World Atlas, 1844

This world atlas was published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The Society was founded in 1828 with the goal of bringing inexpensive educational and scientific publications to England’s working and middle classes to promote self-education. The society’s maps were known for their detail and quality.

This atlas includes an index in the back and street maps for major cities.

This is an image-only collection.

Maps, atlases, and gazetteers are essential tools for family historians. Maps may be either topographical (emphasizing land forms) or historical (emphasizing historical events) in nature, though either type can show cultural features, such as the town and creek names that are so important for research.

From Loretto Dennis Szucs, "The Historical Dimension," in Family History Made Easy (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1998).