Wellesley Free Library maps go high tech

You can now take a break from Google Maps and spend your time online with digitized versions of maps that depict Wellesley and surrounding communities between 1853 and 1999.

Wellesley Free Library has made 19 of its local historical maps available online for free by collaborating with the Digital Commonwealth and New England Document Conservation Center.

WFL’s Anna Dorste says the project took about 4 months once the library partnered with New England Document Conservation Center, which took high quality photos of  maps. The next step was figuring out where to host the digital files so that they would be accessible to the most people, and the library decided to go with Digital Commonwealth, a collaborative project between over 130 Massachusetts libraries and cultural heritage institutions.

“Our plans are to continue digitizing these maps in groups, continually adding to our map collection. We are always looking for opportunities to provide materials – not just maps! – online so that they are accessible to the Wellesley community and beyond,” says Dorste, who noted the digitization effort was a big team project within the library.