Alfred T. Andreas and the Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota - 1874

After returning to Chicago from the Civil War, A.T. Andreas decided to put his organization skills to work in a vast money making scheme. County wall maps listing landowners had been sold through subscriptions for some time, and the more portable county atlases with one township per page showing the land owners followed. But printing technology had made some advances, too, and he saw the potential of appealing to the vanity of potential purchasers.

In addition to selling subscriptions (that is, a purchaser would get his name on a township map and in a patrons' directory, and would receive a copy of the final product), Andreas would return to those purchasers and sell additional features. He would canvass (and charge) for portraits, biographies, illustrations of farms and businesses in addition to the normal patrons' listing. Pages could be added to a book as needed, based on sales. An entertaining narrative of the sales process is included in Bates Harrington's How 'Tis Done: A Thorough Ventilation of the Numerous Schemes Conducted by Wandering Canvassers Together with the Various Advertising Dodges for the Swindling of the Public, published in Chicago in 1879.

Andreas decided to test his vision by compiling a statewide atlas. He chose Minnesota because the state was young, the population had money, and the eastern mapmakers had not yet worked the area. He brought together the production facilities in Chicago, and hired an army: canvassers to sell subscriptions, surveyors to create plat maps, writers to produce the written materials (biographies were sold by the word), and artists to draw the illustrations and portraits that would appear. Beginning with the influential members in community and newspaper articles about the undertaking, his canvassers began their work.

First, patrons purchased a listing in the patrons' directory, including for most the year in which they arrived in Minnesota and where they were from, and a copy of the Atlas. Canvassers then returned several more times, offering the opportunity for Minnesotans to purchase an illustration of their property (including planned improvements) or to write a biography or to create a portrait. Best estimates are that the year-long effort resulted in the sale of 10-12,000 Atlases.

Andreas' canvassers sold 219 biographies, many with family information; lithographs of 342 Minnesotans; and many illustrations of farms, residences, businesses, and churches. There are birds' eye views of Eyota (Olmsted Co.), Appleton (Swift Co.), Granite Falls (Yellow Medicine Co.), Montevideo (Chippewa Co.), Preston (Fillmore Co.), Sauk Rapids (Benton Co.), and Waseca (Waseca Co.), in addition to large fold-out illustrations of St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Winona. Brief county histories and a review of the 1870 census are also included.

Andreas went on to Iowa, where he did a similar project, and also tried his hand at county and city histories. While he did not make the fortune he thought he would, he left a valuable book for Minnesota researchers.

© 2005, Park Genealogical Books, Roseville, MN

References (see our catalog for details):

• Andreas' Illustrated Historical Atlas of Minnesota-1874. The first state-wide subscriber atlas with illustrations, biographies, and data on patrons. This volume was reprinted several times in a reduced format, now out of print. The full volume, including the fold-out illustrations of St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Winona, has been microfilmed.
• Comprehensive Index to A.T. Andreas' Illustrated Historical Atlas of Minnesota - 1874, by Mary Hawker Bakeman. Almost 15,000 names in one alphabetic listing-11,000+ patrons, 1500+ from county plat maps, biographies and portraits, and 600+ illustrations. Also all information from the Patrons' Directory and whether the person's name appears on a map
• Hixson 1916 Plat Book of Minnesota. The second state-wide atlas containing land ownership maps for each county. This is not a subscriber atlas.
• Minnesota Land Owner Maps and Directories, by Mary Hawker Bakeman. Extensive bibliography of landowner maps published from the mid 1860s to the present day, including wall maps, atlases, reprints, microforms and indexes, plus rural resident directories.

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