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1927 Thrasher Thematic Map of Chicago's Gangland During the Roaring Twenties
ChicagosGangland-thrasher-1927$375.00
Title
Chicago's Gangland.
1927 (undated) 26 x 18 in (66.04 x 45.72 cm) 1 : 85000
1927 (undated) 26 x 18 in (66.04 x 45.72 cm) 1 : 85000
Description
This is a 1927 Frederic Milton Thrasher map of Chicago tracing the distribution of gangs throughout the city. The map depicts the city from Austin Avenue to Lake Michigan and from Bryn Mawr Avenue to 95th Street. Created for his magnum opus, The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago, Thrasher is focused here on street gangs, those groups of kids that graduated from the playground to roaming the streets, a la West Side Story. Chicago's streets, parks, and industrial and railroad property are printed in gray, which establishes the territory where the gang operate. Thrasher also notes particular ethnic, racial, and religious concentrations throughout the city, such as Polish, Lithuanian, Jewish, and Bohemian. Gang territories are overlaid in red, using different symbols for gangs both with and without 'clubrooms'.
Thrasher notes different neighborhoods within Chicago, including 'Little Sicily', the 'Rooming House District', and 'Little Pilsen'. Major gangs, such as the Dukies and the Shielders, are referenced in several places around Chicago, while smaller gangs, like the 'Jews from Twelfth Street' are only labeled in one place. Other notations reference 'R.R. Thieving Gangs' or 'Coal Stealing', which seem to refer to gang activities instead of one specific gang.
This map was created by Frederic Milton Thrasher for his book The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago and published in 1927.
Thrasher notes different neighborhoods within Chicago, including 'Little Sicily', the 'Rooming House District', and 'Little Pilsen'. Major gangs, such as the Dukies and the Shielders, are referenced in several places around Chicago, while smaller gangs, like the 'Jews from Twelfth Street' are only labeled in one place. Other notations reference 'R.R. Thieving Gangs' or 'Coal Stealing', which seem to refer to gang activities instead of one specific gang.
This map was created by Frederic Milton Thrasher for his book The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago and published in 1927.
Cartographer
Frederic Milton Thrasher (1892 - March 24, 1962) was an American sociologist. Birb ub Shelbyville, Indiana, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in social psychology from DePauw University in 1916. He then completed a M.A. and a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, completing the latter in 1926. Thrasher's magnum opus The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago, which was based on his doctoral dissertation, was published in 1927. Robert E. Park served as his advisor while Thrasher studied at the University of Chicago, and the success of The Gang made him one of the most prominent members of the Chicago School of Sociology in the 1920s. In 1927, Thrasher accepted a teaching position at the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University in New York City. While at NYU, Thrasher began a media studies program and focused his research on the effects of motion pictures on children. Thrasher held the position of Professor of Educational Sociology at NYU until he retired in 1959. More by this mapmaker...
Source
Thrasher, F., The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago. (Chicago: U. of Chicago Press) 1927.
Condition
Very good. Wear along original fold lines. Verso repairs to fold separations and at fold intersections. Blank on verso.