Research

Scope and Content Note

This series maps the boundary line between the states of Connecticut and New York, in accordance with a 1911 memorandum of agreement filed with the State Engineer and Surveyor, that the boundary line be "fully and accurately laid down on a map" and deposited with the secretary of each state.

The boundary line was re-surveyed under an agreement of 1908 and re-marked on a line drawn in 1860. The maps were filed with the Office of Secretary of State on April 3, 1912, as the copy of record establishing legal boundaries.

The maps begin at the northwest corner of Connecticut, marking the corner of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, and end through Long Island Sound at the western boundary of Rhode Island. They depict the boundary line and the area on both sides for several hundred feet.

The maps are hand drawn on paper backed on cloth and inked with a light color wash for areas of water. In addition to numbered bolts and bound markers (used as a method to mark boundary points) they show: city, town, and village names; the condition of land (cultivated, orchard, meadow); natural and man-made features (rivers, ponds, highways, roads); civic structures (churches, tennis courts); and names of various property owners and the location of their dwellings.

Identical title pages for each volume note a scale of one inch to 200 feet, and carry the names and dates of state engineers and governors who directed or were in charge of the surveying and mapping. The title page also names the person responsible for triangulation, and gives a certification statement on correctness.

There is an index map in the front of the first volume done to a scale of one inch to 15,000 feet. The index reflects the arrangement of map numbers 1 to 10 in volume 1 and map numbers 11 to 23 in volume 2. The final map in the series is an annotation of part of a printed U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey chart published in 1911. It shows soundings and various stations in and around Long Island Sound.

The standard sheet size for these maps is 44 x 76 cm with the bulk of maps consisting of four sheets folded laterally within the volume size of 46 x 83 cm. Several maps are on one, two, or three sheets; the penultimate map is in four sheets configured 88 x 1530 cm.