ENVS/NTRES 4700: Art and Science of the Mohawk River Watershed: Maps & Visual Resources

Olin Library houses a  collection of over 300,000 paper maps, 1,000 books and atlases, and many other related research materials and is open by appointment. Visit the Map Collection website to learn more.

In addition, there are many excellent online repositories you can use:

The New York Public Library Digital Collections 

It's important when searching to start with general terms and use the facets on the left-hand side of the page to refine your search. 

Some example searches:

• Mohawk Valley
• Mohawk Valley (limited to maps) - used the genre facet
• Mohawk River
• Mohawk River (limited to maps) – used the genre facet
• New York State Water (perhaps too broad)
• New York State Water (limited to maps) – used the genre facet

Rumsey Map Collection

Can be searched by map or by "Text-On-Maps". 

• An example search using the Text-On-Maps for Mohawk River. 
  NOTE: This search provides Mohawk Rivers from across the country and world
• Metadata for individual maps can also be used in searches:

Library of Congress Digital Map Collections

Example search:

• Mohawk River

• Try searching counties within the Mohawk River Valley to find more

USGS Topoview

Access all of the USGS topographic maps by clicking the "view and download now" icon

You can then search by location or USGS Quadrant name

The library subscribes to or has built a number of image databases that are excellent sources of images you can download and add to your papers and other projects. You need to keep in mind that some of them have licensing restricts that prohibit the re-publication (including open web publishing, such as on a blog or on social networking sites) of images you download. There are also quite a few digital collections that are free and open on the web. Use the library Visual Resources page for links and information about how best to use ARTstor and other image databases.

Get help with digital images

Recommended Image Databases:

ARTstor

Searchable database of digital images, now moving into JSTOR. Covers architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design, as well as many other forms of visual culture.

Bridgeman Education

With over 380,000 images from museums, galleries, private collections and contemporary artists all copyright cleared for educational use. Bridgeman Education gives you access to the visual culture of every civilization and every period from Prehistory to the present day across continents and civilisations.

Citations can be formatted according to the citation style you are using (MLA, APA, Chicago Manual of Style). Using images that you did not create require citation in all cases and the citation should be accessible in the context of the image's use.

Here are a few basic guidelines:

• Give attribution to image creators in citations and credit statements to acknowledge authorship
• Indicate when using a personal photograph
• Include source information
• Citations to images included in image databases should include the following (or as much of it as can be easily determined from the source):
  1. Creator's name;
  2. Title of the work, as given;
  3. Location of the work (museum, library or owning institution, if known);
  4. Date;
  5. Database collection, if known;
  6. Rights information, if known.

For detailed, up-to-date guidelines on in-text and bibliographic citations of images, visit this guide from Simon Fraser University