Welcome to the Johnson U.S. Map Project. Alvin J. Johnson was a publisher of maps and atlases from 1854-1887, under the names A.J. Johnson, Johnson and Browning and Johnson and Ward. His Atlases and the maps of the various states in the United States have become collectible and are avidly sought by collectors and historians alike. Many state maps have been removed from Johnson's Family World Atlases and are collected in this form by collectors. The Johnson U.S. Map Project has created a data set of the changes in Johnson's U.S. and state maps which will allow the user of this website to definitively date the publication of any loose map from these atlases. We also present historical essays on the life of Johnson and his atlases and his relationship with other 19th Century American Atlas publishers, J.H. Colton and Augustus Mitchell.

Map Identifier

Use the Quick and Easy Map Identifier to Date Your Johnson Map

The quick and easy map identifier will lead you through a series of drop down choices through which you can identify the edition and variation of any U.S. map from a Johnson Family Atlas and learn the years during which that version was used in Atlases. Click Here to use the Map Identifier

A Gallery of US Maps from Johnson Atlases and their related Data Sets

Go to the Gallery to view any one of Johnson's Atlas maps of the U.S. along with the data that describes the different versions of that map.

Johnson History

The Atlases of A.J. Johnson

Alvin J. Johnson and His Role in 19th Century Map Making in America

Cartographic Bibliography of Alvin J. Johnson

Donate to the Project

If you find this website informative and useful, please consider giving a small donation to support the ongoing hosting and maintenance costs.

Click Here to Donate

David Rumsey's Historical Map Collection

All of the images we use on the U.S. Johnson Map Project have been given to us free of charge from the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection and its website www.davidrumsey.com.

The David Rumsey Map Collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century maps of North and South America, although it also has maps from all parts of the world. David Rumsey's collection includes over 150,000 atlases, maps, and many other related cartographic material. Started over 25 years ago the collection contains items ranging in date from about 1700 to the 1950s.

David began to digitize his collection in 1996 and the Historical Map Collection now has over 27,000 on-line and available to the public for viewing, studying and free downloading. Click here to go to www.davidrumsey.com