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1938 Griffith Advertising Agency Pictorial Map of St. Petersburg, Florida

StPetersburg-griffith-1938
$75.00
St. Petersburg Florida. Pleasure Map of St. Petersburg Florida. - Main View
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1938 Griffith Advertising Agency Pictorial Map of St. Petersburg, Florida

StPetersburg-griffith-1938

Encouraging tourists to visit St. Petersburg just before World War II.

Title


St. Petersburg Florida. Pleasure Map of St. Petersburg Florida.
  1938 (undated)     18 x 16 in (45.72 x 40.64 cm)     1 : 72000

Description


This is a c. 1938 Griffith Advertising Agency pictorial map of St. Petersburg, Florida. Vignette illustrations of people golfing and local birds and plants appear among the city's major roads. Piers, yacht basins, coast guard stations, bridges, parks, and lakes are labeled throughout. The whole is surrounded on three sides by photographs of tourists sunbathing, golfing, fishing, and generally enjoying St. Petersburg.
Verso Content
A detailed map of downtown St. Petersburg occupies nearly half the verso. Streets are labeled and the hospital, railroad stations, and parks are marked. Over forty locations throughout downtown 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 for the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce c. 1938.

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. Text and map of downtown St. Petersburg on verso.

References


OCLC 52061669.