Center for Archival Collections

Introduction | Scope and Content | Inventory

 Introduction

The Ottawa County Map Collection consists of more than 90 hand-drawn maps originally deposited with the Ottawa County Auditor’s Office and transferred to Bowling Green State University in the mid-1970s as part of the local government records program. Initially integrated into the general county map collection and assigned numbers according to that referencing sequence, these maps were later separated, given conservation treatment, encapsulated, and now form a separate collection.

The finding aid to this collection was by Marilyn Levinson, Curator of Manuscripts in June 2010.

 Scope and Content

Among the responsibilities of the office of the County Auditor was maintaining records related to taxable property. In that capacity the office was in charge of conducting property assessments, which sometimes included maps and plats (including some towns that were platted but never inhabited, such as Port Oleron and Moscow). This collection includes hand-drawn maps used by the office, dating from as early as the 1840s through the 1890s. In addition to showing acreage and names of owners, some of the maps show physical features of the landscape, such as marshes, bogs, sandbars, and streams. The collection also includes other administrative maps such as school districts and ditch plats and profiles. All the maps have been encapsulated and are stored in an oversize flat box.

Inventory

Manuscripts by Subject | Miscellaneous Manuscript Collections