Have I ever mentioned that I have a collection of vintage* maps of the City of Roses? Because I totally do.
Also, of the Beaver State.
...as well as, to a much lesser extent, pretty much anyplace else.
Mrs.5000, who is awesome, even made me a special map box a few years back.
It has all sorts of little map-appropriate pockets and compartments inside. Because Mrs.5000 is awesome!
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*"Vintage," at least when I'm using it, means "too old to be useful and not old enough to be valuable." I'm not really a fan of collecting things for the sake of their cash value, or that I need to worry about, and indeed if I suspected that anything in my map box was worth fifteen bucks I'd have it on Ebay in a heartbeat. I don't care about what condition they're in, either. I just like lookin' at them.
Acquisition: The newest addition to the collection is the 1956 Tidewater Oil Company OREGON-IDAHO MONTANA Road Map which I bought for a cool U.S. dollar while tagging along with a recent expedition to an antique shop.
This is awesome because, one, I've never even heard of the Tidewater Oil Company, and two, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana? What a weird group of states to lump on a single map! (Whereas Oregon and Washington, which both fill the same size rectangle at the same scale, are a common pairing.)
BeaverStaters of today can see lots of changes in a 54 year old map, on which Gresham, Tigard, and Beaverton are distinct towns a ways outside of Portland's built-up area. Hillsboro and Forest Grove don't even look like satellite towns. And although I suspect there are many Portlanders today who have never gone to Salem by any route except I-5, here is evidence of a world where the freeway was only a plan on the drawing board.
Idaho and Montana get relatively short shrift from Tidewater Oil, wedged in at a coarse scale along with maps of the Mt. Hood Scenic Highway and Crater Lake. Indeed, Crater Lake National Park -- which features, as you may know, a lake in a crater -- gets almost as much space on the page as the Gem State.
Awesomeness.
This is awesome because, one, I've never even heard of the Tidewater Oil Company, and two, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana? What a weird group of states to lump on a single map! (Whereas Oregon and Washington, which both fill the same size rectangle at the same scale, are a common pairing.)BeaverStaters of today can see lots of changes in a 54 year old map, on which Gresham, Tigard, and Beaverton are distinct towns a ways outside of Portland's built-up area. Hillsboro and Forest Grove don't even look like satellite towns. And although I suspect there are many Portlanders today who have never gone to Salem by any route except I-5, here is evidence of a world where the freeway was only a plan on the drawing board.
Idaho and Montana get relatively short shrift from Tidewater Oil, wedged in at a coarse scale along with maps of the Mt. Hood Scenic Highway and Crater Lake. Indeed, Crater Lake National Park -- which features, as you may know, a lake in a crater -- gets almost as much space on the page as the Gem State.
Awesomeness.
I'm not surprised in the least that you have a vintage map collection and a lovely box to keep them in. In fact, I would be surprised if you DIDN'T.
ReplyDeleteI don't care about what condition they're in, either. I just like lookin' at them.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is one of the reasons that you can be my friend. I have a bunch of old, expired aviation charts, just because it's very cool to see what the airspace used to look like.