As the 1960s dawned, the images of women became more middle-of-the road. Neither the fearless superwoman (and it was a superhuman effort to drive in the 1920s and 1930s) nor the simpering helpmeet were common on the covers of maps for major oil companies. The 1960 Rand McNally map cover produced for Standard Oil Company of Indiana epitomizes the realistic view. Who could afford to alienate such a large customer base?
General Drafting, map supplier for Esso, produced many pleasant covers that were intended to be mild and innocuous while still stimulating travel. This 1961 map, both front and back covers shown, features the Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg National Park. Four women are shown, three of whom seemed to have arrived with a male driver. Either he just retracted the convertible's top, or these ladies have discovered the most powerful hairspray known.
The back cover is better yet, as far as I'm concerned. Look closely at the cylinder in Mom's right hand. It's a picnic jug with a map on it! How I covet this item. Confirming its existence through an eBay search has given me a new quest for my collecting fervor.
Needless to say, this item was drawn with loving care by the General Drafters. The east coast of the U.S. faces us. The map's legend is visible. The hue of the lid matches their car.
However, these commercial artists seem to have had a tough time with Sis's inflatable elephant. Its leg has some amazing flexibility, as the beast is scratching its head. The trunk has some rather disturbing phallic connotations. And its saddle, or whatever the red patch is, is stuck to its left side rather than perching on its back.
And why would a child want an inflatable elephant? Julie Eisenhower was too old by 1961, and she's the only one I could think of besides Tricia Nixon.Her shoes match his. Better yet, they are flat. These may be the only sensible shoes ever seen on a woman on a road map of the era. Huzzah!
Like the maps printed by General Drafting for Humble Oil
& Refining in the previous decade,
large companies' maps showed women using them.
And sometimes there were, er, lapses in judgement.
The 1960 Standard map above had begun to portray women
drivers as independent.
Then, someone in Wisconsin wanted to produce
something a little different. Or, someone at the Tempo map company
had had one ti many martoonis at lunch. Corporate was not consulted.
Someone must not have been able to dial the phone.
Hence, this Tempo map from 1962. How'd it look?
A little more arty.
A little more,
erm, I just don't know.
Yikes.
The Mobil Oil Company cover from 1965 shows a woman navigating, albeit still using the attendant's advice.
Many major oil companies' maps began to feature photographic covers, especially maps produced by Goushá and by Rand McNally. Conoco (Continental Oil Company) and Goushá cooperated in 1968 to produce this strangely alienating photographic cover featuring:
Did these people arrive in the same car? He's in short sleeves, she's in a cardigan. Maybe she turned the air conditioning on full blast to preserve the ham salad, thus needing the fuzzy scarf. She looks as if she's driven the entire breadth of Kansas in her realistically wrinkled skirt. The driving shoes tell you that this is a no-nonsense woman. Probably forked out the $74 extra to get the seat belts for the Fairlane. Bet she wore hers the whole way since they cost two weeks' worth of her wages, wrinkles be damned.
Maps printed during the DX-to-Sunoco transition of the late '60s had photomontage covers. However, the majority of realistic art favored by Shell and Texaco featured landscapes rather than service stations or people.
Take a good look at the Mobil attendant. Which American president does he resemble? And why was the logo on his cap sewn on with rug yarn?
They're still available but in different guises. Most states distribute official maps, often as goodwill offerings from legislators and candidates, or as part of the services at state line welcome centers. Banks and Realtors® distribute city maps, especially as part of welcome packages. Tear-off sheet maps are given out by car rental companies.
On the other hand, filling stations and truck stops now charge for maps. There have been some recent issues of nominally priced, branded maps from Exxon and Sheetz. Unocal tried to revive free maps produced by Goushá in an experimental program in California in 1991.
As the era of free advertising road maps from filling stations began to draw to a close, American commercial art became influenced by psychedelia and by artists such as Peter Max. While far from the most colorful cover of the times, the 1967 Citgo map by Diversified Map of St. Louis featured the modern woman at last.
And what was the most colorful map of the Hippie era? Can you dig it?
If the cover below, produced for the Vickers filling station chain by Digital Map, didn't kill the era of free maps, the oil crisis of 1973 did.
Personally, I blame the bi-color bell-bottoms for both.
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© 2002-2007 Judy Aulik
First uploaded 19 October 2002
Last updated 11 November 2007.
