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Club Information Map Information Buy/Sell/Trade Maps Miscellaneous
| RMCA - May 2001 Newsletter PreviewBritish American Oil and Its Bird Maps Birds, long a favorite subject for artists, have not been a particularly popular subject for the art on map covers. Perhaps they were upstaged by Mobil's flying horse. Some, such as Falcon (co-op), Wings (Security), Fleetwing, Ultramar, Richfield's eagle, or the roosters of Pierce (Sinclair) and Hnacock, have birds as part of their logos. Other exceptions include the quail used by Beacon, game birds of Deep Rock (Kerr McGee), and California Oil's (Chevron-East) set of state birds and flowers on its 1965-66 covers for the northeast states. But the most notable may be Canada's British American (B/A), one of the most prolific issuer of road maps before it became Gulf Oil Canada, then PetroCanada. The birg map series of 1963-65 is one of the most interesting for collectors, as this issue's color sheet insert shows. Our bird watches spotted 19 species, covering 16 maps of Canadian provinces and cities. The 1963 and 1964 maps were by Rolph Stone Clark Ltd.; they switched to H.M. Gousha for the 1965 through 1967 maps. ... Beyond the Americas; 1904-1960 The North American oil company road map in its prime was as much a part of the scenery as the motor car that had produced it. This was not so outside of North America because there was no automobile culture--in those parts, even in 1960, the motor car had not been an everyday possession for long. In Europe and countries under its economic and political influence, oil companies were fewer and their road maps were not always given away; furthermore, maps with more topographical information were traditionally preferred, and were readily available at low cost from commercial and official map publishers. Even so, local oil companies had been quick to see the potential of a growing market. Although there were only 8500 motor vehicles registered in Britain in 1904, in that year, the Anglo-American Oil Company (part of Standard Oil) issued the first of its road atlases advertising Pratt's Motor Spirit. One of these was still being reprinted in 1929. In the 1930's, the Pratts name was featured on some purely decorative Pictorial Plans, in up to 8 colors. Meanwhile, back in 1910, a boxed series of 33 sectional maps on cards, complete with warnings of police speed traps, were published by the makers of Alexander Duckham's engine and gear oil. Also in the 1930's, Russian Oil Products were unusual in giving away their maps of Britain, one of which had a sketch map of the company's Russian oil fields on the cover. ... (Almost) Famous Map Owners By Ian Byrne Many RMCA memebrs will have flicked through a pile of old maps, wondering if the might come across a map from someone famous. Perhaps it might be a map of Massachusetts nearly inscribed JFK or closer to my home, a street map of Liverpool with Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields underlined by a former owner called John Lennon. Of course, these maps never actually turn up, but I did find one recently from someone almost famous. ... "Road Maps: The American Way" Opens at Osher Map Library Transportation maps, depicting everything from the legendary Route 66 to the evolution of Baxter State Park, will be showcased in "Road Maps: The American Way," the new exhibit at USM's Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education. The Osher Map Library is located on the first floor of USM's Glickman Family Library, Forest Ave., Portland, Maine. The exhibit runs through December 20. Call 780-4850 for hours, or check out the Osher Map Library's Web Site at www.usm.maine.edu/maps. ... Map Sheet B/A "Birdcovers" by J.F. Lansdowne
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