The David Rumsey Maps of Clare
Many of the Atlases collected and published online by David Rumsey from his extensive Map Collection contain maps of County Clare from many eras, and many sources. Clare County Library decided to copy these and make them available on this website so that pupils, students and the interested reader could see just how differently County Clare was represented in these atlases over time and by various publishers throughout Europe. This was possible due to the generous terms under which the Rumsey maps have been published online. The maps shown here are presented as simple JPEGs in a standard web page.
Click here for the Rumsey maps of Clare >>

The David Rumsey Maps (ExpressView/MrSID format)
One set of our David Rumsey maps was created using ExpressView (MrSid) image compression software from LizardTech, and requires the downloading and installation of the appropriate plugin. The Clare sections above were taken from these maps.
Use the Web Install method on the LizardTech website by clicking here:
Download ExpressViewBrowser Plug-in (MrSID) for Windows. For more info on plugins click here Plugins
Click here for the Rumsey maps (ExpressView/MrSID format)

The David Rumsey Maps in MapBrowser
These maps can also be viewed via MapBrowser, our new integrated online maps system which runs in most browsers without the necessity to install plugins.
Tip: click on the slider to zoom in and out, and select the pan cursor button to move around the map.
Click here for the David Rumsey Maps in MapBrowser

The David Rumsey Map Collection
David Rumsey is a map collector and the founder of the David Rumsey Map Collection. A native of New York, Rumsey holds a BA and Master of Fine Arts from Yale University and was a founding member of Yale Research Associates in the Arts, before becaming Associate Director of the American Society for Eastern Arts in San Francisco. He lectured in art at the Yale Art School for several years. He made what he calls an "accidental" fortune developing real estate in San Francisco. His success allowed him, in the early 1980s, to start collecting historical maps.

Since 1983, David Rumsey has collected more than 150,000 maps of 18th and 19th Century North and South America. His collection also includes world atlases, globes, school geographies, maritime charts, and a variety of other maps. The physical collection is housed in San Francisco, California, where it is made available to researchers.

In March 2000, David Rumsey launched www.davidrumsey.com/, a website that allows free viewing of the maps via high-resolution images on the internet. By the beginning of 2007, the website had over 11,000 digitised historical maps available online. The sophisticated, yet simplified software allows visitors to view maps side by side, zoom in for inspection of the smallest details, as well as save and print. A comprehensive catalog provides information about each map's cartographic relevance and provenance, author, publisher, and date of publication, and other historical and geographic facts.