Map Collection

Arranged chronologically, the map collection documents the development of DeKalb County over the past two centuries. The collection includes 1924 Sanborn Maps of Atlanta, the 1928 topographical maps of Atlanta, and the 1915 Maynard-Carter-Simmons Atlas of DeKalb County.

Unless otherwise noted, the images in our collections belong to the DHC, a membership based non-profit, and may only be reproduced with our written permission. If permission is granted, you will be charged a fee and we will need information including, but not limited to, the intended use, publisher, and date of publication. Please contact the archivist for additional information about using images from our collection.

Please select from the two MAP COLLECTION choices below:

DeKalb County Map Guide

DeKalb County Oversized Map Guide

Explanation of Map Numbering System

The system used to number the DeKalb History Center's map collection follows these guidelines:

There are two map cases. All maps with a confirmed date are organized that way, usually in drawers covering a 10 year period.
All map numbers have four parts divided by periods. The maps are ordered first by date, then consecutively according to the other numbers corresponding to pertinent information about the map.
The first number is the date that the map depicts.
The second number, after the first period, corresponds to the different number of maps in the DHC collection with that same date. If a certain map number is 1805.2.0.0, for example, then there are at least two different maps in the collection dated 1800, and this is the second.
The third number, after the second period, indicates whether or not there are two or more original copies of the same map in the collection. The number 1800.1.2.0 indicates that this map is the second original, essentially the same map as 1800.1.1.0.
The fourth number, after the third period, indicates whether a certain map is a photocopy of an original map, and the number of that photocopy. If a map is numbered 1800.1.1.2, this indicates that the map 1800.1.1.0 has been photocopied, and that map 1800.1.1.2 is the second photocopy of the original map in the collection.

Although the numbering system may be confusing, the hope is that it will afford a wealth of information about each map, and still allow for consecutive chronological map organization.

A DeKalb History Center member went to the Library of Congress in 2013 and scanned the set of Atlanta topo maps published in 1930. The scale maps of Atlanta 1:2400 include 50 pages, and the Atlanta Vicinity maps 1:12000 include 32 pages, though some pages could not be found at all.

The entire set is available here at the DHC as digital images. Here are some links to some maps that contain DeKalb County.