Samuel Augustus Mitchell came to dominate the Philadelphia mapmaking market in the 1840s by entering into a partnership with the map draftsman James H. Young and then by absorbing the mapmaking firms of Anthony Finley (1784-1836) and Henry S. Tanner (1786-1858). Like his competitor Alvin Johnson, Mitchell was quick to adopt the technological innovation of lithography in his printing and established himself as the foremost American map publisher of his day. In 1860, he was succeeded by his son, Samuel Augustus Mitchell, Jr. (1826-1882). At its height, the Mitchells’ company may have had as many as 250 employees and sold over 400,000 publications annually.

This exhibit contains one map associated with Mitchell:

• Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and Minnesota (ca. 1866)