[Scrapbook of Travel Postcards from the United States and Canada]

America, from coast to coast, during the Roaring 20s.

This incredible collection of postcards and photographs was compiled in the early 1920s by John G. Brink, a cartographer for the Rand McNally Company. The contents reflect Brink’s personal travels across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as the majority of the cards are signed and dated on the verso. An amazing variety of 20th-century imagery is represented, ranging from dense urban environments to gorgeous natural landscapes. A large mix of Real Photo and White Border postcards, originally from the 1910s and early 20s, are affixed to the scrapbook pages (generally 4/sheet). They are roughly organized by place, with each stop reflected in numerous examples.

Bustling downtowns, bird’s eye views, geographic features, influential architecture, and scenic vistas are all included. Notable examples include include Libby Prison, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Glacier National Park, Future New York (featuring whimsical flying machines), Gathering Rosin Gum for Turpentine in Florida, Niagara Falls (several examples), Yellowstone National Park, the Great Texas Oil Fire at Humble, Map of Cripple Creek, the birthplace of Lincoln, several scenes of African-Americans, and Happy Crowds of Fishers on the Jetties at Pablo Beach. Over a dozen pages of photographs are also included (signed and dated on the verso). The content varies and generally features the aforementioned cities, but also includes several images of Brink and remote areas like Kearney, Nebraska, Echo, Utah, and numerous spots along the Columbia River Highway.

John G. Brink began his career at Rand McNally as a contract draftsman in the early 1910s. In 1917, he won a company-wide contest for ingeniously introducing the idea of numbered highways for more useful road maps, a growing part of the firm’s business. This earned him the internal moniker of the ‘Father of the Road Map’, even as his proposed methodology was nationally introduced (in a somewhat different format) only a few years later.

Brink also helped encourage the introduction of pictorial vignettes into Rand McNally road maps in order to differentiate their products from competitors. He created scores of pictorial maps during a career at Rand McNally that spanned over 3 decades. Despite his tangible impact on the cartography of the 20th century, Brink’s legacy is largely unknown, due in large part to his name failing to appear on any of his maps (the copyright was held by the company). As described by Kara Swanson in a book review on employee innovation, “The author, just like the inventor, had been subsumed within the corporation.” (Source).

The scrapbook was acquired directly from John’s descendants in the Chicago area.