Sanborn maps are included in various collections on the Bellingham campus.
You can view a couple of Sanborn maps in the Map Collection in Wilson Library and additional maps and indexes (specific to Bellingham and Whatcom) in the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies in the Goltz-Murray Archives Building.
The Washington State Archives-NW Regional Branch (co-located with the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies) also provides access to digital versions of Bellingham and Whatcom maps in the reference room.
Within the Library of Congress Sanborn Map Collection, you can find digitized maps online for the years 1885 through 1950. These maps are in the public domain, and free to download and reuse without permission.
This link takes you to search results for Whatcom County Sanborn maps available online through the Library of Congress.
Maps that were published after 1963 (and some published after 1930) are under copyright protection and thus are not available through this online collection.
Fire insurance maps show street-level details, including locations of buildings at the time of survey. Insurance maps are known for accuracy and detail. There is no single access point for all maps, but you can explore insurance maps in different archival collections. Many but not all have been digitized.
