1935 Yardley Satirical Pictorial Map of U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland

Unrecorded Pictorial Map of the U.S. Naval Academy and Annapolis.

This is a rare c. 1932 hand-colored Peggy and Richard Q. Yardley pictorial map of Annapolis, Maryland, with a focus on the U.S. Naval Academy. It celebrates the history and character of both the institution and the city in humorous fashion.

A Closer Look

Coverage ranges from Church Circle at left to the Severn River at right, taking in the U.S. Naval Academy and the historic core of Annapolis. Major roads are labeled, and important landmarks, such as the Maryland State House and St. John's College, in addition to the Naval Academy, are illustrated. Illustrations throughout refer to local traditions, residents, and characteristics. References are also made to local history, including the Revolutionary War. As with other Yardley pictorial maps, several of the depictions are highly politically incorrect by today's standards.

Historical Context

Established on October 10, 1845, by Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft, the U.S. Naval Academy originally opened as the 'Naval School' on a 10-acre army post named Fort Severn in Annapolis, Maryland. Designed to replace an informal apprenticeship system in which midshipmen learned strictly at sea, the institution combined standard classroom instruction with practical naval training. During the American Civil War, the academy temporarily relocated to Newport, Rhode Island, to safeguard midshipmen from potential conflict in border-state Maryland before returning permanently to its Severn River location.

The turn of the 20th century transformed the academy's footprint with a Beaux-Arts architectural redesign led by Ernest Flagg, featuring landmark structures like Bancroft Hall (seen here towards the bottom-right), one of the largest academic dormitories in the world. As military technology advanced throughout the 20th century, the curriculum expanded from basic seamanship to advanced engineering, cyber operations, and aerospace sciences. A major milestone occurred in 1976 when the academy admitted its first class of female midshipmen. Today, the institution educates over 4,000 midshipmen and commissions roughly 1,000 ensigns and second lieutenants annually into the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.

Publication History and Census

This map was produced by Peggy and Richard Q. Yardley around the year 1932. It was the earlier of two maps of Annapolis by Yardley, the other titled 'Being a Map Showing the More Colonial and Nautical Features of Annapolis on the Occasion of the Visit of the Garden Club of America' (previously sold by us as Annapolis-yardley-1940). The present map is unrecorded in institutional collections and was likely produced in a very small run.

Cartographer

Richard Quincy Yardley (March 11, 1903 - November 24, 1979), known euphemistically as 'Moco,' was an American cartoonist based in Baltimore. Yardley worked as a cartoonist for the Baltimore Sun from 1923. In 1949 he became the editorial cartoonist for the Baltimore Sun, a position he held for roughly 20 years. He also produced cartoons for The Saturday Evening Post, The New Yorker and the Reporter. His syndicated daily comic, Our Ancestors, was published from 1961 to 1965. His work exhibited a humorous satirical style drawing on local personalities and historical events. One writer, Charles Bissell, described his work thus,

His style, which might be described as early Ming, middle comic strip, late Picasso, and all Yardley—or perhaps better some other way-is not suitable for editorial cartoons. To begin with, it's not serious. We all know how you've got to be mighty serious about lots of things-atom bombs, for instance. You couldn't put over something big and profound by drawing a couple of nudeniks with four heads, a little banjo-eyed character in a beret and maybe a cat, all caught up in some sort of symbolical astral soup and expect to scare daylights out of your readers. Well, no, you couldn't—but Yardley can. (AAEC News, April 1964)

He issued several satirical cartoon maps, including a map of Herr Hitler's Heaven, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, and Annapolis. Yardley was a member of the National Cartoonists Society, the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists and the National Press Club. He retired in 1972.   Further Details...

Condition

Average. Laid down and stabilized on archival tissue. Several chips reattached with minor fill here and there.