 for the city, and the earliest death records are in 1873 for the county and 1877 for the city. In addition,
there are two significant gaps in the county death records where register books have been lost, from early 1877
to late 1889, and from June 1901 to October 1903. This volume attempts to partially fill in these gaps by indexing
deaths during these time periods recorded in Los Angeles County newspapers.
- Russian Genealogical Resources in American Repositories, by Ted Gostin.
- Genealogists researching Russian roots have long been frustrated by the relative absence of Russian genealogical
resources available in the west. This book reviews the resources from the Russian empire that are currently available,
and those that are now becoming available. The topics covered include vital records (in both Polish and Russian
formats), revision lists (tax censuses), Russian business and city directories, the Russian Consular Records, Russian
newspapers, passenger arrival indexes, maps & gazetteers, collected biographies, encyclopedias, Internet resources,
and genealogical socities. Under each of these topics, the book will have special sections on Jewish-Russian resources.
- The Shtetl Atlas, by Ted Gostin.
- A compilation of street plans of Eastern European shtetls, the small Jewish towns made famous in Jewish
literature and folklore. Using information from a variety of sources, including published maps, yizkor (memorial)
books, encyclopedias, and gazetteers, detailed street plans of over 400 shtetls are planned. Each map will be accompanied
by a page of basic information about the town and its Jewish community, including a town history, population statistics,
prominent personalities from the town, and its history during the Holocaust. This is a long-term project and publication
is still several years away.
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Other Map Sites on the
World Wide Web 
- Saco Valley Printing - Reproductions of Old Town Maps in New England
- Saco Valley Printing offers reproductions of 19th century town plans from county atlases for many counties
in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. These maps are from an earlier period than those published
by Generations Press and focus on an area in which we have very few maps.
- Gleason's Old Maps, Etc. - Maps of New England
- Gleason's Old Maps, Etc. - Maps of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania
- These two sites also include a large number of city maps from old county atlases for the states mentioned above.
There are also statewide maps and a link to maps for Utah as well.
- Dutch Maps
- This site has 35 Dutch city maps from a facsimile edition of Blaeu's Toonneel der Steden of 1652. The
home page loads with all 35 maps in thumbnail form, and the files are quite large. The page takes a very
long time to load, so prepared to wait for awhile. The maps are beautiful, though, and the scans are very high
quality.
- TCI Genealogical Resources - Carribean Cities
- TCI Genealogical Resources, which started out as a publisher of materials on Cuba, now includes a wider range
of genealogical resources from around the world. Their web site includes three city plans of Bridgetown, Barbados;
Kingston, Jamaica; and Port of Spain, Trinidad.
- The University of Texas at Austin
- The University of Texas at Austin has placed a large collection of maps on the web, including regional maps,
city and town plans, and historical maps. To view city and town plans, try the subdirectories "world-cities"
and "cities site." For older maps (including city and town plans), try the subdirectory "historical."
- FEEFHS - The Federation of Eastern European Family History Societies
- FEEFHS is a federation of genealogical societies that have an emphasis on Eastern European research. Their
web site has a large collection of 19th century maps of Central and Eastern Europe. I provided these scans to FEEFHS
from originals in my own collection. These maps are excellent for identifying the 19th century boundaries of European
countries, as well as identifying internal boundaries within the major empires.
- Pathfinder Travel Agency
- This site, for Pathfinder travel agency, includes a set of Magellan Geographix digital maps for countries and
cities around the world. These are current maps, not historical ones.
- Excit City Net Interactive Maps
- This site, which uses the same Magellan Geographix maps as the site above, allows you to type in any address
in the U.S. and view a detailed street map of that address.
- Genealogy Unlimited
- Genealogy Unlimited is a supplier of genealogical books, forms and maps. Their collection of maps includes
detailed regional maps of Europe, both current and historical. Their web site contains mostly descriptions of the
maps they sell, rather than examples.
- The Goldbug
- The Goldbug is another map seller specializing in historical maps of the United States and map software.
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This site is maintained by Ted Gostin. Last updated on December 5, 1998.
City and Town Plan Reproductions has had
visitors since February 1, 1996.
Generations Press
P.O. Box 56321
Sherman Oaks, CA 91413-1321
(818) 501-5852
e-mail: GenPress@aol.com