Cuba October 1906: The Granddaddy of National Geographic Map Indexes

[George Thomas Wilson]

Cuba October 1906: The Granddaddy of National Geographic Map Indexes

In my many posts to the group I have continued to return to one of my favorite topics, that of the map index. Besides the “standard” map index booklets for Supplement and Non-Supplement maps, I’ve also touched on other, multi-map indexes such as the one for the Atlas Series and for the Close-Up U.S.A. set. There is a third type of map index I have so far not discussed: one with the index printed on the map itself.

On page 46 of his book Collectibles of the National Geographic Society, Roger Nathan documents three such maps as part of the U.S. Atlas Series: “The U.S. Atlas Series was started in July 1964 with the publication of the Greater New York/Tourist Manhattan map. In December 1964 the Tourist Washington/Suburban Washington map was issued. The third and final map in the series is Northern California/Southern California which was issued in May 1966.”

Besides these three there was one other map printed with an index included. It predates the first map index booklet, the May 1918 Western Theater of War by over a decade. I am referring to the October 1906 map of Cuba. The index for this map is printed on the back.

Notice the map’s Letter (latitude)/Number (longitude) grid that is used in the index below to assist in locating the various points of interest.

Notes: The map image is courtesy of Philip Riviere from his postings of map and supplement images. The scan of the index is only a partial. The full index is too large for my scanner.

Yours in Collecting,

Tom Wilson