Modern atlas maps are more utilitarian than old maps and more crowded with detail as printing techniques advanced. There are more types such as geology maps, photographic and infared images, and information display maps. Maps have also become an advertising device resulting in all sorts of colorful figurative designs.

The following atlases of Pennsylvania were published in this century:

Atlas of the State of Pennsylvania, Prepared from Original Surveys and Various Local Surveys Revised and Corrected, published by Julius Bien & Co., N. Y 1900 (LeGear L2999). Most of the maps are dated 1899. This atlas was patterned after the Walling & Gray 1872 Pennsylvania atlas and must have been a success because Bien published it again in 1901 (LeGear L3000).

Historical, Industrial, Commercial and Agricultural Review of Pennsylvania, published by George F. Cram, Chicago 1917. This atlas also included other state and country maps. Several of these Cram Pennsylvania atlases were published. LeGear lists editions for 1916 (L3002), 1917 (L3003), and 1919 (L6149), and similar atlases were published for some other states.

A Guide Book of Art, Architecture and Historic Interests in Pennsylvania, edited by A. Margaretta Archambault, from the State Federation of Pennsylvania Women, published by John C. Winston Company, Philadelphia 1924. This is more a history book than an atlas, but it has a chapter for each county accompanied by a full page black & white map.

My Pennsylvania - A Brief History of the Commonwealth's Sixty-Seven Counties, published by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, prepared by the State Department of Commerce 1946. This also is more of a history than an atlas. There is a figurative map of Pennsylvania and the history of each county is given in two pages with a small map.

Pennsylvania Atlas and Gazetteer, published by Delorme Mapping Co., Freeport, Maine 1987. This paperback atlas reproduces U. S. Geological Survey maps at a large scale in an attractive format and is updated and published periodically. There is one for (almost) every state.

The Atlas of Pennsylvania, published by Temple University Press, Philadelphia, with contributions from the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania State University, 1989. These three universities, plus Lincoln University, are the major state supported ones outside the State System of Higher Education (i.e. they have independent boards), and this large atlas is the most comprehensive one published on the state. A shortened version has been published in paperback.

A map is shown for each year of the early decades, after that only selected maps with at least one per decade are shown because the Road Maps section has a map for each year up to 2000.

Back to Top

Copyright 2000-2008 by Harold Cramer. All rights reserved.
Last revised: December 15, 2007.