The H.M. Gousha Company was one of the "Big Three" major producers of

road map A road map, route map, or street map is a map that primarily displays roads and transport links rather than natural geographical information. It is a type of navigational map that commonly includes political boundaries and labels, making it a ...

s and

atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

es in the United States during the 25 years following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, making maps for free distribution by

oil companies The following is a list of notable companies in the petroleum industry that are engaged in petroleum exploration and production. The list is in alphabetical order by continent and then by country. This list does not include companies only involved ...

and

auto club A car club or automotive enthusiast community is a group of people who share a common interest in motor vehicles. Car clubs are typically organized by enthusiasts around the type of vehicle (e.g. Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang), brand (e.g. ...

s. Following the end of the free-road-map era, Gousha distributed maps through retailers, and published a number of travel guides and other travel-related books. Brands under the Gousha imprint from the 1970s onward included Chek-Chart and Fastmap, one of the first lines of laminate-encapsulated maps.

History

Harry Mathias Gousha, a sales executive for

Rand McNally Rand McNally is an American technology and publishing company that provides mapping, software and hardware for consumer electronics, commercial transportation and education markets. The company is headquartered in Chicago, with a distribution c ...

, left that company in 1926 to start his own map company out of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, quickly becoming Rand McNally's chief competitor by offering the Touraide: a spiral-bound book with road maps, points of interest, and accommodations that was custom assembled for individual buyers. In 1947, the company moved its headquarters to 2001 The Alameda in San Jose,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. H.M. Gousha Map Company was acquired by the Times Mirror Company in 1961, and then

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

in 1987. In Gousha's later years, the company operated out of Comfort TX. Analog maps (large plate, hand etched negatives) and digital maps were produced out of this office. Predominantly, road maps were being produced with a catalog containing the major cities throughout the US. Hundreds, if not thousands, of sources were studied to continually improve and update the cartographic library for veracity of information and viability of sales. Maps could be found in major bookstores, gas stations, and under other companies imprint. Finally, the company was purchased by Rand McNally in 1996; by then,

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

had become the parent of Simon & Schuster. Its production facility in Texas was closed and virtually all workers laid off. The Gousha artwork became part of the Rand McNally archive, and much of the company's archives were turned over to the

Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities and located on Washington Square in Chicago, Illinois. It has been free and open to the public since 1887. Its collections encompass a variety of topics rela ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Collection of Gousha Maps
– Chicago

Defunct mass media companies of the United States Publishing companies established in 1926 Map companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Chicago Companies based in San Jose, California Defunct companies based in Illinois Defunct companies based in California Former Viacom subsidiaries Design companies established in 1926 1926 establishments in Illinois Publishing companies disestablished in 1996 1996 disestablishments in California