George F. Cram

{{short description|American map publisher (1842–1928)}}

File:Bermuda Islands 1901 atlas page.jpg

George Franklin Cram (1842–1928) was an American map publisher. He served in the U.S. Army during the American Civil War as a first sergeant in Company F of the 105th Illinois Volunteers serving until the end of the war.{{Cite journal|last=Danzer|first=Gerald|date=1984|title=George F. Cram and the American Perception of Space|journal=Chicago History|volume=13|issue=1|pages=32–46|issn=0272-8540|id={{ProQuest| }}}} Upon mustering out he then joined his uncle Rufus Blanchard's Evanston map business in 1867. Two years later, he became sole proprietor of the firm and renamed it the George F. Cram Co. which became a leading map firm in the United States. The best known atlas began as The Standard Atlas of the United States which eventually was renamed the Unrivaled Family Atlas which ran for dozens of editions over many decades. His was one of the first American firms to publish a world atlas.{{Cite web|title=Antique maps by George F. Cram – Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc.|url=https://www.raremaps.com/mapmaker/225/George_F_Cram|access-date=2021-08-07|website=www.raremaps.com|language=en-US}} Cram's firm was instrumental in developing the cerography technique, in which metal printing plates were created by electroplating a wax engraved model. It made large and vastly less expensive print runs possible, which brought more affordable maps into people's homes.{{Cite book|last=Cook|first=Karen S.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/13456456|title=The history of cartography|date=2015|publisher=University of Chicago Press|others=J. B. Harley, David Woodward, Matthew H. Edney, Mary Sponberg Pedley, Mark S. Monmonier|isbn=0-226-31633-5|location=Chicago|pages=1701–1704|chapter=Wax Engraving|oclc=13456456}}

Cram married Martha A. Hiatt in 1865. They had three daughters. George Cram died in Spokane, Washington on May 24, 1928.{{Cite news|date=May 29, 1928|title=Death Notices|page=14|work=Chicago Tribune}}