MAPS FOR Industry

American industry was quick to recognize the advertising potential of pictorial maps. Just as Frank Pick commissioned MacDonald Gill to create the London Underground maps, numerous American companies hired leading graphic artists to help sell their products. Those with large advertising budgets were behind some of the most striking pictorial maps ever produced.

A pictorial map was particularly suitable to the transportation industry. Railroads and shipping lines had developed system and route maps in the late nineteenth century, and bus and airline companies developed similar maps in the early twentieth century.198 Although railroads appear to have been conservative in their use of the pictorial format (plate 105), a few companies that were heavily involved in tourism created pictorial maps to lure customers aboard. Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Great Northern all produced pictorial maps of tourist destinations in the American West (plates 106–109). Bus industry leader Greyhound commissioned pictorial maps during the 1930s and 1940s, including one showing American equivalents of famous international tourist destinations (plates 111 and 112). Bold shipping industry posters likely inspired several spectacular pictorial maps advertising ocean liner cruises. Jo Mora created one of his more complex designs for Grace Line (plate 113), while Edward Camy designed a wonderfully cartoony map for the Alaska Steamship Company (plate 115). As regular air schedules were established in the 1930s, airlines produced their own route maps. Pan American, the first American international carrier, developed routes to the Caribbean, South America, and across the Pacific to Asia. Its pictorial maps played with the conceit that the company’s seaplanes were modern versions of old China trade clipper ships (plate 117). United Air Lines used its large Mainliner Vacation Map to advertise its new DC-3 service (plate 118).

Pictorial maps advertised a variety of other products and services as well. Nifty Sea Foods of Seattle advertised the sources of its seafood from the waters of the Pacific Northwest (plate 119), while Shafer’s Bakeries of Detroit, taking their cue from contemporary brag maps, trumpeted the wonders of Michigan (plate 120). Pogue Distillery Company commissioned one of the most striking industrial maps of the 1930s, which showed the distilling of “good old Kentucky bourbon” (plate 121). The Wine Advisory Board of San Francisco hired Ruth Taylor to design a large and colorful wine map (plate 122).

Pictorial maps were well suited to show economic regions. Oil companies were known for their gas maps, some of which were pictorial, but they also produced pictorial maps showing oil fields, pipelines, refineries, and terminals (plates 123 and 124). The opening of Cleveland’s Union Terminal, which included the tallest skyscraper outside Manhattan, generated considerable advertising, including a pictorial map showing steamers, railroads, and truck traffic all funneling products into America’s industrial heartland (plate 125). In a similar vein, shippers Oglebay, Norton & Company produced a map of the Great Lakes region that presented a dense panorama of economic activity (plate 126). More tightly focused, commercial artist Jacob Riegel Jr. created two maps advertising Philadelphia’s insurance and electric industries (plates 127 and 128). Both maps were exemplars of how to blend cartography, art, and information. New industries also noticed the graphic potential of pictorial maps. As New Jersey was home to RCA Victor Company and Radisco factories, the state saw itself as the center of radio technology (plate 129). Like the map of Cleveland’s trade empire, Industrial New Jersey depicted the distribution of radios from factory to factory and across the country.

Among the earliest, largest, and most colorful of all American pictorial maps was Ignatz Sahula’s creation for the nineteenth annual convention of the National Association of Real Estate Boards held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 1926 (plate 131). Showing the whole country, with all roads leading to Tulsa, the map reveled in jokes and cartoon figures. Similarly, the Shell Oil Company commissioned commercial artist Don Bloodgood to create a double-sided map celebrating the San Diego Pacific International Exposition in 1935 (plate 132). Like Sahula, Bloodgood crammed his map with cartoon figures and humor; he later designed several “Pic-Tour” maps of the American West for the tourist industry.

Finally, federal and state governments commissioned pictorial maps for tourists and to highlight public works programs during the Great Depression. In southern Ohio, the federal Resettlement Administration worked on restoring eroded farmlands and creating state forests and public recreation areas.199 At Zaleski State Forest, the Civilian Conservation Corps and the WPA built Lake Hope State Park. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Parks then hired Lydia M. Reeder, an artist from Columbus, to design the park’s striking pictorial map (plate 133). At the national level, the federal government produced two pictorial maps highlighting the dams, schools, houses, and other parks built by the WPA (plate 134). The federal government was just getting started in using pictorial maps to get its message across to the general public; it would expand those efforts even more during World War II.

PLATE 105. Stephen J. Voorhies, Serving New England, 1929, 54 × 71 cm. Map publisher Rand McNally commissioned Voorhies to design this pictorial map for New England railroad, shipping, and bus lines. Compared with pictorial maps of the time, this one was relatively conservative in color and design, but the steam locomotive blasting out of western Massachusetts gives the map considerable drama.

Private collection

PLATE 106. Southern Pacific Company, Southern Pacific Lines . . . , 1928, 58.5 × 81.4 cm. Few American pictorial maps are so consciously “done in the old style” as this railroad map. With its muted colors and strapwork around title cartouche and border images, Southern Pacific Lines is a modern version of sixteenth-century maps. Even though the map promotes transcontinental railroads, it includes galleons and fabulous sea creatures.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (603), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 107. J. Scheuerle, Recreational Map of Glacier National Park, Montana, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, circa 1927, 45.5 × 80.3 cm. Originally from Austria, Scheuerle spent his early career painting in the American West, particularly portraits of Indians. The Great Northern Railway’s publicity department commissioned this map, which appears on the reverse side of a tourist brochure entitled “Vacations for All.” The map presents an idyllic picture of outdoor life in the Rockies, complete with snowshoeing mountain goats, hiking bears, and dancing Indians.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (781), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 108. William Willmarth, Panoramic Perspective of the Area Adjacent to Sun Valley Lodge, Sun Valley, Ketchum, Idaho, Served Exclusively by Union Pacific Railroad, circa 1936, 55.7 × 79.5 cm. Willmarth produced a range of advertisements for Union Pacific, including this pictorial map of Sun Valley with its newly opened ski lodge. A stylized art deco design, the map uses simplified snow-covered mountains to promote the area’s abundance of alpine skiing.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (616), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 109. Gerald A. Eddy, Panoramic Perspective of the Area Adjacent to Boulder Dam as It Will Appear When Lake Is Filled, 1936, 42.8 × 77.2 cm. Eddy, a Los Angeles–based commercial artist, produced numerous pictorial maps for newspapers and other businesses during the 1930s and 1940s. Commissioned by Union Pacific Railroad to promote its rail link to newly built Boulder (Hoover) Dam, Eddy created a striking art deco–inspired design of bright blues, greens, and reds contrasting with the dun colors of the desert.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (501), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 110. Santa Fe Trails Association, The Santa Fe Trail—The Trailway of Romance, 1944, 42.8 × 55.7 cm. Bright pink, blue, and yellow colors, as well as simplified graphics, give this automobile tourist map a distinct art deco look.

Private collection

PLATE 111. Greyhound Company, You Can See All the World Right Here in America!, 1935, 54.5 × 59.5 cm. This pictorial map publicizes Greyhound bus routes to “natural wonders, historic shrines, beauty spots, crops and industries of America.” It makes the bold claim that these sites are comparable “with similar places elsewhere throughout the world.” Two cities in Canada—Ottawa and Montreal—are included to allow comparison with London and Paris.

David Rumsey Map Collection

PLATE 112. Greyhound Lines, A Good-Natured Map of the United States Setting Forth the Services of the Greyhound Lines and a Few Principal Connecting Bus Lines, 1939, 48.2 × 73.7 cm. During the 1930s, Greyhound produced a series of “good-natured” maps of the United States, marked by bright, art deco–influenced colors and cartoon scenes.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (306), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 113. Jo Mora, Father Neptune Presenteth ye Grace Line Fleet to ye Olde Spanish Main, 1933, 78.7 × 58.1 cm. In this typical Mora map, full of cartoon figures and charming whimsy, the artist includes his distinctive trademark, setting figures against a black background in the border.

Muriel H. Parry Collection (390), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 114. Harrison Godwin, Panama Mail S.S. Co. The Sea Coastes of America Shewing the Ports of Call of the Panama Mail Steamships as the Country there aboutes Is Lying and Situated, with All the Haven Therof, 1928, 66.3 × 83.3 cm. In this advertisement for the Panama Mail Steamship Company’s Spanish America cruise, Godwin’s pictorial map glows with rich color, cartoon figures, and enormous fun. The combination of size, scope, detail, humor, imagination, and artistry make this one of the greatest of all American pictorial maps.

The Huntington Library, San Marino, California

PLATE 115. Edward Camy, A Good-Natured Map of Alaska Showing the Services Offered by “The Alaska Line,” 1934, 53 × 72 cm. Much like Godwin’s map for the Panama Mail Steamship Company (see plate 114), Camy’s “good-natured map” uses cartoon figures, vibrant colors, and humor to promote the Alaska Steamship Company.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (498), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 116. Mildwoff, The Chart of the Vagabond Cruises, 1933, 46.5 × 60.5 cm. This map from the American Export Lines’s brochure on Mediterranean and Black Sea cruises uses a simple but effective blue and red color scheme to highlight tourist attractions.

Muriel H. Parry Collection (295), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 117. Kenneth W. Thompson, On the Routes of the Flying Clipper Ships, circa 1939, 54 × 42 cm. Pan American Airways produced several pictorial maps advertising its various international services. This one captures the glamour of the Clipper Ship seaplanes and their exotic destinations in Latin America.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (322), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 118. Pauline Proehl, United Air Lines Mainliner Vacation Map, 1940, 67 × 111.5 cm.

Advertising United Air Lines’s DC-3 transcontinental mainliner service, Proehl’s large pictorial map makes flying look fun as it promotes vacation destinations along the route. The map has a scale of flying hours.

Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library

PLATE 119. Nifty Sea Foods Inc., Nifty Sea Foods Inc., Pier A, Seattle, 1937, 24 × 33.5 cm. Probably designed as a menu cover, this pictorial map is a riot of sea creatures all making their way to the Nifty Sea Foods restaurant. As with other pictorial maps, the combination of primary colors creates a vibrant design.

Private collection

PLATE 120. Jack Shafer, Map of Michigan (Slightly Exaggerated), Schafer’s Bakeries Inc., 1949, 51.8 × 58 cm. Advertising Michigan’s largest bakery and the first in the United States to introduce “Hollywood Diet Bread,” this pictorial map has much in common with state brag maps produced about the same time (see plates 9 and 10). Full of fun, the map includes a serenading Mexican singing, “I gotta da gol from Kalamazoo.” This may be the only map that has loaves of sliced bread as border decoration.

Private collection

PLATE 121. C. L. Hawkins, “Old Time” Map of Kentucky, the Bourbon State, 1937, 44 × 32 cm. Although published by Colortext (see plate 101), which produced maps aimed at the educational market, this map advertises Pogue Good Old Kentucky Bourbon, hardly a map for the classroom. The map consists of an oblique view of Kentucky, a viewpoint used for other Colortext maps, and a border of Bourbon whiskey-making scenes. The radiant sun is a typical art deco image.

Private collection

PLATE 122. Ruth Taylor [White], Wine Map of California, circa 1930s, 102 × 77 cm. Taylor, best known for her comic maps (see plate 5), depicts the Golden State as a bounteous land full of vineyards and wine-drinking inhabitants, much different from the barren deserts of neighboring Arizona and Nevada.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (521), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 123. G. H. Bodeen, A Pictorial Map Showing Operations–Properties–Transportation Facilities–Telegraph Communication–& Marketing Territories of the Pure Oil Company U.S.A., circa 1926, 57.3 × 45.6 cm. Bodeen designed this pictorial map most likely to commemorate the company’s move to its new Chicago headquarters. A rival to Standard Oil, Pure Oil uses the pictorial map format to show the company’s reach over the central and eastern United States.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (465), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 124. Clarence P. Hornung, Where Nature Stored Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil from which the World’s Finest Motor Oils Are Made, circa 1930s, 38.5 × 82 cm. A well-known graphic designer and illustrator, Hornung creates a verdant view of the Pennsylvania oil fields. His painterly method was rarely used for pictorial maps (see plate 70).

Ethel M. Fair Collection (594), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 125. Cleveland Terminal Group, The Capital of a New Trade Empire, circa 1930, 71.4 × 78.5 cm. An advertisement for the Cleveland Union Terminal opening, this stunningly designed pictorial map positions the city as the new powerhouse of the industrial Midwest. From all points of the compass, Great Lakes ships, steam trains, trucks, buses, automobiles, and airplanes head toward the gleaming new terminal.

Private collection

PLATE 126. Simon Greco, 100 Years in the Region of the Great Lakes, Oglebay, Norton & Company from 1854, 1954, 68.3 × 84.8 cm. In commemoration and celebration of a Great Lakes shipping company, this pictorial map displays the industries and agriculture of the American heartland. Iron ore mines, ore carriers, and steelworks are prominently shown. The border comprises historical scenes and events from the region.

Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 127. Jacob Riegel Jr., A Map of the City of Philadelphia Showing the Location of the Volunteer Fire Companies with Pictures of Some of Their Engines and Equipment Prior to and Contemporaneous with the Founding of the Insurance Company of North America a.d. 1792, 1938, 54.4 × 76 cm. Commissioned by the Philadelphia-based company, Riegel created a masterful design, combining a redrawn city map of 1794 with illustrations showing the history of fire insurance and prevention in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The pale blue used for the Delaware River and as a panel background holds the design together.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (515), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 128. Jacob Riegel Jr., A Map of the Territory Served by Philadelphia Electric Company, 1951, 59 × 86.3 cm. In a pictorial map that is a model of good design and content, Riegel shows electricity generating stations and transmission lines in southeastern Pennsylvania and uses the map border to depict important company buildings. A delightful touch is his use of color to tie traditional Pennsylvania German barn signs and distelfink to the map’s compass rose.

Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 129. Radio Distributing Corporation, Industrial New Jersey, Center of Radio Progress, Home of RCA and RADISCO, circa 1930, 81 × 57.4 cm. This brightly colored art deco pictorial map of the radio industry in New Jersey features major plants and leading businessmen. The electric haloes around the presidents and chairmen are among several arresting design elements.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (577), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 130. Eugene Jordan, Captain Silver’s Sea Chart, 1943, 66.2 × 49.2 cm. The Blue Network, Radio City, New York, produced and distributed this colorful pictorial map to publicize its popular adventure radio show The Sea Hound. Other programs also produced pictorial maps for their listeners.

Muriel H. Parry Collection (383), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 131. Ignatz Sahula, 19th Annual Convention of the National Association of Real Estate Boards at Tulsa, June 7 to June 11 in 1926, 1926, 72.7 × 101.5 cm. The vibrant colors, bold design, and large size combine to make this one of the most extraordinary pictorial maps of its era. The influence of MacDonald Gill’s Wonderground Map is shown in the map’s yellow roads and cartoon scenes, but the map is much brassier than Gill’s creation. The compass rose is centered on Tulsa, the convention city.

Courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library

PLATE 132. Don Bloodgood, San Diego: The California Pacific International Exposition, 1935, 53.5 × 78.8 cm. Commissioned by the Shell Oil Company to advertise the exposition, Bloodgood created a double-sided pictorial map that shows an oblique view of San Diego on the front and a view of Balboa Park on the reverse. The map’s pale colors and cartoon figures, perhaps influenced by Jo Mora, make this an attractive tourist map.

Private collection

PLATE 133. Lydia M. Reeder, Lake Hope, 40.8 × 51 cm. Reeder, an artist from Columbus, created this simple but effective map for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. She uses the orientation of Lake Hope to create a diagonal across the map which is further emphasized by the bright red and yellow compass rose and brown and yellow state park sign. Vegetation colors are tied to the seasons, listed at the bottom. The lake, woodland walks, and log cabins epitomize many state parks nationwide, giving this map considerable cultural resonance.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (680), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress

PLATE 134. Earl Purdy, PWA Rebuilds the Nation, circa 1930s, 87 × 132 cm. The Public Works Administration commissioned this cartographic monument to the New Deal. Known for his mural paintings and architectural etchings, Purdy creates a pictorial summary of PWA construction projects across the United States and a map border illustrating buildings and industrial activities. The large compass rose, depicting a muscled worker within a gear wheel and various industrial tools symbolizing points of the compass, is one of the most creative on any pictorial map.

Ethel M. Fair Collection (722), Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress