1940's Road Maps of Pennsylvania

	1940 GEOGRAPHIA HIGHWAY AND RAILROAD MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA, from the Geographia Map Co., 145 West 57 Street, New York. Alexander Gross, F.R.G.S. The map is undated but has 1940 census data and the turnpike, opened in December, 1940, is not shown, so the map dates 1940-41. Alexander Gross, Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, was an Englishman who began Geographia in London at the turn of the century. Around 1920, he transferred the business to New York apparently because of financial problems. A relative carried on the business in England under the name Geographers' Map Company. The name Geographia has been used by several unrelated companies. This large 41 x 27 inch map has clean and attractive cartography as the Map Image shows.
	1941 MID-WEST MAP CO. – H. M. GOUSHA. This map includes New Jersey and was published by Mid-West with the cartography by Gousha. The Map Image shows this unusual combination. Apparently Mid-West made a stab at staying in business strictly as a publisher before disappearing for good.
	1942 AAA. The map includes New Jersey and comes from the Pennsylvania Motor Federation, the Harrisburg affliate.
	1943 STATE FARM - RAND MCNALLY. This road atlas put out by the well known insurance company is copyright 1942, 1943 by Rand McNally and includes a double page map of Pennsylvania. This is one of the few road atlases (or maps for that matter) issued during the war years and was a 'special war edition' as the title says.
	1944 BLUM’S COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS’ MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA,1944-1945 EDITION, published by Blum's Commercial Map Pub. Co., Inc. New York. This 7.5 x 5 inch booklet has 20 pages with a hotel directory and gazetteer. Loosely included is a 16 x 11 inch black & white map showing roads on one side and rail and bus routes on the other. The map is undated and intended for 'commercial travelers,' i.e. salesmen (there were no saleswomen yet).
	1945 BLUM’S COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS’ MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA,1945-1946 EDITION, published by Blum's Commercial Map Pub. Co., Inc. New York. There are few maps available from the war years, so this is a later edition of the one above. This 7.5 x 5 inch booklet has 20 pages with a hotel directory and gazetteer and a loosely included 15 x 11 inch black & white map similar to the 1944 map.
	1946 ROAD MAP OF PHILADELPHIA AND VICINITY, Compiled and Published by Keystone Automobile Club, Broad and Vine Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. This large (38 x 35 inches) map covers the suburban counties and southern New Jersey also. On the verso is an inner city map.
	1947 RAND MCNALLY POCKET MAPS PENNSYLVANIA, from Rand McNally & Co., Chicago. This is two maps in one. The recto is a standard 1947 road map identical to an oil company map, the verso is an atlas type map titled 'Rand McNally Standard Map of Pennsylvania', showing rail lines with a name index. The map folds inside a cardboard cover. Like the Blum map above, this was intended for salesmen. Note that the seller is J. L. Smith of Philadelphia, the successor to R. L. Barnes, who started the business in the 1840's. J. L. Smith was still retailing maps in the 1940's but probably no longer making them.
	1948 EMPIRE TOURS - AAA. This is not the standard AAA map but is titled EMPIRE TOURS MAP AND LIST OF 100 SELECTED HOTELS. It includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and New England. The map cartography is similar to the regular AAA maps.
	1949 CONSOLIDATED TOURS - NATIONAL SURVEY CO. Titled HOTEL MAP 3 - MID ATLANTIC AND EAST CENTRAL. This advertising map has cartography by the National Survey Co., Chester, Vermont. It includes Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.

General Road Maps	Early Maps	1900's	1910's	1920's	1930's
1940's	1950's	1960's	1970's	1980's	1990's

Few maps were published during the war years, 1943-45, to save paper needed by the mushrooming federal government managing the war effort and also because no one, except servicemen, traveled much.