Sanborn maps can be ordered directly from the publisher, or reels of film
can be Interlibrary loaned from Library of Congress (if you know which of
hundreds of reels), or you can find a collection of local or state-wide
films in many larger, univeristy, or research libraries - copy to your
heart's content.  Many of the municipalities that are mapped may also have
originals still in their vaults or stuffed away at the city engineer's
office or local historical society (there you get all the color codes and
don't have to worry about the scratches on the film destroying something
important!)
 
Those are options if you want to get around any copyright questions (but I
didn't say so) - if still problemed by the matter contact Sanborn directly
as I understand that they are very willing to let researchers such as
ourselves use the material.
 
Dan W.
 
 
as has been notedAt 01:56 PM 1/25/99 -0500, you wrote:
>I don't know anything about the copyright situation on Sanborn Fire Insurance
>maps, but I can tell you how to get printed copies. Order the following
>through interlibrary loan or direct from the publisher:
>
>Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, [Microfilm] Chadwyck-Healey, Teaneck, NJ, 1983.
>
>This is a 35mm microfilm collection consisting of 58 reels beginning in 1868
>and ending 1950. The microfilm collection was reproduced from original copies
>in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress. Each reel is
>indexed by city. Maps are arranged in the order that they appear in Fire
>insurance maps in the Library of Congress, 1981.
>
>You may be able to order the collection or a portion of the collection based
>on the state that you are in directly from Chadwyck-Healey.
>
>Regards,
>
>Pat Tucker
>Lab of Archaeology
>The University of Toledo
>Toledo, Ohio
>