COLLECTION #182: Vintage School Geography Books

Sometimes categorizing school books can be a bit difficult. It's pretty obvious which books are music books, and which books are readers. I don't have a problem figuring out what book is a speller, and which one is arithmetic. But sometimes, they are not so obvious. PLUS, subject names change. (Arithmetic vs. math, for example). One of these confusing categories is geography, as opposed to social studies. By the time I was in grade school in the late '50s, early '60s, there was no such subject as 'geography'. That which had once been the study of people and places was lumped together into 'social studies', which included geography, history, and social science.


But in the olden days, geography was pretty much the study of people and places. I have a lot of books that are more 'social studies', in that they also contain a lot of history too, OR are more location focused, such as books about South America, California, etc. But my books today are what I consider geography, especially since many of them are called 'geography', either part of the title, or subtitle.

I'll not bore you with too many details: publishers, copyright dates, etc. But they are fun to just catch a glimpse of, so I'll just post a few photos without further ado!

This is pretty much as interesting as they get... maps, and photos of fascinating things like industry and commerce. 

This little book, however, is full of fun! (Just look at those monkeys!)

Here's an inside page from the above book, about a lucky little boy named Bobby, who was taken on a trip around the world by his uncle, 'the Colonel'. The illustrations are so charming!

This is Our USA, A Gay Geography. Not a school book per se, but it's definitely about geography. Also, far from politically correct! Take a look at those illustrations!

Another page from A Gay Geography. You can click on these photos for a closer view!