1930 Richman Brother Co. Official Road Map of Wisconsin
DESCRIPTION
A wonderful piece of Depression era advertising, this large 1930 road map of Wisconsin combines the rapidly expanding world of automobile travel with the decidedly stylish promotion of Richman Brothers' $22.50 men's suits.
Prepared by the H. M. Gousha Company, the map presents Wisconsin's highway network in considerable detail, with routes extending into Chicago, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and neighboring portions of Minnesota and Iowa. Cities containing Richman Brothers stores are prominently marked, turning a practical road map into a guide to the company's growing Midwestern retail network. Richman Brothers was then a major Cleveland based clothing manufacturer and retailer known for selling directly from its factories and eliminating the “middleman's profit.”
Motoring and Menswear in the 1930s
The surrounding advertising is nearly as interesting as the map. Richman Brothers announces 54 stores in 50 cities, with individual locations listed along both sides and an illustration of its enormous Cleveland factory at upper right. The reverse becomes a miniature menswear catalog, illustrating suits, tuxedos and topcoats alongside an explanation of how the company could sell its clothing for a uniform $22.50. Richman was already distributing road maps as promotional material by 1928, and the company continued the series into the early 1930s; a bibliographic study specifically records a Richman Brothers official road map issued by Rand McNally in 1931.
Published just months after the 1929 stock market crash, the map captures an interesting intersection of two increasingly important parts of American consumer culture: affordable ready made clothing and automobile tourism. Its combination of a highly detailed Gousha road map, bold two color advertising, extensive store directory, and full illustrated fashion catalog on the reverse makes it considerably more engaging than the typical service station road map of the period.
CONDITION
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