auto chum

As I've mentioned before, I like old road maps (40s, 50s, 60s) and often make work inspired by their images and earnestness. Today is the 92nd anniversary of Rand McNally's first road atlas, their Auto Chum. The freedom and mobility offered by the automobile! The 'oil-company cartography'! The 'petrol propaganda'! I know- the car-culture insanity- but, the pictures and graphics are incredible. I'm looking at their road atlas cover retrospective, and surprised again that elements like graphic design and typefaces alone can trigger such imagined or actual nostalgia. I remember the sun-faded covers of '80s and '90s Road Atlases on the floor of the backseat, beneath my swinging feet. All I knew was that it took forever to get there.