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As might be imagined, digitizing an archive such as we have is an enormous project, but it is now largely complete. Our goal was for every piece of paper in our holdings to be online, and in this we have suceeded. Whew! The archive now holds more than 2.8 million images.
Excepting projects less than 10 years old and location surveys, everything we have is indexed and online. If something doesn't show in our search results, either we don't have it, it is mis-indexed (tell us, please), or it is indexed in a way you aren't anticipating. The most certain way of finding a record is geographically searching for it, using The New Martenet Atlas.
What's online? All of the SJM packets (the base project files, from 1849 through 2013). All of the oversized SJM material up to and through last week! All of the SJM fieldbooks, except those currently in use. All of the oversized rolls. Also online is the material forwarded us from other surveyors as a consequence of using our archive. (The results of their work, in other words.)Our Estate Files (series 7) are online. These are surveys and inventories of the real estate of some prominent Baltimoreans who departed this life between 1880 and 1906. Often our firm supplied a commissioner engaged in the division of these large estates. Other times the firm merely acted as a consultant to the commissioners.
All of the Sutton-Britcher archives are online. They appear as "HCS" entries and live in series 9.
Nearly 23,000 oversized images comprising the E.V. Coonan & Co. archive. Note that Coonan ended up with Thomas Disney's files, who, in turn, had William Shipley's files, who, in turn, had at least some of R.W. Templeman's files. Also included are some Cornelius Howard, John Moke and John Duvall plats. All are here, online, indexed as EVC records: series 10. We were given mostly rolls of this material; very few files, as such, and no fieldbooks, because they are lost.
All of the Purdum & Jeschke material, comprising nearly 300,000 images is online (with the exception of that firm's field books). We have classified this material as Series 11.
The subdivision plats in areas that were annexed by Baltimore City in 1918 are online. (The subdivisions, in other words, that were filed in Baltimore County, but today lie in Baltimore City.) They comprise series 19.
And how about this: the Bouldin family survey records are online, but, alas, not indexed. The Bouldins were surveyors in Baltimore County (and City) from the late 1700's through about 1910. Their records are in series 17. Additionally, the recordbooks of William Smith, George Gouldsmith Presbury and Thomas Gist, all Baltimore County surveyors in the mid-to-late 1700's are here. See series 8. It's a bit difficult finding a particular survey though, because they are not geographically indexed in the manner of the rest of our archive; they are indexed (in the front of each book) by tract name.
Need some railroad valuation maps? Try Series 13 where we have nearly 400 of them. All geographically indexed. Ditto for Baltimore City "Original Plats," in Series 18. Come to Papa!
We have recently instituted a "smaller collections" archive which houses survey record collections containing less than 500 projects. Currently, the records of George Chagetas are stored here. All are online.
The Baltimore County Commissioners kept records of their road openings and closings in ledger books dating back to 1829. We have scanned those books, which document the origin, width, location and status of hundreds of roads within what is now Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Carroll County, and have geographically indexed the records in those books, so that matters affecting roads in your search area automatically appear in your search results. Those books comprise our series 21. (Book 2 of that collection, covering the years between 1838 and mid-1845, has been missing for years.)
Remember, most of the material outlined above will be included in geographic search results. That is why we recommend that sort of search; it covers most of the bases automatically.
Not included in those geographic indices are the Maps and Atlases produced by the firm in the mid-1800's. But, copies in rough shape such as are available from the Library of Congress, are online and in series 3. We have also digitally restored all our county (and City) maps and, through our subsidiary Martenet Press, offer first-rate prints on museum-quality paper.
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We've also included a great pile of what we call contextual resources. These are reference volumes that document the history of the area and other influences on land in Maryland. Included are most of the Baltimore directories from 1752 through about 1940, comprising another 150,000 or so images. Also colonial records, city and county codes, histories, appellate case reporters and a bonanza of other stuff. All in all, the site hosts nearly 600,000 pages in 800 volumes of published books. All organized and easy to locate.
And all of the books mentioned above have full text search available, so you can locate that needle in the haystack without spending all week on the task. Moreover, in some of the collections you can search across the books, for instance locating an address as it appears in directories through the years, in a single search. See example at right. We know of no other site offering this sort of capability.
Enjoy our stuff.