Mississippi Maps
This entry was originally written by Kathleen Stanton Hutchison for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Historical maps found at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History can be accessed through the archives' chronological listing, which is arranged by date and situation of the map. Included in this list are numerous maps dating from 1500 to 1984. This selection contains all accessioned maps, including some produced by governmental agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey (see page 5) and the Mississippi State Highway Department. Sanborn fire insurance maps (see page 5) help identify location of structures.
County highway maps, produced by the Mississippi Department of Transportation, Map Sales Office, P.O. Box 1850, Jackson, MS 39215-1850, are available for a nominal fee. These maps are useful when trying to locate cemeteries in the state (see Mississippi Cemetery Records).
Information in respect to state and federal legislation of land is covered in the Mississippi Historical Records Survey, State and County Boundaries of Mississippi (Jackson, Miss.: Historical Records Survey, 1942). This publication presents, in summary form, all the laws affecting the boundaries of the state of Mississippi, the counties in the state, and the judicial districts that were changed either by law, treaty, or proclamation. Another publication not to be overlooked is Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993) which is inclusive of all counties both existing and extinct in the state of Mississippi.
The 1895 atlas of Mississippi can be found online at www.livgenmi.com/1895/.
