Bird’s-Eye-Views, a popular cartographic form during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were painstakingly drawn by sketch artists. Although they were not drawn precisely to scale, they provided helpful snapshots of towns frozen in time. Showing busy communities, the artistic renderings revealed streets filled with carriages, stores surrounded by activities, and trains approaching stations. They also depicted major perspectives on the landscape, and offered several detailed vignettes of certain buildings, which had been included on the view. Of course, the subscriber paid a fee to have his building included in the inset.
The Boston Public Library’s Norman B. Leventhal Map Center has a collection of these artistic Delaware works available on the Internet. An 1885 cluster contains O. H. Bailey & Co. products for Clayton, Smyrna, Georgetown, Harrington, Middletown, Milford, and Dover. In 1874, H. H. Bailey & Company sketched out Wilmington.
The Norman B. Leventhal Center at the Boston Public Library is dedicated to the creative educational use of its cartographic holdings, which extend from the 15th century to the present. In pursuit of its mission, the Center collects and preserves maps and atlases, promotes research in the collection, and makes its resources available to the public through its website, exhibitions, publications, lectures, and other programs.
Be sure to check out this collection the time you need maps from these communities and also search for other Delaware items in the library. Here is the link to the search engine.
