Rand McNally

Encyclopedia : R : RA : RAN : Rand McNally

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Rand McNally is a publisher of maps, globes, and atlases, currently based in Skokie, Illinois. The company was formed in 1856 in Chicago by William H. Rand, to print tickets and timetables for Chicago's railroad companies. In 1864, Rand partnered with Andrew McNally to oversee printing of the Chicago Tribune. Their first geography-based product was the Western Railway Guide published in 1869.

During the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Rand saved the company by burying two printing machines under sand. The company opened a map department in 1872 and soon became, and has remained, the preeminent publisher of commercial maps in the United States. By 1880, they began printing maps and globes for schools.

They also published several best-selling literary works, including the Real Mother Goose (1917) and Kon-Tiki (1950).

In 1999, they acquired Thomas Bros. Maps, the prominent mapmaker in Southern California founded in 1915, and best known for the encyclopedic Thomas Guide. Thomas Bros. remains a division of Rand McNally.

Products

• Road/Street/City Maps

Rand McNally's Street Guides/Thomas Guides, fold maps, and EasyFinders currently cover all of the United States and most of Canada. Street-level detail maps and map books (called Street Guides/Thomas Guides, published by Rand McNally & Company) are available for many major cities and metro regions. EasyFinder laminated folding maps are available for all states and most cities as well. Maps also contain comprehensive indexes with population information, travel information, points of interest, travel tips, state/region/city info and much more.

• Road Atlases

Rand McNally's famous Road Atlas has been published annually since 1924. This perennial bestseller covers the United States, Canada and Mexico. Road atlases for truckers are also available as well as pocket atlases and large print versions.

• World Maps/Atlases

Rand McNally has a large line of maps and atlases covering the world.

• Globes

The globes in many U.S. classrooms are made by Rand McNally.

• Software

Tripmaker and StreetFinder mapping software and electronic navigational tools like Mobile Travel Tools and IntelliRoute, and Rand McNally Street Guide/Thomas Guide Interactive CD.

• For Children

Children's maps, atlases and reference books of the US and the world.

Humor and trivia

The company has always been named "Rand McNally," but it has been jocularly referred to as "Rand and McNally," as in the opening to O. Henry's story, A Municipal Report:

...it is a rash one who will lay his finger on the map and say: “In this town there can be no romance—what could happen here?” Yes, it is a bold and a rash deed to challenge in one sentence history, romance, and Rand and McNally.

In an episode of The Simpsons, Bart vs. Australia, the Rand McNally'' logo on the globe was mistaken by Bart for a continent named Rand McNally: "In fact, in Rand McNally, they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people." - Lisa Simpson

In an episode of ALF, Willie finds a map in Alf's spaceship, entitled "Rand McNally Map to Space".

The Jason Mraz album Live at Java Joe's contains a song called "Dream Life Of Rand McNally".

See also

• Maps of the United States

External links

• [Rand McNally]
• [Thomas Bros. Maps]
• Online digitized versions of Rand, McNally & Co's 1879 [Business Atlas] and 1897 [Indexed Atlas of the World] at [DavidRumsey.com]. Other Rand McNally maps can be found using the search tools.

References

"Mapping A Life's Journey: The Legacy of Andrew McNally III" by [Janice A. Petterchak], privately printed by Rand McNally, 1995. Library of Congress 95-068047

 

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