General Drafting
Encyclopedia
General Drafting Corporation of Convent Station, New Jersey
, founded by Otto G. Lindberg, was one of the "Big Three" road map publishers from 1930 to 1970, along with H.M. Gousha
and Rand McNally
. Unlike the other two, General Drafting did not sell its maps to a variety of smaller customers, but was the exclusive publisher of maps for Standard Oil of New Jersey, later Esso
and Exxon
.
When oil companies stopped providing free maps, General Drafting tried to expand into retail map production, and continued to make maps for Exxon to sell; but its fortunes declined, and in 1992 it was purchased by Langenscheidt
and absorbed into the American Map Company; its state maps became the "Travelvision" lineup for that company.
Convent Station, New Jersey
Convent Station is an unincorporated area within Morris Township, Morris County, New Jersey, east of Morristown.-History:The community is named after, and contains, the railroad station established during the 1870s to serve the complex of the Academy of Saint Elizabeth, a Catholic school operated...
, founded by Otto G. Lindberg, was one of the "Big Three" road map publishers from 1930 to 1970, along with H.M. Gousha
Gousha
The H.M. Gousha Company was one of the "Big Three" major producers of road maps and atlases in the United States during the 25 years following World War II, making maps for free distribution by Oil Companies and auto clubs...
and Rand McNally
Rand McNally
Rand McNally is an American publisher of maps, atlases, textbooks, and globes for travel, reference, commercial, and educational uses. It also provides online consumer street maps and directions, as well as commercial transportation routing software and mileage data...
. Unlike the other two, General Drafting did not sell its maps to a variety of smaller customers, but was the exclusive publisher of maps for Standard Oil of New Jersey, later Esso
Esso
Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
and Exxon
Exxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
.
When oil companies stopped providing free maps, General Drafting tried to expand into retail map production, and continued to make maps for Exxon to sell; but its fortunes declined, and in 1992 it was purchased by Langenscheidt
Langenscheidt
Langenscheidt is a privately held German publishing company, specialising in language resource literature. As well as producing monolingual dictionaries, Langenscheidt also produces bilingual dictionaries and travel phrase-books, as well as maps and atlases....
and absorbed into the American Map Company; its state maps became the "Travelvision" lineup for that company.