Visualizing 19th-Century New York Digital Publication

Matthew Dripps’s map allows us to see the city at multiple levels, somewhere between the holistic vision of John Bachmann’s fish-eye view and the close-up rendering of buildings in William Perris’s fire insurance maps. The gridded streets are divided into individual lots, some of which are labeled. Cartouches inside the scrolling border illustrate the city’s institutions, engineering marvels, and important buildings. Such huge maps appealed to civic boosters who promoted the wonders of city life.

— Hannah Wirta Kinney