Carleton's Map Collection is located on second Libe, near the east stairwell. 

USGS Maps and Resources

The collection's United States Geological Survey maps span over a century, detailing topographical changes, changing use of the land, and urbanization within the US. The 7.5 minute US quadrangle maps are a great resource for finding a large and detailed map of a small area. Maps are kept in flat files, organized alphabetically by state, and then by quadrangle name. 

Military and intelligence maps 

Originally held by the Geology & Geography Department, Gould's collection contains a wide variety of military and intelligence maps. Starting in 1946, Carleton College was one of about 30 institutions (and only 1 of 3 liberal arts colleges) in the United States that elected to receive “captured” German and Japanese military maps, redistributed by the Army Map Service.

Our collection also includes maps produced by the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was the forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency. 

You can also find maps produced by the Army Map Service. These are topographic and road maps much like the USGS maps, but with a more international scope.  

Learn more about the Office of Strategic Services intelligence maps from this Stanford guide. If you are interested in the history of captured maps, Stanford Libraries also provides a great overview of their collection of Gaihozu Japanese military maps. In addition, see UC Berkeley's guide on German captured maps from World War II.  

Special Interest Maps

"Special Interest Maps" has some examples of particular compelling or useful maps in our collection.