1949 Rand McNally Wall Map of North America

Here is a large-scale linen-backed folding wall map of North America produced by Rand McNally and Co. c. 1949. Both attractive and comprehensive, it combines political, topographical, and other information in a style characteristic of the 'Ranally' series produced in the mid-20th century.

A Closer Look

This is a versatile map in every sense. It can be folded onto itself and carried in one arm but also has grommets installed at the top corners for wall hanging. It includes a wide variety of information on political boundaries, cities, transportation, topography, and maritime navigation (a notable feature is the inclusion of ocean depths).

Insets are provided at top-left and at bottom-right, respectively depicting the Aleutian Islands and Puerto Rico with the Lesser Antilles. The provinces of Canada and the states and territories of the U.S. and Mexico are indicated.

The map employs Lambert azimuthal equal area projection, with a point of tangency located near Bismarck, North Dakota, at roughly the mid-point of the continent. This projection is especially well-suited to the mapping of hemispheres and continents (as opposed to the entire globe).

Publication History and Census

This map was produced by Rand-McNally in or around the year 1949, number 'RB100' in the Ranally series of the company's political-physical maps. It is only cataloged among the holdings of the University of Denver and Syracuse University, and is scarce to the market.