George Cram

George Franklin Cram was an American cartographer and map publisher, best remembered for producing some of the most widely distributed atlases and maps in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Born in 1842, he served in the Union Army during the Civil War, rising to the rank of first sergeant in Company F, 105th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, where he remained until the close of the conflict in 1865. That same year he married Martha A. Hiatt, with whom he had three daughters.

In 1867, after leaving military service, Cram joined the map business of his uncle Rufus Blanchard in Evanston, Illinois. By 1869, he had assumed full ownership and renamed it the George F. Cram Company, which soon became a prominent name in American map publishing. Among his most successful publications was The Standard Atlas of the United States, later retitled the Unrivaled Family Atlas, which appeared in dozens of editions across many decades. His firm was also among the first American publishers to issue a world atlas, making geography more accessible to the general public.

Cram’s company played a key role in popularizing cerography (wax engraving), a printing process where maps were etched in wax and electroplated to form durable metal plates. This allowed for large, inexpensive print runs, dramatically reducing costs and enabling middle-class households to own detailed maps and atlases.

George F. Cram remained active in publishing until the early twentieth century. He died in Spokane, Washington, on May 24, 1928, at the age of 86. His atlases remain an important part of American cartographic history, reflecting both the expansion of U.S. territory and the democratization of map ownership.