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1947 Griffith Advertising Pictorial Tourist Map of St. Petersburg, Florida
PleasureMapStPetersburg-griffith-1947$87.50
Title
St. Petersburg, Florida. / St. Petersburg Florida Pleasure Map.
1947 (dated) 17.5 x 11.75 in (44.45 x 29.845 cm) 1 : 75000
1947 (dated) 17.5 x 11.75 in (44.45 x 29.845 cm) 1 : 75000
Description
This is a 1947 Griffith Advertising Agency pictorial tourist map of St. Petersburg, Florida. The 'pleasure map', a unique Florida genre, was produced to promote the region as an escape from winter.
A Closer Look
Coverage embraces St. Petersburg and its immediate environs, including Long Key and part of Pine Key. Labeled locations throughout include mini-illustrations, such as several schools, hospitals, and golf courses, along with the Florida Military Academy and the Sky Harbor Airport. Other illustrations of sunbathers frolicing on the beach, fishing, and boating complete the image of a 'pleasure map'.Verso Content
A map of downtown St. Petersburg occupies half the verso. Street, lakes, parks, railroad stations, and the spring training grounds of the New York Yankees are labeled. Forty-six locations are numerically identified and correspond with an index along the bottom border.Publication History and Census
This map was created and published by the Griffith Advertising Agency in 1947. We note at least two previous editions of a 'Pleasure Map of St. Petersburg' published by the Griffith Advertising Agency, c. 1937. The 1937 map is significantly different, making it difficult to refer to it as an edition of the same map (c.f. Geographicus: PleasureMapStPetersburg-griffith-1937). The Griffith Advertising Agency published at least two subsequent editions: one in 1948 and the other in 1950. Both the 1948 and 1950 editions are nearly identical, except the stippling along the coastline to illustrate shallow water is changed in each edition, progressively making the text more legible. This is the only confirmed example of the 1947 edition.Cartographer
Thomas Morris Griffith (November 4, 1895 - September 23, 1954) was an American advertising executive best. Remembered for creating St. Petersburg's mascot 'Mr. Sunshine'. Born in Montpelier, Ohio, Griffith graduated from Hillsdale College in Michigan and received a Master's degree from the University of Michigan in 1918. He served in the Navy during World War I and found a job in Detroit, Michigan working for an advertising agency after the war. Griffith worked for this ad agency for three years before deciding to open his own firm. In 1924, Griffith closed his agency in Detroit and moved his family to St. Petersburg, Florida, where his parents lived. He found a job with the C.C. Carr Advertising Agency soon after arriving in Florida. Griffith took over the C.C. Carr firm in 1930 and renamed it the Griffith Advertising Agency. Griffith's firm survived the Great Depression and then weathered World War II. Before World War II, Griffith had focused almost entirely on travel accounts, but diversified during the war to include commercial and industrial accounts. Griffith merged his firm with the Tampa-based R.E. McCarthy Advertising Agency in 1950 and was renamed Griffith-McCarthy Inc. Griffith-McCarthy grew into one of Florida's largest advertising agencies and had more than 100 clients at the time of Griffith's death in 1954. The partnership between Griffith and McCarthy ended after Thomas Griffith's death and Griffith's sons, Donald and. Joe Griffith, took over the firm. Donald and Joe continued to run the firm until 1968 when Joe Griffith left the firm and became the general manager of a dental chair manufacturing firm in St. Petersburg. W.M. Zemp and Associates bought the advertising firm in 1969 and Donald Griffith, who was the president of the Griffith Advertising Agency at the time of the sale, joined the Zemp staff. More by this mapmaker...
Condition
Very good. Light wear along original fold lines. Map of downtown St. Petersburg on verso.