HIST 2391 Project Guide - Digital CoLab: Finding IIIF Manifests

The following list includes all repositories known to the CoLab as of the publication of this guide that include IIIF Manifest URLs with their images. The list is non-comprehensive: it only includes repositories that may have materials relevant to the topic of this course (i.e. American maps). If you find a repository that is missing from this list, please include that information in the Troubleshooting section of this guide. All entries are listed in alphabetical order.

Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)

• Good for maps of the South and Southeast, especially Florida and Louisiana

Boston Public Library, Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center

• Good for maps of Boston, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New England in general; some maps from the South and Midwest

Brown University Digital Repository

• Smaller collection; mainly Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New England; some limited holdings on Southern maps. To get all maps, you have to filter separately by Genre > maps, Genre > maps (documents), or Genre > historical maps.

Digital Commonwealth

• Great for Massachusetts maps; also okay for New England

Harvard University Digital Collections

• Good for Massachusetts, New York, some New England

Huntington Digital Library

• Good for California

Indigenous Digital Archive

• Currently down; see DigiTreaties for help with Indigenous map research in the meantime

*Internet Archive

• Good for everything, but can be overwhelming; few images have IIIF, so you may have to request a manifest from us.

*Library of Congress

• The best for everything; includes World Digital Library materials

Northwestern University

• Small collection; includes mostly Illinois, a few Massachusetts, Virginia, Louisiana, etc.

The Portal to Texas History

• Good for TX maps; run by University of North Texas

*Princeton University Digital Maps and Geographic Portal

• Expansive collections across U.S.A.

Princeton University Libraries

• Includes maps from PU Digital Maps and Geographic Portal; difficult to search for specific maps

Smithsonian Institute

• Expansive collections across U.S.A.; some items that aren't maps may come up when you search for maps

*Stanford University

• Including the David Rumsey Map Collection; expansive collections across U.S.A.

UCLA Library Digital Collections

• Good for California

University of Illinois Library Digital Collections

• Good for Illinois maps and railroad maps; maps grouped in clickable collections, should start with Historical Maps Online

University of North Texas Libraries

• Good for Florida, Texas, Utah, but includes maps for other states too

University of Texas - Austin

• Good for TX maps

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

• Good for Wisconsin maps, with scattered holdings on Florida, Illinois, New York, and other states

Villanova University

• Small collection, mostly Pennsylvania

Wikidata

• Last resort; overwhelming, image quality varies, and copyright becomes an issue

*Yale University Library

• ​​​​​​​Expansive collections across U.S.A.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether the image you've found already has an IIIF Manifest that you can use or not. The web page you're on might not make it obvious, and some universities bury the IIIF Manifest at the bottom of the page or in a side tab. Here are tips for finding the IIIF Manifest on a page:

• Look for the IIIF logo . Usually it's red and blue, but sometimes it appears in all grey. You may need to click on the logo to download a manifest.
• Scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen. Some institutions place the IIIF Manifest at the bottom of the list of metadata under the image.
• Press Command + F on your keyboard and search for "IIIF" or "manifest". You'll likely be able to find the text for the manifest link on the page.