Vintage Map of University of Chicago, 1932

Hutchins-era Chicago, rendered in 1932 as the Great Books curriculum was being built. The Gothic quad at its most self-consciously serious.

The University of Chicago was founded in 1890 with a gift from John D. Rockefeller, and by 1932 — the date of this map — it was under Robert Maynard Hutchins, the 30-year-old president who would build the Common Core and the Great Books program. The campus on the map is Henry Ives Cobb's Collegiate Gothic quadrangle, laid out to echo Oxford and Cambridge, already the physical symbol of the university's intellectual ambition. Harper Memorial Library, Rockefeller Chapel, the main quad — all visible.

A Chicago map in a faculty office is rarely decorative. It signals something.

DETAILS
- Source map: 1932, Hyde Park, Chicago
- Cartography: Bird's-eye aerial perspective
- Print sizes: 12×18, 18×24, 24×36, 32×48, 40×60 (varies by option)
- Finishes: unframed print, black frame, walnut frame, natural frame, canvas

ABOUT TED'S VINTAGE ART
Ted's digitally restores historic maps and prints each piece to order. Framed versions use solid wood with UV-protective glass; canvas prints are stretched over solid wooden bars. Because each print is made when you order it, allow a few extra days for production.