The story has become something of a legend in certain circles. Sometime in the early 1970s, geographers at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) got a tip that hundreds of historical atlases were about to be dumped in the trash up in San Francisco. They decided not to let that happen.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/historical-atlas-maps-american-west/
National Geographic
Clip Category
Northridge