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Michigan Maps in the Detroit Evening News, 1873–1900
by
Le Roy Barnett
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In the late 1970s I worked on the Michigan volume of the Checklist of Printed Maps of the Middle West to 1900. The cartographic items included in that compilation were those issued as separate sheets and atlases or as illustrations in serials and monographs. As this undertaking progressed, I toyed with the idea of adding to the bibliography maps from Michigan newspapers. To determine how rich this source might be, I examined every issue of the Detroit Evening News prior to 1901, noting all Michigan maps that appeared on the pages of this daily publication. |
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Due to the expiration of the allotted time for the Checklist cataloging project, the results of this investigation were never incorporated into the final product as published by G. K. Hall in 1981. So that the information gathered is not lost to researchers, the maps that I found in the Detroit Evening News are listed in the following index. For example, the citation 3/22/84:6 means the map appeared on March 22, 1884, page 6. |
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This comprehensive review of Michigan maps in the Detroit Evening News yields more than just an inventory of cartographic holdings; it also provides clues about how researchers should proceed if they wish to find maps in some of our state's other major newspapers. |
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The first pointer is not to expect to find maps in the local press prior to 1870. Although the earliest map I have found in a Michigan newspaper is one showing the area affected by a fire in Detroit (Detroit Daily Advertiser, May 12, 1848, and Detroit Free Press, May 15, 1848), these depictions are unusual for that time period. Not until the post-Civil-War era did maps begin to appear with any regularity in Michigan's principal urban newspapers. Of course, the closer one gets to the present, the more often a map will be found in the local press. |
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The second lesson I learned from this undertaking is the possibly seasonal pattern of maps in newspapers. Using the Detroit Evening News as an example, we find that only 15 percent of all maps are published in the fourth quarter of the year, with 20 percent appearing in the first quarter and 32 percent each in the second and third quarters. The most popular months for cartography are May and August (each with 13 percent of the total) with the least popular month for maps being December (just 4 percent of the annual total). |
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The third lesson I gained from this study is that most newspaper maps appear on Sunday (31 percent). This is not surprising because the Sunday edition tends to be the largest issue of the week and is also the one that employs graphics most liberally. The next most common days for cartography are, in descending order, Saturday (17 percent), Wednesday (13 percent), Friday (12 percent), Monday and Thursday (each 10 percent), and Tuesday (7 percent). Clearly, those seeking maps in Michigan daily newspapers would do well to devote their attention to the weekend offerings. |
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The last lesson gleaned from my inquiry is the nature of the subjects portrayed. Not unexpectedly, most of the maps in the Detroit Evening News relate to the "City of the Straits." Beyond the obvious, however, there are a few surprises. For example, more than one-third of the maps (36 percent) deal in some way with land or property. These cartographic expressions often show embryonic residential areas that are for sale to the general public. After plats and similar representations, transportation is a popular topic with nearly 20 percent of the maps relating to this theme. |
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