World War I Map Collection (Pre-1924 Public Domain Archive)

This curated digital archive presents over 300 original World War I maps, all published before 1924 and therefore out of copyright in the United States. Drawn from leading period sources such as Nelson’s History of the War, The Story of the Great War (Collier’s, 1916–1919), The Literary Digest History of the War, and contemporary atlases and newspapers including The New York Times, The Sun (New York), and Le Pays de France, these maps document the evolving fronts, campaigns, and global reach of the conflict.

The collection encompasses the major theatres of war—Western Front, Eastern Front, Balkans, Italian Front, Middle East, and Africa—along with naval operations, telegraph and railway networks, and home-front air raid charts. Many of the maps were originally issued to illustrate serialized war histories, government briefings, or popular press supplements and have been preserved here in high-resolution scans (up to 600 dpi) suitable for research and reproduction.

Grouped into twenty-nine downloadable archives (approximately 20 MB each), the files include both original page reproductions and cleaned digital restorations, offering a comprehensive visual record of the war as it was reported and understood between 1914 and 1919. Together, they form an indispensable reference for students, historians, modelers, and collectors interested in the geography and chronology of the Great War.