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Club Information Map Information Buy/Sell/Trade Maps Miscellaneous
| RMCA - Fall 1998 Newsletter PreviewRand McNally’s Auto Road Maps of 1912
The history of automobile road maps in the U.S. has never been written up in great detail, but those historical works that exist, such as Walter Ristow’s "American Road Maps and Guides" article in the May, 1946, Scientific Monthly, and Roderick Clayton McKenzie’s master’s thesis, "The Development of Automobile Road Guides in the United States", UCLA, 1963, would have us believe that Rand McNally, the biggest of all road map publishers in this country, was virtually absent from the road map field from 1912 to 1917. Even Rand McNally’s own publications imply that the company offered nothing between their Photo Auto Maps, which were last issued in 1912, and their Auto Trails maps, which began in 1917. The Photo Auto Maps, were small books of photographs showing key turns in the routes laid out for motorists, and Rand McNally published them for about five years, starting in 1907. Their Auto Trails maps, later called Auto Road Maps, were the most popular and best detailed of their kind from 1917 onward. But doesn’t it seem strange that the company should go dormant in the road map game from 1912 to 1917, a time when automobile ownership was growing at a faster pace each year, with ever more motorists needing road directions? Well, as it turns out, Rand McNally was not idle during this time. They did publish a few road maps, and they even sold maps and guides published by others. This came to light recently when I bought a small hard-bound book map titled, "The Rand McNally Motorist’s Road Map in Sections - Section I", published in 1912. ... Heloise is as it Again!! Perhaps anticipating the our favorite domestic junk recycling columnists might again threaten our hobby, member Richard Horwitz (#314) checked the December 1st "Hints from Heloise" column and was shocked to see the following:
... Club Takes New Roads at 3rd Annual RMCA Meet Holding true to the precedent established last year in which the 2nd Annual RMCA Swap Meet was better than the 1st, this year's 3rd Annual RMCA Swap Meet was better than both of the first two meets. About 50 RMCA members, along with about 15 non-members or soon-to-be members, and some very understanding spouses, came to the eastern Chicago towns of Highland and Hammond, located in the extreme northwestern corner of Indiana - the same location as last year's meet. Many attendees arrived Friday night at the AmeriHost Inn in Hammond, where old friends reunited, and members either met or reacquainted themselves with each other. Quite a few attendees got a head start on the action with room-to-room trades and sales, but mostly everyone just enjoyed being in the company of fellow map geeks. ... Reminiscences of Childhood Road Map Collecting The mustard colored old book with the cracked and torn spine that sat atop a shelf of encyclopedias was a world atlas published by the National Geographic Society. Many childhood hours were spent studying its pages and when, in the spring of 1947, a fellow 6th grade student showed by the free road maps he had collected on a recent trip, I was intrigued. My neighborhood pas, Clayton and Jim, were equally fascinated and service station attendants throughout the streets of Fresno, CA that summer witnessed three hot, tired, but determined lads begging for free road maps. We walked for miles, sometimes up and down three lane Highway 99, choking on diesel exhaust and dodging traffic, building our collections. But ultimately, we were getting the same maps from the same gas stations: Shell, Chevron, Signal, Associated, Richfield, Texaco, and others, and were no longer welcome at some venues. Clayton was given a Mobil map of the New England states by his neighbor. How excited and jealous Jim and I were. ... Map Sheet Uncommon Chevron Scenic Covers - 1948-68
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