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This vibrant and humorous pictorial map of Yellowstone National Park was issued in 1948 as part of the Lindgren Brothers’ celebrated “hysterical map” series, which included playful interpretations of major American landmarks aimed at the booming postwar tourist market. The map is rendered in bright yellow with bold red and blue accents, densely illustrated with caricatures, puns, and sight gags that enliven the park’s geography while gently mocking its natural wonders and road-tripping visitors.
Comic flourishes are everywhere: Old Faithful sings “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” a musical scale bar replaces traditional distance markers, and the area around Yellowstone Lake is labeled “This is a Ducky Place!” Despite the levity, the underlying geography is useful: major features such as the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake, Old Faithful, and the road network of the Grand Loop are clearly and accurately depicted. A boxed mileage chart at lower left offers practical distances between key park destinations.
The map is framed by a blue and white border bearing the subtitle “With Apologies to the Park” along the right side, and the slogan “Smileage Guaranteed” along the bottom. In the middle, the copyright imprint reads “©1948 Lindgren Brothers – Spokane Wash.,” identifying this as the second state of the map, revised and reprinted with updated road alignments and brighter colors following the original 1936 version.
Issued at a moment when Yellowstone was welcoming record numbers of visitors by car, this 1948 map captures both the spirit of American humor and the landscape of one of its most iconic national parks.
