1936 Standard Oil Mickey Mouse / Donald Duck Pictorial Map of the United States

This is a 1939 Walt Disney and Standard Oil Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck pictorial game board map of the United States, created for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. Mickey and Donald race across the United States towards the Expo. Mickey begins in New York and Donald starts in Miami, each stopping to visit sites. Illustrations of Mickey or Donald appear in each state. In Michigan, for example, Mickey drives a car out of a factory, picks corn in Iowa, and harvests potatoes in Idaho. Donald eyes fresh peaches in Georgia, swims in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, harvests wheat in Kansas, and visits the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

'Cut-Outs'!

Spaces for thirty-six 'cut-outs' frame the map and chronicle Mickey and Donald's race across the country. The map's original owner managed to collect 24 of the cut-outs, allowing us to follow both Mickey and Donald through part of their trip. Each cut-out features a color illustration of either Mickey or Donald and a short description. The cut-outs were sourced from issues of Travel Tykes Weekly, a children's magazine provided free at Standard Oil Gas Stations. While this map was meant for kids, it and the short texts in the Travel Tykes Weekly, reinforced Mickey and Donald as iconic cartoon characters. Additionally, the map and others like it contributed to and reinforced the national culture of automotive exploration and engendered wonder at the beauty and diversity of the United States.

Verso Content

A story in rhyming verse about Mickey, Donald, and Donald's nephews at the International Exposition occupies most of the verso. Illustrations of fair attractions, including the Tower of the Sun, appear as well.

The Golden Gate International Exposition

The Golden Gate International Exposition was a 'World's Fair' held to celebrate the two new bridges of San Francisco - The San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. It ran from February 18, 1939, through October 29, 1939, and from May 25, 1940, through September 29, 1940. The Exposition featured, among other attractions, Tower of the Sun and a giant statue of 'Pacifica,' the goddess of the Pacific Ocean, highlighting the exposition theme, 'Pageant of the Pacific.' During the radio broadcast of the opening ceremony, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said:

Washington is remote from the Pacific. San Francisco stands at the doorway to the sea that roars upon the shores of all these nations, and so to the Golden Gate International Exposition, I gladly entrust a solemn duty. May this, America's World's Fair on the Pacific in 1939, truly serve all nations in symbolizing their destinies, one with every other, through the ages to come.

Treasure Island, an artificial island constructed specially for the Exposition, was intended to be a municipal airport, but instead was turned into a naval base during World War II. It remained Naval Station Treasure Island until 1997.

Publication History and Census

This map was created and copyrighted by Walt Disney Productions in 1939 and for the Standard Oil Company of California. We note four cataloged examples: Yale University, the University of Wyoming, the California Historical Society, and the David Rumsey Map Collection.