Maps and Atlas Collection
Bird's-Eye Views
Bird's-Eye Views at the Wisconsin Historical Society
City views and panoramas have a long history, dating back to 16th century Europe. But developments in printing technology combined with the growth and prosperity of settlement in the post-Civil War United States combined to create a new and popular development of the genre — the bird's-eye view. These views were popular from the 1860s until the development of aerial photography around 1920.
The bird's-eye view combined concrete reality with a leap of the imagination. An artist would visit a selected city or village, walking its streets and sketching its buildings. The next step was to assemble the sketches into a drawing of the city as it might appear from overhead thus, the term "bird's-eye view." The aerial viewpoint allowed the view to show the entire city at the expense of a certain distortion of perspective. Frequently the view would include small pictures of individual buildings, or important sites in the view would be numbered and keyed to a list of references printed at the bottom of the view. Once completed by the artist, the view was printed and sold to local residents who took pride in the depiction of their home city in all its individuality.
Because the market for the view was the residents themselves, accuracy was important. Street names had to be correct and buildings accurately represented. Because residents expected their city or village to be presented as thriving and prosperous, the artist added details like smoke streaming from factory chimneys, ships sailing the rivers or harbors, and railroad engines busily hauling freight.
The Wisconsin Historical Society owns over 200 original and reproduction bird's eye views of Wisconsin cities and villages dating from the 1860s to the early 1900s. Smaller settlements might be depicted only once in small, simply colored views. Larger cities may have several, more elaborate representations. Each bird's-eye view depicts its subject in great detail, down to the number and placement of the doors and windows in individual houses. The views are valuable resources for local history and architectural research, as well as providing a uniquely American vision of the urban landscape.
Additional Resources
For more information and sample images, visit Bird's-Eye Views. This article originally appeared in Exchange, a newsletter published by the Office of Local History at the Wisconsin Historical Society (Volume 29, Number 2, Spring 1987), and focuses on the value of this resource for studying community history.
To view and download a selection of Wisconsin bird's-eye views, visit the Library of Congresses American Memory Project Web site.
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