1941 Hammond Pictorial Map of United States Defense Mobilization pre WWII

Features a visually arresting border highlighting American air, land, and sea power to be used in the coming war.

This is a c. 1941 C. S. Hammond and Company pictorial map of the United States highlighting the military and economic resources available on the brink of World War II. Blue-colored cogs highlight industrial areas around the country to illustrate the manufacturing might that could be brought to bear. Other defense industries are marked on the map by icons, including shipyards, factories for making planes, airplane engines, munitions, tanks, guns, steel, and aluminum. Army and navy bases are identified as well, as are army and navy airfields.

The Pictorial Border - A Show of Military Force

It is the pictorial border, however, that immediately draws the viewer's attention. The air, land, and sea forces of the United States military are put on full display, creating a forceful image that undoubtedly counts as propaganda and shouts 'support the military'. Cutting edge aircraft, such as the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Grumman F4F Wildcat, and Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, are prominently illustrated along the map's top border. Tanks, artillery guns, howitzers, and supply trucks along the map's two sides represent ground forces.

The Navy

Perhaps the most incredible part of this piece (with the benefit of hindsight of course) is the placement of the battleship front and center along the bottom border. The legendary naval engagements fought between the United States and Japan had not yet occurred, and naval strategists believed that the battleship, not the aircraft carrier, would be the key element to success on the world's oceans. An aircraft carrier appears to the right of the battleship, complete with its aircraft on the flight deck. A heavy cruiser steams to the battleship's left, surrounded by torpedo boats, light cruisers, destroyers, and submarines.

Insignia

Illustrations of American Army and Navy insignia frame the entire piece, with army insignia on the left and navy insignia on the right. Army insignia of rank, from general to private first class, are situated at the top left, while insignia of 'arms and services', such as the infantry, ordnance department, signal corps, and medical corps, are on the bottom left. Naval insignia of rank are just opposite, on the top right, while naval specialty marks, such as sharpshooter, bugler, machinist's mate, and cook, are on the bottom right. A sample of Army and Navy Air Corps insignia are included along the top, while the insignia of army headquarters, field armies, army corps, and army divisions are along the bottom.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by C.S. Hammond and Company and published c. 1941. The OCLC catalogues examples of this map as being part of fourteen institutional collections, but it is scarce on the private market.

Cartographer

Caleb Stillson Hammond (November 27, 1862 - December 14, 1929) was an American map publisher and printing entrepreneur active in New York City during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the founder of C. S. Hammond and Company. Born in Rush, New York, he gained experience in the map trade as a sales representative for Rand McNally before establishing his own publishing concern in Brooklyn in 1900 and incorporating it in 1901. Early cartographic publications included folded maps of Panama and of Florida's steamship routes and railroad connections, both issued in 1903, followed by Hammond's Atlas of New York City and the Metropolitan District in 1907. These publications established two enduring branches of the business: maps of places attracting public attention and commissioned cartography for commercial customers. The firm developed an extensive range of world, historical, school, and thematic atlases, as well as separate maps and globes, and supplied cartographic material for other publishers' encyclopedias, dictionaries, religious works, and textbooks. Its metropolitan mapping included street and transit maps, freight-delivery maps, and maps of railroad terminal facilities. Hammond died in New York City on December 14, 1929; the business continued under family ownership and relocated to Maplewood, New Jersey, in the early 1950s. His grandson, Caleb D. Hammond, Jr. (1915 - 2006), became president in 1948. The company's assets were acquired by Langenscheidt Publishers in 1999, and in December 2002, the American Map Corporation, part of the Langenscheidt Publishing Group, donated the Hammond archives to the Library of Congress.   Further Details...

Condition

Good condition. Exhibits wear along original fold lines, especially at fold intersection, where there are some verso reinforcements. Exhibits some toning.

References

Curtis, P. and J. Pedersen, War Map p. 132-33. Rumsey 8840.000. OCLC 66898853.