Research

Scope and Content Note

Verplanck Colvin and his field assistants created this series using the field notes they compiled during their survey of the Adirondack wilderness of New York in the 1870s and 1890s. The majority of the maps are topographical or cadastral maps and typically show elements of the natural and built environment (such as lakes, rivers, ponds, mountains, roads, and railroads) as well as names of property owners, lot numbers, and pertinent landmarks used in land surveying. Land and features depicted on the maps cover areas in Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Herkimer, and Oneida counties; Totten and Crossfield's Purchase and MaComb's Purchase; Vrooman's Patent; and the Old Military Tract. Primary delineators of the maps include Colvin and his assistants: Blake, Francisco, Hutchins, LeFevre, Locke, Richards, Snell, Thew, Tweedy and Wilson. Other delineators named on the maps are Anderson, Arnold, Averill, Broadwell, Burrus, Case, Chase, Cooper, Curtis, Davis, Gere, Horsford, Johnson, Jones, Kellogg, Quirk, Richard, Shaw, Steele, Stoddard, Straug, Vaughan, and Ward.

There appears to be no internal arrangement for the maps. Occasionally, several related maps are grouped together by a number that was assigned by staff of the Department of Environmental Conservation at an unknown date. These numbers have been retained in an electronic index to the maps prepared by State Archives staff. The database includes data elements such as title, county, delineator, date, size, scale and significant landmarks for each map.