I mentioned this work in progress by Jim Hughes on Twitter and App.net when it went online back in February, but I feel it deserves another, more permanent mention here on my website as well.

Jim Hughes is the author of the excellent Codex 99, and if you love design, typography, cartography, illustration, photography and environs, you should really add it to your RSS feeds. In February he launched a new web project, NYC 99, which he described as being basically a Codex 99 post expanded into an entire site.

What is NYC 99? In short, an historical atlas of New York City. From the About page:

The idea of NYC 99 is to present significant and/or interesting maps of the city with enough historical background to provide at least some context. The history of NYC is, ultimately, the history of pretty much everything and there is certainly no shortage of material, both in print and online. [To] make up for my severe and probably over-simplified condensing I’ve included references to original sources.

For each of the maps I’ve tried to include, wherever possible, at least one example large enough to actually read. As more and more cultural institutions (read: libraries) put their collections online this part is becoming increasingly easier.

Again, this is a work in progress, so don’t visit expecting this huge collection of maps. I imagine this is a demanding work of curation and so far Hughes has put together a great narrative, and the materials are of excellent quality. Maybe if you have first-hand access to resources he needs for the project, you could help him with his endeavour.