William Edward Boesch, Sr. (1903-1973) created this map of Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes in 1926, the year he founded the New Orleans Map Company. Boesch was one of the first cartographers in the city to utilize aerial photographic data in developing his maps.
Boesch's early training was as a draftsman, and he drew his first maps with approximate rather than precise scales. In 1930, he published a technical manual titled Commercial and Engineering Map Drawing and Lettering. By the late 1930s, he had compiled a two-volume atlas of New Orleans commercial and industrial lots and municipal block ownership maps, now housed at the Historic New Orleans Collection.
Over his long career and prior to his becoming Honorary Mayor of Little Woods, Boesch published the following maps:
1926
Map of Orleans & St. Bernard Parishes Showing Lake Shore Developments & Etc.
1931
Map of Greater New Orleans, Louisiana [for Chamber of Commerce]
Map of Greater New Orleans, Louisiana
1933
Map of Louisiana: Illustrating the Major Features of Interest to Tourists, Campers, Picnickers, Anglers, Hunters and Nature Lovers Generally Described in the Guide to Louisiana's Great Outdoors
1934
Map of Greater New Orleans, Louisiana
Map of Louisiana, Showing Oil, Gas and Sulfur Fields, Salt Domes & Etc.
1935
Map of Greater New Orleans, Louisiana
1930s (undated)
Southeastern Louisiana: Showing Some of the Excellent Fishing Grounds in the Southeastern Part of the State.
1944
Map of Part of New Orleans Showing Dock and Nearest Catholic Churches
1945
Map of the Business District of New Orleans
1947
The Fisherman's "Ofishall" Map and Guide: New Orleans Area, Southeast Louisiana and Gulf Coast
1950
Map of Vieux Carre and Business District, New Orleans
New Orleans/Second Port of the USA, Air Hub of the Americas
Official Map and Guide of New Orleans USA
1956
New Orleans Retail District
1959
Map of Greater East Jefferson, Including Harahan-Kenner and Metairie, Louisiana
Map of Gulf of Mexico, Showing Port Facilities
Map Showing Municipal Districts and Wards of New Orleans, La.
1950s (undated)
Map of Greater New Orleans, Louisiana, corrected edition
1960
Map of Greater New Orleans, Louisiana
1966
Map of Greater New Orleans, Louisiana
1968
Map of Greater Eastern New Orleans
On Tulane University's campus, historic maps may be located in the Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) and the Southeastern Architectural Archive (SEAA), both departments in the TU Libraries' Special Collections Division. The SEAA's collection of Guy Seghers Office Records contains a large number of twentieth-century maps and surveys.
Map above: Wm. E. Boesch, Map of Orleans & St. Bernard Parishes Showing Lake Shore Developments & Etc. Copyrighted November 1926 by Wm. E. Boesch, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.
Friday, October 26, 2012
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2 comments:
William Boesch was my great grandfather. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Unknown, William Boesch was my great-uncle. My grandfather was his younger brother Lloyd Boesch, Sr. I knew your great-grandfather; he popped my balloon with his cigar at the family reunion when I was 10, LOL.
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