Overview, 2019, Paper & Schein

“This exhibit was hosted on April 18, 2019, at the offices of Webster Pacific in downtown San Francisco. The date, April 18, was not entirely coincidental as it was the anniversary of the great earthquake and fire of 1906. The exhibit was a pop-up, which meant that it was put up and taken down within a span of six hours. Every image was printed and mounted onto a posterboard and then rested on a portable easel. The exhibit remains available as a popup for venues that have 150 lineal feet of wall-space.”

Tom Paper

Overview, 2019, Paper & Schein

“This page shows the floor layout of maps shown in the pop-up exhibit. The exhibit was hosted on April 18, 2019, at the offices of Webster Pacific in downtown San Francisco. The date, April 18, was not entirely coincidental as it was the anniversary of the great earthquake and fire of 1906. The exhibit was a pop-up, which meant that it was put up and taken down within a span of six hours. Every image was printed and mounted onto a posterboard and then rested on a portable easel.”

Tom Paper

Overview, 2019, Paper & Schein

“A list of all the images in the exhibit. Each number represents the number on the posterboard of the image from the pop-up exhibit.”

Tom Paper

The World, 1507, Waldseemuller

“In 2003, the Library of Congress bought Martin Waldseemüller’s world map for a world record $10 million dollars, because it is the first map to name America and show the Pacific. Widely regarded as ‘America’s birth certificate’, the map was believed lost until found by a Jesuit priest in a castle in Germany in 1900, where it remained 2003, when the library persuaded its owner, a German count, to sell it. Made by Waldseemüller and a team of scholars in Germany in 1507, its distinctive bulb-shaped projection reflects their attempt to keep up with the extraordinary period of rapid discoveries made by the Spanish and Portuguese from the late fifteenth century, including landfalls in southern Africa, India, Asia, and of course, the Americas. At the top of the map are Ptolemy (left) and Amerigo Vespucci (right), whose voyages proved conclusively that America was a separate continent, disproving Columbus’ belief that he had landed in Asia. It is a map that remains full of mysteries: how did Waldseemüller know about the Pacific six years before any European discovered it?” time.com

North American and South America, 1559, Sebastian Munster

“His Cosmographia of 1544 was the earliest German-language description of the world...The Cosmographia was one of the most successful and popular works of the 16th century. It passed through 24 editions in 100 years. This success was due to the fascinating woodcuts...in addition to including the first to introduce "separate maps for each of the four continents known then-- America, Africa, Asia and Europe." It was most important in reviving geography in 16th century Europe. The last German edition was published in 1628, long after his death...He died at Basel of the plague in 1552.” wikipedia.org

Excellent example of the earliest separate map of the entire Western Hemisphere. This was also the earliest map to refer to the Pacific Ocean (along with Munster's world map) by a variant of its present name, Mare pacificum. It was one of earliest acquirable maps to show Japan prominently, which is depicted as a large single island called Zipangri (after Polo) just off the coasts of California and Mexico. The depiction of North America is dominated by one of the most dramatic geographic misconceptions to be found on early maps--the so-called Verrazanean Sea. On the map, the Pacific Ocean cuts deeply into North America so that there is only a narrow isthmus between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This resulted from the voyage of Verrazano, who mistook the waters to the west of the Outer Banks, the long barrier islands outlining the North Carolina coast, as the Pacific Ocean. The division of the New World between Spain and Portugal is recognized on the map by the flag of Castile planted in Puerto Rico, here called Sciana.”Martaya Lan

The World, 1570, Abraham Ortelius

“Ortelius' book of maps, first published in 1570, is considered the first modern world atlas. It was the first time that a set of maps, contemporary to the date of publication, was designed, drawn, and engraved with the intention of publishing them in a bound volume. Ortelius did not refer to his publication as an "atlas," as we know it today. Rather he entitled it "Theater of the World," implying not only that the entire known world could be viewed in this one book, but that the Earth was a stage on which human actions unfolded. Although most of the maps in this book pertain to European countries and provinces, it can be considered a world atlas because it also includes a map of the world (displayed here), as well as one map for each of the four continents. The featured map is from the second state and was published c.1578 and is similar to the first state map, but with a few corrections. It is one of the most recognized maps from the Age of Discovery. This version includes the mythical Great Northern Passage, an irregular "bulge" on the west side of South America and the mythical Great Southern Continent, "Terra Australis Ingognita," roughly in the place of Antartica before its discovery. Most of North America is still based on conjecture and mythology, though he does credit Columbus for its discovery.” themapmaven.com

The World, 1600, Quad, Bussemachaer

“Striking full color example of this fine early map of the World, which first appeared in the third of edition of Quad's Europae totius orbis terrarum, published by Johann Bussemacher. / Quad's map derives from Mercator's planispheric map of 1569, with the addition of the figure of Christ and a quote from Cicero at the bottom. South America includes the large western bulge, as shown in contemporary maps by Mercator and Ortelius. The mythical islands of Groclant, Thule, Frischlant and S. Brandam appear near Greenland. Large Terra Australis Incognita at the bottom of the map, predating the voyages of Le Maire and Schouten which identified the route around Cape Horn--with only the Straits of Magellan showing. / The cartography of Southeast Asia includes references to the mythical lands of Beach and Lucach, based upon Marco Polo, in the general vicinity of Australia, with a note crediting the Venetian for his travels in the region. No sign of the Korean Peninsula. Oddly shaped Japan. Unusual NW coast of America with clearly delineated NW passage and Northeast passage, the former being obscured by the image of Christ. Classic 16th Century cartographic representation of North America, dominated by the conjectural course of the St. Lawrence River reaching to Texas and the Great Plains. Quivira is a town on the west coast of North America. Many other early cartographic misprojections.” Raremaps.com

North America, 1625, Henry Briggs

“Nice example of Henry Briggs map of North America, one of the most important and influential printed maps of the 17th Century. While noteworthy as the first English map to show California as an Island, the map has many other important features and firsts. Briggs map is the first to name Hudson Bay, Hudson's Strait, Hudson River, Cape Cod and Delaware Bay. While the map post dates Goos 1624 map showing California as an island, most authorities believe that the Briggs map was the source map for the Goos. Similar errors appear on both, and the East Coast and English nomenclature are similar, particularly in New England, where only the English had explored to that date. Briggs wrote of California's insularity as early as 1622. Burden surmises that the Briggs map may have either been issued first or that the maps have a common English source. The map gives credit to Spanish sources for the insular California theory. Vizcaino's 1602 expedition to the west coast is also noted, including the first appearances of San Diego and San Clemente. The map is the first to name Santa Fe, founded in 1608, and also shows Plymouth and James Citti on the East Coast. Briggs wrote a treatise of the North-West Passage, which was reprinted by Haklyut in volume 3 of Purchas' Pilgrimes. The map does not clearly delineate a Northwest Passage, but certainly leaves the question open. It is one of the most important maps of North America published in the first part of the 17th Century.” Stanford Libraries

North America, 1680, William Berry, Nicolas Sanson

“William Berry (1671-1708) was a London bookseller and engraver who produced a series of maps and geographies. In the title to this map of North America he attributes indebtedness to the Sanson family. In fact, it is based on the Sanson/Jaillot map of 1674 with the Strait of Anian repositioned. The territory claimed by the English was expanded from the French sources. This remains a large format map in the French tradition, published in London by a cartographer whose best known atlas was referred to as the “English Sanson”.” arkway.com

California, 1770 (as of 1604-1767), Didier Robert de Vaugondy

“Didier Robert de Vaugondy’s compilation in 1772 illustrates the history of this cartographic odyssey clearly showing the various depictions of the mapping of California during this period. The map was published in Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedie, ou Dictioinaire raisonné des Sciences, des Arts, et des Metiers (Paris, 1751-1778).” exhibits.stanford.edu

“Gilles and Didier Robert De Vaugondy produced their maps and terrestrial globes working together as father and son...The Robert de Vaugondys were descended from the Nicolas Sanson family through Sanson's grandson, Pierre Moulard-Sanson. From him, they inherited much of Sanson's cartographic material, which they combined with maps and plates acquired after Hubert Jaillot's death in 1712 to form the basis the Atlas Universel.” wikipedia.org

The World, 1787, Samuel Dunn

“An impressive, monumental size double hemisphere world map by Dunn. The world map is full of detail, including topography, settlements, Indian tribes in America, etc. There are 15 insets, including celestial charts (both Northern and Southern Hemisphere), the Solar System, a selenographic map of the moon’s surface as well a smaller world map on Mercator’s projection. This version also shows Captain Cook’s and other explorer’s tracks and voyages. Dunn's decorative double hemisphere map of the World, embellished with a number of different Celestial Models, which has been revised to include the discoveries of Captain Cook on his 3 voyages. There is plentiful of descriptive text throughout the map. This is the first edition of the map, published by Robert Sayer.” Liveauctioneers.com

San Francisco Bay, 1797, La Perouse

“This is the earliest obtainable map of San Francisco Bay. The map may seem a little hard to decipher by modern standards. It is oriented to the Northeast, the peninsula emerging from the right is the location of the modern urban center of modern Francisco, with the Golden Gate being the tiny entrance into he larger bay. The general form of San Pablo Bay, which leads into Suisun Bay is evident at the top of the map. The greater part of San Francisco Bay, extending towards the right side of the map is significantly truncated. The map identifies 21 place names, including Alcatraz, the Presidio, Merced, the Mission of San Francisco, and other landmarks, alphanumerically via a table integrated into the title cartouche...La Perouse did not personally survey the Bay, instead he most likely obtained the data for this map from the Spanish pilot Francisco Antonio Mourelle de la Rúa (1750-1820) in Manilla...La Perouse died tragically on a shipwreck near the Solomon Islands. His journals were shipped back to Europe from Australia before the shipwreck and posthumously published in 1797, along with an accompanying atlas volume, from which this map was drawn, Atlas du voyage de La Perouse.” geographicus.com

Mexico, 1811, Humboldt

“Humboldt, who during his lifetime was considered the world's greatest living man, composed this map during his 1803 sojourn in New Spain (Mexico). Covering from Alta California to Connecticut and from the Great Salt Lake (here Timpanagos) to Honduras...[this map outlines]...the territory that in the coming years would be subsumed into the expanding United States. Humboldt spent part of 1803 and 1804 living in Mexico City as a guest of the Spanish Crown. As such he had access to rarely seen explorer's accounts and earlier mappings available in the Mexico City archives. These he combined with information from his own travels and explorations, as well as indigenous cartographic traditions and his own theoretical understanding of geography, to create this landmark mapping of the North American southwest…” wikipedia.org

San Francisco Bay, 1833 (as of 1827), Beechey

“Very rare and important chart of San Francisco Bay, the result of the first scientific mapping of the Bay. The chart had a wide influence upon later maps of the area. The chart, with copies and adaptations of it, served to the end of the Mexican period and formed the substantial basis of the earliest ones produced under the American regime. It was deficient only in the region beyond Carquinez Strait. The chart of the entrance contains additional hydrographic data pertinent to entering the port and reaching the chief places of anchorage. Accompanying the chart are elevation views depicting the approaches to the bay and the hazards to navigation.” davidrumsey.com

Western North America, 1848, J.C. Fremont

“Fremont's Map of Oregon and Upper California . . . is without question one of the most important 19th Century maps of the American West. As noted by Carl Wheat, "in the history of the American West, the year 1848 is signalized by three events above all others, the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill… the formal close of the Mexican War… which brought the cession of California and New Mexico… and the creation of the Territory of Oregon… All three events figure in the characteristic maps produced during the year, and particularly the cartographic monument of 1848, the magnificent 'Map of Oregon and Upper California'" (Wheat 49)...More than any other persons, John Charles Fremont and Charles Preuss dominate the cartography of the American West during the three years before the Gold Rush and brought a human tide surging into that land which had so long lain beyond the ken of most Americans" (Wheat, Mapping of the Transmississippi West, 523).” raremaps.com

San Francisco Bay & Gold Region, 1849, John Bidwell, Thomas Larkin

“Nice example of Thomas O. Larkin's map of the Sacramento Valley, including the newly discovered gold regions, the first printed map of the gold regions. Thomas Oliver Larkin was an early California merchant, who served as U.S. Consul to the Province of California and U.S. Consul to the Republic of California, following the Bear Flag Revolt. His 2 letters to the president in June 1848 are two of the earliest communications of the discovery of gold in California sent to the East and his map of the Sacramento Valley was the first printed map to show the Gold Regions. The map shows Ranchos in the Central Valley and along the American river has "Gold Region" on both sides. The original was traced from a map prepared for Bidwell in 1844.” davidrumsey.com

“The title words including the Gold Region and the designation of the Mining District on the map make this map by Thomas Oliver Larkin, the first and last U.S. Consul to Mexican California, one of the key maps of California history. As Carl Wheat points out in his great cartobibliography, The Maps of the California Gold Region, it ranks as “one of the earliest (if not the earliest)” to denote the discovery area along the American River. In creating this map, Larkin simply took the best-known map of the Sacramento Valley, John Bidwell’s manuscript map of 1844, traced it, and made additions. As delineated by Larkin, the Mining District occupied two ranchos bordering both banks of the American River: Rio de los Americanos Rancho of the late William Leidesdorff and Rancho San Juan of Joel P Dedmund. Larkin sent his tracing back to Boston for publication, and publisher T. Wiley, Jr., for protection, placed the lithographed, hand-tinted map in a protective black cloth folder with the magical words Gold Region gilded on the front cover. On the inside cover, Wiley added a paper label with the words “A Correct Survey Of The Gold Region California.” With a copyright date of 1848, this stands as one of the earliest examples of a publisher taking advantage of the gold fever that was just beginning to sweep across the nation. Given the map’s lack of detail, it can hardly be called a “correct survey”.” californiamapsociety.org

California Historic Gold Mines, 1998, California Department of Conservation

“Historic Gold Mines - In recognition of the California Gold Discovery to Statehood Sesquicentennial (1998-2000) CGS produced the Map of California Historic Gold Mines (PDF) (MM 009) as a poster at the scale of 1:1,500,000. The map shows the location of 13,500 historic California gold mines.” CA Department of Conservation

“The California Gold Rush was the largest mass migration in American history since it brought about 300,000 people to California. It all started on January 24, 1848, when James W. Marshall found gold on his piece of land at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma. The news of gold quickly spread around. People from Oregon, Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) and Latin America were the first to hear the breaking news, so they were the first to arrive in order to test their luck in California by the end of 1848. Soon the others from the rest of US, Europe, Australia and China followed and since they mainly arrived during 1849 they were called the “forty-niners”...At first, the gold could be picked up from the ground but later on it was recovered from the streams and rivers with the use of pans. The gold rush peaked in 1852 and after that the gold reserves were getting thinner and harder to reach so that more sophisticated methods of mining had to be employed. The best results were achieved with hydraulic mining although it was environmentally damaging...The gold rush resulted in the hasty development of California: many roads, churches, schools and towns were built to accommodate the gold-diggers. In the beginning, property rights in the goldfields were not covered by law and this was solved by the system of staking claims. The gold also helped to speed up the admission of California into the US as a State. All the preparations in terms of constitution and legislature were made in 1849 and California became a state in 1850.” historynet.com

San Francisco, 1849, William Eddy

”The map shows three small sections in outline color, corresponding to the grants to Senora Briones, the claim of the heirs of Col. J.A. King, and the claim of Senor Pana under a Mexican grant. The streets, original lot numbers, government reserver, Yerba Buena Cemetery, and the earliest wharfs are shown, along with Portsmouth Square and Montgomery Fort... William Eddy, surveyor for the town of San Francisco, created this first street map of the city in 1849. Only three years prior to the publication of the map, the United States had taken possession of the portion of California including San Francisco, and the next year, in 1847, an ordinance changed the city’s name from Yerba Buena to San Francisco. That same year, Jasper O'Farrell completed a survey of San Francisco covering 800 acres to Leavenworth and Fourth streets. Eddy’s map extends the city limits to Larkin, Eighth, and Townsend streets. The next year, California became a state.” neatlinemaps.com

San Francisco Bay and Gold Rush Territory, 1849, Derby

“This important and early map of the California Gold Rush was made from Lt. Derby's original sketch by J. Mc. H. Hollingsworth in the office of the 10th Military Dept. covers central California including San Francisco, Monterey, east to the Sierra foothills and the diggings, with the various mining camps named and shown. George Horatio Derby, born at Dedham, Massachusetts, April 2, 1823, graduated from West Point in 1846, and after a tour of duty in the East and Middle West, came to California in 1849. He accompanied Brig Genl. Bennet Riley on a tour of the gold districts during the summer of that year, and his `Sketch of General Riley's Route' was the result of that journey....It is historically important, not only for its depiction of Gen. Riley's route, but because it names, for the first time, certain actual mining camps in the middle Sierra foothills; Mormon Island (misspelled Mormont), Coloma (mislabeled Colluma), Curtis, Sullivan's, Corons, Jamestown, Woods and Sonora. The entire route of the Riley party is noted, with the dates of their visits to the various camps, and covers the region from Monterrey Bay, north to Sacramento and east to the gold diggings.” neatlinemaps.com

San Francisco to San Jose, 1851, William J. Lewis

“Discussions of a railroad from San Francisco to San Jose were under serious discussion as early as 1851, with William J. Lewis serving as Civil Engineer. As noted in the History of Santa Clara County: The calculations for the building of a railroad between San Francisco and San Jose were, at the time, based upon the amount paid out over the route for transportation and freight. It was estimated that for the seven months ending January 31, 1851, there had journeyed between the two points ten thousand five hundred passengers, who had expended the sum of one hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars,...By the month of July, fifty thousand dollars had been subscribed; in December the road had been surveyed, and a report made by the civil engineer, William J. Lewis, that was published December 26,1851...Railroad passenger service between San Jose and San Francisco would not begin until October 1863, with the opening of the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad. While a number of railroads were organized in California in the first half of the 1850s, no railroad would commence operation until 1855, when the Sacramento Valley Railroad began its earliest service.” raremaps.com

San Francisco, 1852, Eddy

“An undulating line delineates the original high-water mark of San Francisco Bay, beyond which are shown extensions of the city by landfill (Areas of fill projected but not yet completed are shaded; those completed are unshaded.) Several wharves are shown jutting into the Bay—some seemingly completed, a couple marked “in construction” and “projected”–with dozens of soundings given, including quite a few superimposed on areas of landfill. Letters, numbers and symbols identify public buildings, places of worship, and theatres, while inset vignettes of the new City Hall and B. Davidson’s Banking House add both documentary and decorative value to the image. The map captures San Francisco at a pivotal moment, when Gold Rush-fueled immigration was swelling its population—from less than 1000 in 1849 to over 25,000 a year later!–and putting tremendous strain on its infrastructure. The massive influx of people and commerce caused a building boom and a search for viable new land. San Franciscans were quite creative in their efforts to expand the city, and much building was done on the city’s tidal flats adjacent to the burgeoning downtown. This process included the extension of wharves, plank streets, and the intentional beaching of ships to be turned into commercial buildings.” bostonraremaps.com

San Francisco, 1852, Humphreys

“In 1852, the city of San Francisco occupied only the northeastern portion of the peninsula of the same name. The city was also part of the County of San Francisco, which was separately governed and encompassed a much larger area, including what is today San Mateo County. However, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors harbored ambitions to expand the city beyond its modest limits. As the mapping of the city had hitherto generally been limited to the densely settled area in what is now downtown, they commissioned a map that showed the territory west and south of the city. The map embraces the San Francisco Peninsula from San Bruno northwards, with areas of elevation, cliffs, and wetlands, lakes and streams all indicated. Major roads are shown, as are the Presidio and Telegraph Station above Fort Point, and ranchos are identified and their acreage indicated. The vast barren area to the southwest of the Golden Gate is labeled the “Great Sand Bank.” The city limits of San Francisco are demarcated, including the boundary extensions of 1850 and 1851, though the only man-made details within the city itself are Market Street, the “Mission” (Mission Dolores), the Embarcadero, and an adjacent brickyard.” bostonraremaps.com

San Francisco, 1857, U.S. Coast Survey

“Rare first edition of the U.S. Coast Survey map of the City of San Francisco and vicinity. Printed without color. Relief shown by contours and spot heights. Includes note and table of reference to public buildings. 1857 edition marked a significant improvement in the USCS's mapping of San Francisco. Prepared by A.F. Rogers, it captured the tremendous growth of the City, locating wharves, streets, buildings, roads, topographical features and places such as the Union Race Course and Pioneer Race Course, west of the City. While first issued and corrected in 1857, neither of the 1857 editions was never published in the regular annual Coast Survey reports until a revised edition, dated 1859, was issued.” davidrumsey.com

San Francisco, Western Addition Land Claims, Section I, 1858, anonymous

“The three Van Ness Ordinances of 1856 to 1858 resulted in the creation and mapping of the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco. These five manuscript maps were likely made to show the existing land claims in relation to the newly platted streets, parks, and other public spaces. They may have been used in the subsequent resolution of the various land claims. They show many interesting artifacts of the early settlement of the area before it was officially made a part of the city in the mid 1850's. The 1858 date of the five maps is estimated, based on the creation of the Van Ness map in the same year. Part of the Mission district is also covered..” davidrumsey.com

“As a San Francisco alderman, [James Van Ness] sponsored the "Van Ness Ordinance", which ordered all land within the City limits that was undeveloped at that time (that is, west of Larkin Street and southwest of Ninth Street) to be surveyed and transferred to their original deedholders. Because there were many fraudulent deed holders at that time, this law led to many lawsuits for many years.” wikipedia.org

San Francisco, Western Addition Land Claims, Section II, 1858, anonymous

“The three Van Ness Ordinances of 1856 to 1858 resulted in the creation and mapping of the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco. These five manuscript maps were likely made to show the existing land claims in relation to the newly platted streets, parks, and other public spaces. They may have been used in the subsequent resolution of the various land claims. They show many interesting artifacts of the early settlement of the area before it was officially made a part of the city in the mid 1850's. The 1858 date of the five maps is estimated, based on the creation of the Van Ness map in the same year. Part of the Mission district is also covered..” davidrumsey.com

“As a San Francisco alderman, [James Van Ness] sponsored the "Van Ness Ordinance", which ordered all land within the City limits that was undeveloped at that time (that is, west of Larkin Street and southwest of Ninth Street) to be surveyed and transferred to their original deedholders. Because there were many fraudulent deed holders at that time, this law led to many lawsuits for many years.” wikipedia.org

San Francisco, Western Addition Land Claims, Section V, 1858, anonymous

“The three Van Ness Ordinances of 1856 to 1858 resulted in the creation and mapping of the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco. These five manuscript maps were likely made to show the existing land claims in relation to the newly platted streets, parks, and other public spaces. They may have been used in the subsequent resolution of the various land claims. They show many interesting artifacts of the early settlement of the area before it was officially made a part of the city in the mid 1850's. The 1858 date of the five maps is estimated, based on the creation of the Van Ness map in the same year. Part of the Mission district is also covered..” davidrumsey.com

“As a San Francisco alderman, [James Van Ness] sponsored the "Van Ness Ordinance", which ordered all land within the City limits that was undeveloped at that time (that is, west of Larkin Street and southwest of Ninth Street) to be surveyed and transferred to their original deedholders. Because there were many fraudulent deed holders at that time, this law led to many lawsuits for many years.” wikipedia.org

San Francisco Bay, 1859, U.S. Coast Survey, Bache et al

“This is a separate issue example of the 1859 U. S. Coast Survey nautical chart or maritime map of the entrance to San Francisco Bay and San Francisco itself. Centered on the City of San Francisco, the map depicts the Golden Gate Area, the Marin Peninsula, Mission de Dolores and the eastern coastline from Brooks Island to San Antonio Creek. It offers excellent inland detail noting mountain ranges, fields, swamps, and occasionally, individual buildings along with other topographical details. The early city layout and grid structure of San Francisco is clear. It notes countless depth soundings in feet and includes detailed notes on tides, light houses and a wealth of other practical information for the mariner. An inset map in the upper right quadrant features a sub-sketch of the entrance to San Francisco Bay and notes soundings in fathoms. Along the bottom margin two beautiful profile views depict the entrance to San Francisco Bay and the entrance to San Pablo Bay. It is noteworthy that this is an independent issue chart and was not prepared for inclusion in the superintendent's annual report. As such it is on thick stock and has no fold damage.” geographicus.com

San Francisco, 1860, City Land Association

“In the United States, a plat (/plæt/[1] or /plɑːt/)[2] (plan or cadastral map) is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bearing between section corners, sometimes including topographic or vegetation information. City, town or village plats show subdivisions into blocks with streets and alleys. Further refinement often splits blocks into individual lots, usually for the purpose of selling the described lots; this has become known as subdivision. After the filing of a plat, legal descriptions can refer to block and lot-numbers rather than portions of sections.[3] In order for plats to become legally valid, a local governing body, such as a public works department, urban planning commission, or zoning board must normally review and approve them.” wikipedia.com

San Francisco, 1861, Wackenreuder & Langley

“Rare 1861 edition of this seminal map of San Francisco by San Mateo County surveyor V. Wackenreuder, lithographed by Britton & Rey, and published by Langley. This was one of the first maps to extend from Buri Buri Rancho (later South San Francisco) north across the Golden Gate to Marin County. This map features a lot of important topographic detail, documenting the peninsula in the midst of major changes to its landscape, especially the sand dunes of the Outside Lands and rivers and creeks which today no longer exist or have been significantly transformed. Equally important is the plotting of important early property owners and ranchos, along with infrastructure projects such as the path of the Spring Valley Water Works from Pilarcitos Creek to Laguna Honda reservoir and the San Francisco Water Works aqueduct to the still-standing reservoir on Russian Hill. Noe Valley at this time was called Horner's Addition, and a grid has been drawn here. Today the neighborhood is named after José de Jesús Noé, the last Mexican alcalde (mayor) of Yerba Buena, who owned what is now Noe Valley as part of his Rancho San Miguel. John Meirs Horner was a Mormon immigrant who bought the land from Noé a few years before, in 1854. At the top right are three insets of South Farallon Island. Overall, this map documents the city of San Francisco at a moment in which the city and its residents were locked in ongoing legal battles over land claims on two parallel levels: whether the land was part of the city or the U.S. federal government, and who owned private individual lots. davidrumsey.com

San Francisco, 1864, James Butler

“Interesting and very uncommon map of San Francisco, showing the developed areas and the outside lands, with ownership of the large blocks in the west shown.” pbgalleries.com

San Francisco, 1869, U.S. Coast Survey

“A rare 1869 U.S. Coast Survey chart or map of San Francisco Peninsula. This map depicts the city of San Francisco and surrounding areas as far south as San Pedro and Millbrae Station. The San Francisco – San Jose Railroad, the first to link the port of San Francisco to the major inland rail yards in San Jose, is clearly noted. This island Alcatraz is also noted with some of its early military fortifications evident. This chart is of significance not only for its stunning detailed mapping of the San Francisco Peninsula, but also because it is one of the first U.S. Coast Survey charts use contour lines to depict topography. The convention would, in subsequent years be adopted by the U.S. Geological Survey – a late 19th century offshoot of the U.S. Coast Survey. This stunning example of the Coast Survey’s work at its finest was completed under the supervision of A. D. Bache by R. D. Cutts, A. M Harrison, and A. F. Rodgers between 1850 and 1857. It is of note that this example of the maps was not issued as part of the U.S. Coast Survey Annual Report, but rather is an independent issued chart on thick stock.” geographicus.com

San Francisco, 1875, Frederick Marriott, Britton, Rey & Co.

“Graphic chart of the city and county of San Francisco respectfully dedicated to the leading interests of California and the Pacific coast. The city of San Francisco was incorporated in 1850, and later grew to become one of the most famous cities in the US. The California Gold Rush in 1848 saw the city's population increase from 1,000 to 25,000 over the course of a year. This map published in 1875 by Frederick Marriott of Britton, Rey & Co. from a drawing by L.R. Townsend, E. Wyneken and J. Mendenhall is oriented with north toward the lower right. There are 188 different points-of-interest that are located on this map.” worldmapsonline.com

San Francisco, 1879, McDonald & Williams

“This miniature map of San Francisco features an interior view of the McDonald & Williams “clothing house” as well as a street view placing it at 14 Montgomery, adjacent to Pacific Publishing, the map’s publisher, at 22 Montgomery. The back cover lists “Points of Interest and Information,” including Alcatras (sic) and the U.S. Mint. Timetables for ferries, local trains, and bay and river steamers are listed on the back of the map.” stanford.edu

San Francisco, Chinatown, 1872, Henry Josiah West

Note: see poem in the lower left corner of the map. “To outsiders, San Francisco’s Chinatown, with its 20,000 residents, is a tourist attraction, a special place to shop or stroll along the streets. For the Chinese, however, it is “Tangrenbu,” the port of the city of Tang. Today, Chinatown represents the combination of neighborhood and capital of West Coast Chinese culture...Until April 17, 1906, Tangrenbu was a ghetto where outsiders forced the Chinese to live. The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire that shook, then burned, the city on April 18, 1906, swallowed Tangrenbu whole.” Lost San Francisco, Dennis Evanosky and Eric J. Kos “San Franciscan’s were worried about a Chinese invasion. This map is part of a years-long campaign to stem Chinese immigration and the Chinese influence in San Francisco and to keep the Chinese in their ghetto, Chinatown.” Tom Paper californiahistoricalsociety.org

San Francisco, Chinatown, 1885, Farwell, Kunkler, Pond

“This map reflects the pervasive bias against the Chinese in California and in turn further fostered the hysteria. It was published as part of an official report of a Special Committee established by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors "on the Condition of the Chinese Quarter." The Report resulted from a dramatic increase in hostility to the Chinese, particularly because many Chinese laborers had been driven out of other Western states by vigilantes and sought safety in San Francisco...From the report: "The Chinese brought here with them and have successfully maintained and perpetuated the grossest habits of bestiality practiced by the human race." The map highlights the Committee's points, particularly the pervasiveness of gambling, prostitution and opium use. The Report concludes with a recommendation that the Chinese be driven out of the City by stern enforcement of the law.” PJ Mode Collection at Cornell

San Francisco, 1899, McDonald & Williams

“The Spring Valley Water Company was a private company that held a monopoly on water rights in San Francisco from 1860 to 1930. Run by land barons, its 70-year history was fraught with corruption, land speculation, favoritism towards the moneyed elite, and widespread ill will from the general populace. In 1850 San Francisco was a treeless windswept dunescape, receiving about 22 inches of rain a year, mostly in the winter. The few creeks running through the land could hardly support the instant city rising from the sand. It was clear that water would have to come from outside the city limits, and whoever controlled the water rights and delivery would control the city and its growth, and have unparalleled opportunities for development and great wealth. George Ensign rose to the top in a competitive field shrouded in secrecy. The California Legislature had passed an act of eminent domain, permitting the taking of privately held land and water rights for the common good of cities. Thus empowered, George Ensign was able to seize rights of way to store and deliver water to San Francisco. In 1860 George Ensign incorporated the Spring Valley Water Works (later changed to Company), soon to become the state’s most powerful monopoly. For decades to come the power of eminent domain gave for the elite owning the water company an opportunity to acquire empires in real estate with land increasing in value as the water flowed in.” foundsf.org

San Francisco, System of Sewerage, 1899, C.E. Grunskey

“San Francisco is unique in California as the only city served predominantly by a combined sewer system. San Francisco collects both sewage and stormwater in the same network of pipes, then treats and discharges the combined flows to San Francisco Bay or the Pacific Ocean. Except for portions of Old Sacramento, all other cities in California have separate sewer systems, which means there are two sets of pipes in the ground. One set of pipes takes sanitary waste to the treatment plant while a second set carries stormwater runoff from street drains directly into creeks, lakes, or the ocean...Many United States cities built prior to 1900 had combined sewer systems. At that time, sewage treatment was not available and sewers simply directed sewage into local water bodies. When sewage treatment became necessary to protect public health, newer cities built separate systems to save on the costs of treating stormwater. Some of the older cities opted to separate their combined systems. San Francisco, already a dense urban environment, decided that separation was too costly and disruptive to the residents. Separating the sewers would have required ripping open nearly every street for stormwater pipe installations. Today, the treatment of stormwater in San Francisco’s combined sewer system helps protect the environment. Many cities that have separate systems are now initiating treatment of urban runoff.” Oakland Museum of CA

San Francisco, 1903, U.S. Coast Survey

“When the idea of Golden Gate Park was first hatched, in the mid-1860's, the whole world scoffed: Everyone knew that the western half of San Francisco was an arid wasteland of barren sand dunes, upon which nothing could be made to grow. The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, in 1873, wrote: "Of all the white elephants the city of San Francisco ever owned, they now own the largest in Golden Gate Park, a dreary waste of shifting sand hills where a blade of grass cannot be raised without four posts to keep it from blowing away..."...Fortunately, San Francisco ignored the conventional wisdom and set about the task of creating America's finest urban park. The two chief requirements were fertilizer and water; the latter was piped in and distributed with the help of the Dutch Windmill that still stands by the ocean near where John F. Kennedy Drive hits the Great Highway, while the former was provided in the form of the copious droppings generously bestowed upon the City's streets by the drays who were, until the 1920's, the mainstay of the local transportation system. Though no reliable estimate of the amount of horse-excrement collected for park fertilizer exists, the total undoubtedly ran into tens, even hundreds of thousands of tons. Despite its "natural" look, Golden Gate Park is a purely artificial paradise. One park gardener, asked to estimate how long the trees and plants would last if the irrigation were cut off, said "it'd be dunes again in ten or fifteen years ... though a few eucalyptus trees might survive." (And speaking of artificial paradises, Golden Gate Park has probably hosted more drug-induced mind-alterations per acre than any other patch of ground in the world.)” foundsf.org

San Francisco, 1904, Chevalier

“A tourist map, pre-earthquake, with great detail of sights, structures, monuments and land contours. Was a fold-out map in a larger 32-page book on San Francisco.” Tom Paper “Important and rare pre-earth-quake San Francisco town plan. Covering from the "Sunset District" and the Blue Mountain, up to the Golden Gate and the northern shore of the city ("being filled") this is a very fine folding map, complete with its original guide. This colour lithographed plan has nice architectural detail for the key buildings. Including : Cliff House, the U.S. Mint, City Hall, the S.F. Examiner building, Wells Fargo, the Institute of Art and the huge Ferry Building.” swaen.com

San Francisco, 1905, Burnham

“The last comprehensive plan San Francisco had for a greenway network was over a hundred years ago, when architect Daniel Burnham proposed it as part of his comprehensive plan for the City....When Burnham submitted completed plans and drawings to the City, Mayor Schmitz declared, “On behalf of the citizens of San Francisco, it gives me great pleasure to accept these plans and to state that in the future, they shall forever be our guiding star, as far as the beauty of the city is concerned.”When Burnham submitted completed plans and drawings to the City, Mayor Schmitz declared, “On behalf of the citizens of San Francisco, it gives me great pleasure to accept these plans and to state that in the future, they shall forever be our guiding star, as far as the beauty of the city is concerned.”...Burham’s plan was released, with great fanfare, just a few weeks before the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. It proposed carving a network of monumental new boulevards and public spaces through the city’s street grid. The plan also proposed that much of what was then undeveloped San Francisco remain as parkland...Although the 1906 Earthquake and Fire devastated two-thirds of San Francisco, the Burnham Plan’s vision for an integrated system of boulevards and parks was largely ignored, and the city’s subsequent development left the city’s parks largely separate from one another.” livablecity.org

San Francisco, 1906, HM Pettit

“This is one of the first and most widely-distributed maps of the area of San Francisco burned in the 1906 earthquake, published just two weeks after the event. It is useful to compare this straightforward map with ID #1157, Lee, "San Francisco Burned District," which is virtually identical apart from an overlay half-toned in red of the dramatic fire. The comparison illustrates how the use of color and graphics can dramatically change the impact of a map.” PJ Mode

“Maps have inherent credibility. We are trained since childhood to rely on maps," says Paul "P.J." Mode, a collector and amateur map historian. But that trust can be taken advantage of, he says, by people who use maps to promote their own point of view. Mode, who uses infographics extensively in his law practice, has spent the past three decades collecting examples of what he calls "persuasive cartography," which range from satirical cartoons with geographical elements and politically loaded schoolroom maps to vintage data visualizations that would not be out of place on the Internet today.” nationalgeographic.com

San Francisco, 1906, AHM Davies

“A postcard looking to the recovery of San Francisco from the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire. "Heavy lines show extent of the burned district. Area about four square miles. Property loss $300,000,000" (about 8 billion current dollars). The sad face of a woman looks east from the waterfront, where there is a "line of wharves untouched." Views across the top show the "Golden Gate at Sunset" in the west and ‘Sunrise" in the east. An unknown poem or hymn completes the picture: "Oh lift thine eyes my Loved One/And lean upon His breast/Trusting Him supremely/Who doeth all things best.” PJ Mode

San Francisco, 1906, William H. Lee

“A map of the area of San Francisco burned in the 1906 earthquake, with a overlay half-toned in red of the dramatic fire. The map appears to have been derived from one published in Leslie's Magazine shortly after the earthquake. See ID #1154, "Destruction of One of the Greatest Modern Cities" (1906). A comparison of these two images shows how the use of color and graphics can dramatically change the impact of a map. Despite the sensationalist impression conveyed by Lee's map, the text legend ("Plain Facts") emphasizes that "the beautiful Golden Gate city" has not been "entirely destroyed" and the "new San Francisco will be grander and more beautiful." See also ID #1155, "Ideal Picture and Map of San Francisco," 1906. This map is tipped into the front of Searight's book, published by the publishers of the map, Laird & Lee. However, the map is mentioned nowhere in the book, nor does it appear in the lengthy "List of Illustrations" in the book. It appears that the map was added after publication, which explains why it is found only in a small number of copies. Red is often used to emphasize the significance of fire or other hazards.” PJ Mode

San Francisco, 1906 George R. Lawrence Co.

“Panoramic aerial view from above Nob Hill looking southeast, depicting the ruins of San Francisco following the earthquake and fire of 1906, with streets and city blocks. Buildings and landmarks shown in background.” davidrumsey.com

“George Raymond Lawrence (February 24, 1868 – December 15, 1938) was a commercial photographer of northern Illinois. After years of experience building kites and balloons for aerial panoramic photography, Lawrence turned to aviation design in 1910...One of Lawrence's world-renowned photographs is of the ruins of San Francisco, California after the 1906 earthquake. It is a 160-degree panorama from a kite taken 2000 feet (600 m) in the air above the San Francisco Bay that showed the entire city on a single 17-by-48-inch contact print made from a single piece of film. Each print sold for $125 and Lawrence made at least $15,000 (US$ 418,277.78 in 2019) in sales from this one photograph. The camera used in this photograph weighed 49 pounds (22 kg) and used a celluloid-film plate.” wikipedia.org

San Francisco, 1907, U.S. Geological Survey

“An unusual map of San Francisco Peninsula and part of San Francisco Bay dating to 1907. This map was published by the U.S. Geological Survey following the terrible San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. This natural disaster, comparable to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, is considered the largest in California History. This map highlights the developed parts of San Francisco most damaged by the fire in red ink. It also shows the water conduits that supply the city. Published in the U.S. Geological Survey's 1907 report on the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire.” alamy.com

San Francisco, 1915, August Chevalier

“Map of San Francisco on sheet 47x54, folded in paper covers 18x8. Copyrighted by August Chevalier, 1915. Shows the "Ground plan of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Relief shown by contours. Includes legend. Shows wards, city blocks, streets, railroads, bridges, tunnels, places of interest, important buildings are drawn in vignettes. Includes index to places of interest at the lower panel and index to theatres, railway depots and post offices at upper right. "Car lines" shown in red. Includes index and text on verso. See our other maps of San Francisco by Chevalier, from which this map is taken.” davidrumsey.com

“August Chevalier (fl. c. 1903 – 1932) was a San Francisco based lithographer active in the first decades of the 20th century. Chevalier is a remarkably elusive figure and little is known of his personal or professional life. He is best known for his large and magnificent topographical map of San Francisco boldly known as 'The Chevalier.' His few other maps also, almost exclusively, focus on San Francisco and the surrounding communities.” geographicus.com

San Francisco, 1914, C. Merriman Peter

Map sponsored by Western Pacific Railroad showing detail of the Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE).
San Francisco was chosen to host the PPIE in 1911 after a competition with San Diego and New Orleans. Once SF won, the Marina was chosen after consideration against Lake Merced and Golden Gate Park. (Sally Woodbridge)
In 1915, the city hosted the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, officially to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal, but also as a showcase of the vibrant completely rebuilt city less than a decade after the earthquake. After the exposition ended, all of its grand buildings were demolished except for the rebuilt Palace of Fine Arts which survives today in an abbreviated form, while the remainder of the fairgrounds were re-developed into the Marina District. (Wikipedia)

San Francisco, 1918, U.S. Coast Survey

First of two maps of San Francisco and the Bay Area, made by the US Coast Survey in 1918 and 1919, found in a garage in San Francisco. Thanks to Ann Murphy and her husband for sharing these map images.
“Geodesy, is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravitational field. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivalent measurements for other planets.” wikipedia.com

San Francisco, 1919, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey

Second of two maps of San Francisco and the Bay Area, made by the US Coast Survey in 1918 and 1919, found in a garage in San Francisco. Thanks to Ann Murphy and her husband for sharing these map images.
“Geodesy, is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravitational field. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivalent measurements for other planets.” wikipedia.com

San Francisco, 1927, Harrison Godwin

“Unlike many other antique maps of San Francisco, this one is covered in illustrations highlighting points of interest and historical events. The streets are essentially the same and they’re all labeled well enough that you can see if your apartment used to be a cemetery, a slaughterhouse, or an old railroad car barn. The map was originally mass-produced for tourists and I’ve seen a few different copies online. One was found in the forgotten depths of someone’s closet in 2011, and a Redditor mentioned in the comment thread that they had an original framed copy on their wall at home. In 2012, a copy of the map sold on eBay for $1,400.” The Bold Italic

“Harrison Godwin (1899 - 1984) was an American cartoonist and hotelier active in California during the early to middle parts of the 20th century. Harrison was a cartoonist with the Los Angeles Examiner and published two daily strips. With regard to cartographic material he published just three maps, San Francisco, Hollywood and North America, all between the years of 1927 and 1929. The San Francisco and Hollywood maps were first and second maps in a planned series of American cities, each taking some three months to complete. Curiously, no further maps in the series materialized. In addition to his cartoon work Harrison, in partnership with his brother Fred, owned Carmel's La Playa Hotel, where Harrison worked as a manager. Harrison and Fred Godwin and are credited with popularizing Carmel as a tourist destination. Little else is known of his life.” geographicus.com

San Francisco, 1928, Citizens Transport Committee

“This poster urges support for proposed Amendment 24 to the Charter of the City of San Francisco concerning the City's rail transit system. The map shows the City's patchwork of privately-owned street railway systems and the various expiration dates of each franchise. The verso, ID #2281.02, contains facts and explanations of the proposed Amendment and 24 numbered arguments why "You Should Vote Yes." The Amendment was rejected by the voters on November 6, 1928. In the late 1920s, about two-thirds of the public transportation ridership in San Francisco was on private systems, principally the Market Street Railway, and the balance on the public "Muni" system. The Muni had held its fare to five cents, "universal in the industry since its beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century," while it paid "essentially the highest wages of any transit system in the country." Matoff 1999. All this put the public and private transit systems in an untenable economic position, with the 50-year franchises authorizing the private operations on various streets due to expire at differing times from 1929 through 1947. The logical solution was for the City to issue bonds, purchase the private system and consolidate the operations.” PJ Mode Collection

San Francisco, 1937, Harrison Ryker

“Set of 164 black and white negatives of the same Harrison Ryker Aerial 1938 Survey that we scanned for the San Francisco Library (our 5820.000). Negatives have been scanned to positive and the digital files provided by the Western Neighborhoods Project. The database, image processing, and large composite image by David Rumsey.” davidrumsey.com

“The maps were created by Harrison Ryker, an Oakldale-born World War I veteran who studied at U.C. Berkeley. Ryker was an avid photographer and partnered with a number of Oakland Airport-based pilots to take aerial photographs all over the the American West. “In the...Sunset District, the most interesting part is what’s not there,” notes The Richmond District of San Francisco blog. “Blocks and blocks of sand dunes still existed in the heart of the outer Sunset in 1938.”” Aaron Sankin, Huffpost

San Francisco, 1937, Harrison Ryker

“Set of 164 black and white negatives of the same Harrison Ryker Aerial 1938 Survey that we scanned for the San Francisco Library (our 5820.000). Negatives have been scanned to positive and the digital files provided by the Western Neighborhoods Project. The database, image processing, and large composite image by David Rumsey.” davidrumsey.com

“The maps were created by Harrison Ryker, an Oakldale-born World War I veteran who studied at U.C. Berkeley. Ryker was an avid photographer and partnered with a number of Oakland Airport-based pilots to take aerial photographs all over the the American West. “In the...Sunset District, the most interesting part is what’s not there,” notes The Richmond District of San Francisco blog. “Blocks and blocks of sand dunes still existed in the heart of the outer Sunset in 1938.”” Aaron Sankin, Huffpost

San Francisco, Crissy Field, 1937, Harrison Ryker

“Set of 164 black and white negatives of the same Harrison Ryker Aerial 1938 Survey that we scanned for the San Francisco Library (our 5820.000). Negatives have been scanned to positive and the digital files provided by the Western Neighborhoods Project. The database, image processing, and large composite image by David Rumsey.” davidrumsey.com

“The maps were created by Harrison Ryker, an Oakldale-born World War I veteran who studied at U.C. Berkeley. Ryker was an avid photographer and partnered with a number of Oakland Airport-based pilots to take aerial photographs all over the the American West. “In the...Sunset District, the most interesting part is what’s not there,” notes The Richmond District of San Francisco blog. “Blocks and blocks of sand dunes still existed in the heart of the outer Sunset in 1938.”” Aaron Sankin, Huffpost

San Francisco, 1938, Thomas Brothers

“Thomas Bros. Maps, the publishers of the Thomas Guide, previously known as Popular Street Atlas, Street Guide, and Popular Atlas, was started in Oakland, California, in 1915 by cartographer George Coupland Thomas and his two brothers, who were business partners. Early publications were detailed block maps, bird eye view of communities, road & highway maps, and what would be generally referred as generalized tourist maps...The company relocated its headquarters to Los Angeles in 1940. The company had grown to publish street maps of cities in several Western states; these maps were sold in fold-out, card stock covers. By the late 1940s, the company had added pocket-sized guidebooks of California and the city of San Francisco which included fold-out maps attached to the inner rear cover. The first street guides, which were initially pocket sized paperback booklets also began to appear at about this time, and were introduced for several counties in California, and one in Washington...After George Coupland Thomas died in 1955, the ownership was bought by Coupland Thomas's family lawyer Warren B. Wilson, brother of Lionel Wilson, the past mayor of Oakland, California.” wikipedia

San Francisco, 1939, Ruth Taylor White

“Born in 1899, Ruth Taylor and her family, like many, headed persistently west in the late 19th century, moving from East Coast to West in the span of about 20 years and finally settling in California. According to the 1920 US Census, Taylor seemed to be settling into a pretty normal life--she was married to Leonard White and living in Phoenix, Arizona. Leonard was a life insurance salesman. Two kids followed, and so did divorce. With limited information, it’s easy to fill in the gaps and imagine a disastrous mismatch of temperaments, but all we know is that Ruth and her children moved to California and she began working as an illustrator. Ruth’s artistic training is unclear, but her family proved to be very important in her future work. Several of her early jobs were linked to her brother, Frank J. Taylor (1894-1972). Frank was a journalist and writer, served in World War I, and attended Stanford University. That school connection probably helped Ruth earn one of her early commissions, the cover of the November 1927 The Stanford Illustrated Review.” swaen.com

San Francisco, Golden Gate Int’l Expo, 1938, Sanborn Map Company

“Golden Gate International Exposition (1939 World's Fair). Treasure Island. San Francisco, Calif. Made by Sanborn Map Company. Includes diagram of water system valve control assembly by the main gate.” davidrumsey.com

“The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937….As part of the exposition, the California Coliseum, located near the grounds' northeast corner, hosted the Western Regional Semifinal and Final rounds of the first-ever NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. The Coliseum, listed in NCAA guidebooks as having a capacity of 9,476,[19] hosted two Elite Eight games and a Final Four game (before 1952, there were only two regions and the champions met in the National Championship game, which was the only game played at what is now considered a "Final Four" site).” wikipedia

San Francisco, 1948, De Leuw, Cather and Co.

“This planning document map shows the infamous proposed freeways to ring San Francisco - The Panhandle Freeway, the Mission Freeway, the Embarcadero Freeway, and others - all of which eventually triggered the famous "freeway revolt" in the late 1950's that formed one of the cornerstones of progressive politics in San Francisco. Color plan. Shows freeways, major and secondary thoroughfares, expressways and parkways overprinted on street grid.” davidrumsey.com

San Francisco, 1952, Don Bloodgood

“A pictorial map by Don Bloodgood, who produced similar maps of other cities. The map is a reflection of the optimistic and giddy 1950’s, as well as Herb Caen’s fun-loving San Francisco’s.” Tom Paper

“Pictorial maps (also known as illustrated maps, panoramic maps, perspective maps, bird’s-eye view maps, and geopictorial maps) depict a given territory with a more artistic rather than technical style. It is a type of map in contrast to road map, atlas, or topographic map. The cartography can be a sophisticated 3-D perspective landscape or a simple map graphic enlivened with illustrations of buildings, people and animals. They can feature all sorts of varied topics like historical events, legendary figures or local agricultural products and cover anything from an entire continent to a college campus. Drawn by specialized artists and illustrators, pictorial maps are a rich, centuries-old tradition and a diverse art form that ranges from cartoon maps on restaurant placemats to treasured art prints in museums.” wikipedia.org

San Francisco Bay, 2016, Sarah Lewis MacDonald

“Starting in the mid 19th century continuing into the mid 20th century, large tracts of baylands were filled in for seaports, airports, freeways, factories, salt ponds and residential developments. In 1965 the tides changed with the passing of the McAteer-Petris Act, which placed a moratorium on filling the Bay. Today the 9-county Bay Area is home to over 7 million people, making it the 5th largest urban area in the United States. As we enter the new millennium, the focus has changed to repairing and enhancing the Bay’s natural ecosystem. The Bay is an integral hub of California’s hydrological network – about 40% of California’s land area flows into its waters by way of 16 major rivers.” Sarah Lewis MacDonald

San Francisco, 2012, Tavia Stewart & LJ Moore

“A surreal, literary-based, 60-minute audio tour that uncovers dozens of the vessels still buried beneath San Francisco’s Financial District. / James Marshall’s discovery of gold at Coloma in 1848 set in motion a world-wide migration of fortune-seekers to the gold fields of California. In the first year of the gold rush, over 62,000 of those immigrants came by ship, landing in San Francisco and abandoning their vessels as fast as their legs could carry them. / By 1850, the bay held nearly 600 abandoned brigs, barks, ships, and whalers, left to rot by the starry-eyed Argonauts who had crowded aboard to reach their dreams. For most of the Gold Rush fleet, San Francisco was not only their last voyage, but their final mooring, as scores of those vessels still lie beneath the skyscrapers, restaurants, bars, and plazas of downtown San Francisco.” Tavia Stewart, LJ Moore

San Francisco, 2013, Burrito Justice & Nicole Gluckstern

“San Francisco is famous for many things, one of which is its vast literary legacy, a legacy that stretches back to its earliest days. On January 25, 1988, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a proposal by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights Books to rename 12 small San Francisco streets after famous authors and artists who had lived and worked in the City. Twenty-five years later, Nicole Gluckstern, a local author/city cyclist and Burrito Justice, an amateur historian/cartographer, joined forces to devise a bike tour and interactive map connecting all 12 streets and authors/artists, from Jack London to Jack Kerouac, South Park to North Beach.” Burrito Justice

San Francisco, 2013, Pomerantz

“Water. When San Francisco was first becoming a city, it had many more waterways than now. Those were wet years. When dry years came the gullies became annoyances. People filled in the creeks and low areas with sand, debris and gravel. Marshes and sloughs were filled, too. The edges of the city were expanded into the Bay, making sailable water into salable lots. Today's rain goes right into sewers, for the most part. Few absorbent soils are still exposed. Remarkably, surface creeks do still flow, here and there. And when you dig, you still find groundwater. If you search you'll see springs, mostly small, seeping and trickling out onto our landscape. Land. Look closely. The map shows recognizable cuts where streets were sculpted. Enjoy the seeking, without labels. Get to know your landscape. Find things you didn't realize you were looking for.” seepcity.org

San Francisco, 2019, San Francisco Business Times

“Tens of thousands of people rely on this piece of San Francisco daily but might not even realize it is there. The Embarcadero Seawall stretching south along the Bay for more than three miles from Fisherman’s Wharf supports popular spots including the Ferry Building and Oracle Park, along with vital assets like the Transbay Tube, Muni rail lines and power and water systems. But this often unnoticed behemoth is aging, and recent studies have found it’s not fit to deal with the next big earthquake that hits the region or with the sea level rise that’s already threatening more intense flooding along the waterfront...The city is taking action to remedy this aging protector of San Francisco, rallying support from local voters, the state and federal funding sources for a massive repair project estimated to cost $5 billion. The task now is figuring out how to best address the current and future risks.” SF Business Times

San Francisco, 2019, Webster Pacific

“Discovery continues about San Francisco as data and map-making technology improves. The two maps on this poster highlight two concepts about San Francisco: one shows where people live by their income level; the other shows how far people live from a particular grocery store. Webster Pacific has help its clients quantitatively assess optimal locations for their physical sites and marketing efforts. Using GIS software, transportation networks, WP’s Asset Band and Population Data Blocks, mobile data, foot-traffic data, competitor data, points of interest, and our client’s internal data, we have mapped and analyzed over forty cities around the world.” websterpacific.com