Ancient history

Digital collections - Where to find old photos and maps?

A directory of digital libraries and interesting sites on the Internet where you can find old photos and archival maps. List of websites with archival collections. Check where to find old photos and maps of Poland.

Where to find old photos and maps?

Feel free to use my list of interesting websites and digital libraries, where you can find a lot of archival materials. I have compiled the following list based on my own experience. I often use the given pages to search for information that is later useful in running a blog.

The list below is not exhaustive. If I come across any more archival collections worth visiting, I will certainly add them. For those interested, I recommend that you return to the article from time to time and check if there are any new items. If you know any other digitized collections, please leave your information in the comments. Write where else is worth looking for old photos and maps.

Where to find old photos and maps?

Collections of old photos - Polish pages

  1. National Digital Archives - www.nac.gov.pl
    A state institution that provides access to digitized collections of photographs and recordings. The pre-war photo collections are mainly limited to the lands of the Second Polish Republic.
  2. Wratislaviae Amici - dolny-slask.org.pl
    Extremely rich and very valuable collections collected through the efforts of members and supporters of the Wratislaviae Amici association. The website, also known as Hydral, presents mainly archival photos from Lower Silesia, but also contemporary ones.
  3. Fotopolska - fotopolska.eu
    This is another non-governmental portal that collects old photos and photographs, including contemporary ones. The area of ​​its activity covers the entire territory of Poland, as well as the Eastern Borderlands.
  4. Polona - polona.pl
    The portal provides access to the digitized collections of the National Library. Lots of archival prints, maps, photos, newspapers etc.
  5. Photo library 1944 - www.1944.pl
    Gallery of archival photos from the Warsaw Uprising. Collected and made available by the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
  6. Silesian Digital Library - www.sbc.org.pl
    Lots of old photos, drawings, publications and maps, mainly related to Silesia. It already has nearly 300,000 in its collection. digital objects.
  7. Search archives --Earchwarchiwach.pl
    Another website of the National Digital Archives. In addition to collections from the National Digital Archives, the website also collects and searches collections from the entire network of the State Archives. To search only photos, go to "advanced search" and select the appropriate options there.

Collections of old photos - foreign sites

  1. Library of Congress - www.loc.gov
    Digitized collections of archive photos and postcards from the Library of Congress. You can find many interesting facts from Poland, especially from the lands formerly belonging to the German Empire.
  2. Austrian National Library - akon.onb.ac.at
    The Austrian library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) offers a rich collection of old postcards with their geolocation. Postcards are marked on the map. The collection also includes many postcards from Poland. You can also download a smartphone application that shows the assigned scans of postcards to places on the map:App Store, Google Play.
  3. New York Public Library - www.nypl.org
    The New York library houses digitized collections of old photos, prints and graphics from various parts of the world, including Poland.
  4. Das Bundesarchiv - www.bild.bundesarchiv.de
    The German Bundesarchiv archive has in its collection digitized archive libraries of very interesting photos. Including a lot related to the history of the Third Reich. Unfortunately, you need to be registered to have access to good quality photos.
  5. Herder Institute - www.herder-institut.de
    The Institute conducts research on the history of Central and Eastern Europe. On the pages of its website, it provides archival photos, documents and maps. Unfortunately, they are covered with a large watermark and in a fairly low resolution. Nevertheless, I recommend searching the institute's collections.
  6. Bildarchiv Ostpreußen - www.bildarchiv-ostpreussen.de
    Photo archive of East Prussia. Digitized collections of old photos embedded on maps of East Prussia, including archival ones. The site is available in Polish.
  7. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg - www.fotomarburg.de
    Stock photos and graphics digitized at the Philip University in Marburg. From what I learned, earlier the archive had richer collections of photos from Poland, today there are fewer of them for some reason. Still, a page worth noting. Places should be searched for by German names.
  8. Technical University of Berlin - Architekturmuseum.ub.tu-berlin.de
    Collection of the museum of architecture at the Technical University of Berlin. Lots of archival plans, sketches and graphics of the building.
  9. Deutsche Fotothek - www.deutschefotothek.de
    German photo library from Dresden. Deutsche Fotothek stores over 1.8 million photos, graphics and drawings in its collections. The collection also includes maps, architectural plans, sketches of buildings and many other archives. The website belongs to the Saxon Library of the University of Dresden, due to its territorial proximity you can find a lot of materials from Silesia.

Collections of old maps

  1. Archive of Maps of Western Poland - maps.amzp.pl
    A rich collection of archival topographic maps of Silesia, Greater Poland and Pomerania. Maps in the 1:25,000 scale (Messtischblatt) come from the interwar period, they are divided into sectors, in which there may be several versions of maps from different years. An extremely helpful archive.
  2. Gdańsk Pomeranian Map Archive - maps.eksploracja.pl
    Another map archive, this time collecting various types of maps from Gdańsk Pomerania and neighboring regions.
  3. WIG Maps Archive - polski.mapywig.org
    Collection of archival maps of the Military Geographical Institute. The maps were developed by the Military Institute of Economics in 1919-1949. The collections partly cover the Eastern Borderlands, in line with the pre-war border of the Second Polish Republic.
  4. Old Maps Online - www.oldmapsonline.org
    An international project to collect archival maps from different regions of the world and periods in history. On the interactive map, select the fragment you are interested in, and the old maps will appear on the side. You can also use the search engine. The website also has its own smartphone applications:App Store, Google Play.
  5. Old Messtischblatt Maps on Google Maps - web version or a file for Google Earth.
    Messtischblatt topographic maps in the scale 1:25000 we can also explore placed on interactive Google Maps maps. Superimposing old maps on new maps and satellite imagery can produce very interesting results. We can use the web version or download the .kml file and load it into Google Earth. If someone does not have Google Earth, download it for free here.
  6. Old Town Plans on Google Maps - stareplanymast.pl
    Old plans of selected Polish cities superimposed on modern Google Maps. The maps in the web version have a slider to adjust their transparency, so you can compare old plans with new maps.
  7. Gusher Galicia - maps.geshergalicia.org
    Historical maps of Galicia, the provinces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A rich collection of various maps, partly covering the territory of Poland and south-eastern Ukraine.
  8. Texas University Library - www.lib.utexas.edu
    Series of different types of maps, including lots of British and US military NATO maps. Compiled at different times. Military maps covering the territory of Poland are listed here.
  9. Landkartenarchiv - www.landkartenarchiv.de
    Collection of German (and not only) maps from various periods from 1820. Central Europe and the whole world. On their websites they boast that they have over 18,000. map.
  10. Staff Maps of the Polish Army - www.3fun.pl/mapa
    A collection of military topographic maps on a scale of 1:50,000, issued and compiled by the General Staff of the Polish Army in the 1980s. Maps cover almost the entire territory of Poland.