Author: Lucy Clark

Author: Gina Pollara

Author: Adam Kalinowski

Author: David Childs

Author: Seth Kaller

The “Sewer Map of the City of Oakland” from 1880 is a detailed map that illustrates the sizes and depths of the city’s sewer system, as well as the grades of streets. Created as part of a report on the social statistics of cities, this map provides valuable insights into the infrastructure and urban planning of Oakland during that period. It highlights the importance of the sewer system in the city’s development and offers a historical perspective on public health and sanitation efforts in the late 19th century.

Captain John Bonner's map of Boston, created before the city's coastline was altered by landfill, combines plan and perspective views to depict settlement patterns and the city's thriving maritime economy. The shipping in the harbor is meticulously illustrated, while the topography is simplified. The map also highlights areas where Native American artifacts were discovered, showcasing the history of the land before European settlement in 1630. This map includes a list of buildings with the year of their construction, a list of fires in the city from 1653 to 1711 and a list of occurrences of smallpox.

Considered to be one of the best visual records of pre-Revolutionary Boston, this map is an updated version of the map first published by John Bonner in 1722. After his death in 1726, his partner William Price assumed sole ownership of the Boston Plan, to which he added a decorative cartouche, and numerous streets in the south and west and along Boston Neck. Like the original one from 1722, this map includes a list of buildings with the year of their construction, a list of fires in the city from 1653 to 1711 and a list of occurrences of smallpox.

Surveyed by the civil engineer John G. Hales, it is considered to be one of the most accurate maps of the 19th century expansion era, the first to show a comprehensive list of buildings. Different shadings were used to indicate the material from which a building was constructed. It shows property lines, data that, when coupled with those about buildings, provide invaluable information about Federal-period Boston. The map covers the Shawmut peninsula and includes an inset of Boston Neck.