Four Ways to Go: A Road Map to Super Prof

Pictorial celebration of some of America’s finest educators.

America’s teachers finally get the superhero treatment on this pictorial outline map of the United States, drawn by notable cartoonist Marie Severin and issued in the September, 1966 issue of Esquire magazine. According to a paragraph in the lower right, the thirty-three ‘super-profs’ depicted within the image were “okayed by college editors in the nation over.”

Additional advice encourages the reader to “start at either coast [in September], swing south for the winter, wind up cross-country by June. Try to look inconspicuous.” Numerous subjects and levels are represented among the crowd of university professors, each of whom is illustrated in a distinctly heroic style. Note the total absence of women or people of color, a stark reflection on the demographics of university educators in the 1960’s.

This particular example was originally issued as a gift to Dr. Charlton Tebeau at the University of Miami and includes the magazine logo and date pasted onto the lower left corner.