Dating Rand McNally and Gousha Maps

In cases when the year of publication was not shown on the cover or in the legend, map companies put date codes at the bottom of the main map. The table below shows the codes for two main map producers, Rand McNally and H.M. Gousha. While Rand McNally always used the first letter or first one or two digits of a code to indicate the year, the year letter could appear anywhere in the Gousha code, so other clues (census date, road network) may be necessary to verify it. Rand McNally first used date codes in 1919, and Gousha started in 1927.

Year	Rand McNally	H.M. Gousha	Year	Rand McNally	H.M. Gousha	Year	Rand McNally	H.M. Gousha
1919	A	-	1949	9	W	1979	79	AB
1920	B	-	1950	0	X	1980	80	AC
1921	C	-	1951	1	Y	1981	81	AN
1922	D	-	1952	2	Z	1982	82	MZ
1923	E	-	1953	3	AA	1983	83	OB
1924	F	-	1954	4	BB	1984	84	YL
1925	G	-	1955	5	CC	1985	85	CP
1926	H	-	1956	6	DD	1986	86	KX
1927	I	A	1957	7	EE	1987	87	QD
1928	J	B	1958	8	FF	1988	88	WJ
1929	K	C	1959	9	GG	1989	89	ER
1930	L	D	1960	0	HH	1990	90	IV
1931	M	E	1961	1	II	1991	91	SF
1932	N	F	1962	2	JJ	1992	92	UH
1933	O	G	1963	3	KK	1993	93	GT
1934	P	H	1964	4	LL	1994	94	NA
1935	Q	I	1965	5	MM	1995	95	ZM
1936	R	J	1966	66	NN	1996	96	BO
1937	S	K	1967	67	OO	1997	97	-
1938	T	L	1968	68	PP	1998	98	-
1939	U	M	1969	69	QQ	1999	99	-
1940	V	N	1970	70	RR	2000	00	-
1941	W	O	1971	71	SS	2001	01	-
1942	X	P	1972	72	TT	2002	02	-
1943	Y	Q	1973	73	UU	2003	03	-
1944	Z	R	1974	74	VV	2004	04	-
1945	5	S	1975	75	WW	2005	05	-
1946	6	T	1976	76	XX	2006	06	-
1947	7	U	1977	77	YY	2007	07	-
1948	8	V	1978	78	ZZ	2008	08	-

Jeff Koenker has provided a more detailed explanation of how Rand McNally Dates their maps.

Webmaster: Judy Aulik webmaster@roadmaps.org

Last Updated 21 March 2010.