Description
Globes coated with slating material have been produced from the mid 19th century on as educational aids for the study of geography, so students could practice drawing maps in chalk on the surface.
This example has flying data printed on the horizon: “Estimated Jet Airliner Cruising Speed 600 Miles per Hour. Estimated Propeller Airliner Cruising Speed 300 Miles per Hour.” This data was probably included to incorporate aviation and travel themes which were popular interests reflected in globe manufacture in the mid 20th Century. Perhaps this data was also included as a way to include mathematical calculations into lessons.
In the last decades of the 19th century, Chicago became the leading center for commercial cartographic publishing in the United States. As the hub of the expanding American railroad system, it was logical for Chicago publishers to incorporate the latest railway routes into a complex mapping of America. The production of terrestrial and celestial globes also proliferated in Chicago.
The George F. Cram Company, originally a producer of maps and atlases in the 19th century, emerged in the 20th century as one of the leading American globe makers. The company was founded by George Franklin Cram (May 20, 1842 – March 24, 1928). The George F. Cram Company continued even after George F. Cram sold his interest upon retirement in 1920 to the National Map Company (successor to the Scarborough Company of mapmakers in Boston). According to George F. Cram Company records, globe manufacturing began about 1932 to 1934, and in January 1936, the Company moved to 730 East Washington Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. The firm still remains active as a globe and map publisher today.
Makers name on horizon: The George F. Cram Co., Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Parents Magazine Tag: Commended/ By The/ Consumer/ Service Bureau/ of / Parents’/ Magazine/ As Advertised Therein/ Ptd in U.S.A.
Reference:
Dahl, Edward H. and Gauvin, Jean-François. Sphaerae Mundi: Early Globes at the Stewart Museum. Canada: Septentrion, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2000
