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Unpublished Prohibition Map -- Pre-empted By The 21st Amendment?
This hysterical pictorial map, bearing the copyright date of 1933, was likely never finished. The map appears to be a combination of printed and hand drawn content, with color added by hand.
The map takes a humorous tone identifying states and cities through the lens of alcohol and popular spirits in each part of the U.S.
The National Prohibition era ended in the United States on December 5th, 1933. The humor and alcohol-centrism of this map is a reflection of the culture surrounding thirteen years of prohibition.
The maker of the map, Romance Maps Inc., was incorporated on February 28, 1933, according the Buffalo News. This is likely the same project that gave birth to the Romance maps of the 1930s, beginning with the Romance Map of the Niagara Frontier, drawn by Josephine Wilhelm Wickser in January 1931. The present map was acquired in a collection which also includes a proof state of the Niagara Frontier map. The Buffalo Times reported on January 29, 1931 that 30,000 copies of the Romance Map of the Niagara Frontier were published by the Zonta Club of Buffalo, New York.
Prohibitition
Prohibition in the United States, enforced through the 18th Amendment, lasted from January 17, 1920, to December 5, 1933. This era saw a nationwide ban on alcohol production, importation, transportation, and sale, initiated by the temperance movement's concerns over alcohol's social impacts and a tremendous boom in illegal alcohol production and distribution, leading to an increase in organized crime.
The challenges of enforcing Prohibition, alongside the economic downturn of the Great Depression, led to reconsideration of the policy. The 21st Amendment, ratified on December 5, 1933, repealed the 18th Amendment, marking the only instance in U.S. history of one amendment being entirely overturned by another.
