1911 State Map Flower Company Lithograph of U.S. State Flowers

A striking 1911 chromolithographed map of the United States of America depicting the flowers of each state and territory. It was printed by the appropriately named United States Flower Map Co.

A Closer Look

The contemporary 46 states and the territories of Alaska (District), Arizona, and New Mexico are depicted along with their official flowers. For reasons that are unclear, Hawaii was not included. Many of these state flowers would subsequently change; for example, here Wyoming is represented by an evergreen, but the state adopted the Indian paintbrush as its state flower in 1917. Numbers within each state look to correspond to an index that appeared on a sheet or cover that originally accompanied the map.

Chromolithography

Chromolithography, sometimes called oleography, is a color lithographic technique developed in the mid-19th century. The process involved using multiple lithographic stones, one for each color, to yield a rich composite effect. Typically, the process would start with a black basecoat upon which subsequent colors were layered. Some chromolithographs used 30 or more separate lithographic stones to achieve the desired product. Chromolithograph color could also be effectively blended for even more dramatic results. The process became extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when it emerged as the dominant method of color printing. The vivid color of chromolithography made it exceptionally effective for advertising and propaganda imagery.

Publication History and Census

This map was produced by the United States Flower Map Co. based in Canby, Oregon. This map is not listed in the OCLC and is only cataloged by the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. It has only appeared on the market twice in recent years.