From 1948 until 1965, Standard Oil of California published beautiful maps with watercolor covers under the Chevron label. Several of their subsidiaries, such as Standard Oil of Texas, Standard Oil of British Columbia, and the California Oil Company (Calso) also published such maps. These maps are well known, especially in the western states of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, which is Standard Oil of California's core territory.
At the same time, Standard Oil of New Jersey (Esso) also published maps with watercolor covers in several eastern states, and Standard Oil of Kentucky (KYSO) published similar maps in several southern states.
The Shell Oil Company had published multi-panel watercolor covers on their maps in the early 1930s, as did many other map publishers. But their maps were painfully dull in the 1940s and 1950s. During the 1960s, Shell published maps of many U.S. states and cities with photographs on the covers. But in 1972, they began publishing city maps with their own style of watercolor covers. The style is noticeably different from the Chevron, Esso, and KYSO watercolors, especially because of the stroke outlines that appear on the Shell graphics. In 1973, they began publishing state maps with these colors. But after 1974, they stopped this effort. This run lasted only two or three years (two years for state maps, three years for city maps).
The following is a list of maps that I either own or have seen offered for sale on Ebay or other venues.
| State Maps | Scene |
|---|---|
| Alabama | White Pillars, an ante-bellum mansion |
| Arizona | An Indian against purple mesas |
| Ark.–Louis.–Miss. | Tree-shrouded ante-bellum plantation |
| California | Vineyards in the Napa Valley |
| Del.–MD–Virg.–WV | The Natural Bridge in Virginia |
| Florida | The Everglades National Park |
| Georgia | Civil War battlefield |
| Hawaii | Volcanic Mountains |
| Idaho–Montana | Mountains reflected in a wilderness lake |
| Illinois | Canoeing along the Illinois River |
| Indiana | A cave scene |
| Iowa | Rodeo of Sydney |
| Kentucky–Tennessee | Little Pidgeon River in Great Smoky Mountains NP |
| Maine–NH–Vermont | Rural chapel amid Fall foliage |
| Mass.–Conn.–Rhode Is. | Minuteman Statue |
| Michigan | Sable Falls |
| Minnesota | Witch Tree, Lake Superior |
| Missouri | Hogdson Mill in Sycamore |
| Nevada | Silence in a Nevada ghost town |
| New Jersey | Indian King Tavern |
| New Mexico | A view along Highway 70 |
| New York | Niagara Falls |
| North & South Carolina | The Tweetsie Railroad in the mountain region |
| Ohio | Winter scene in rural Ohio |
| Oklahoma | Buffalo grazing on the Oklahoma plains |
| Oregon | Bear Lake in the Wallowa Mountains |
| Pennsylvania | Once a battlefield, now a quiet rural scene |
| Texas | Mission San Jose near San Antonio |
| Washington | Mount Shuskan |
| Wisconsin | The Brute River |
| City Maps | Scene |
| Atlanta | City Underground |
| Baltimore | Baltimore Washington Monument |
| Boston | Old Ironsides |
| Chicago | Lake Michigan Skyline |
| Cleveland | Terminal Tower |
| Dallas | Downtown Night Skyline |
| Detroit | Downtown |
| Houston | Downtown Skyline with One Shell Plaza |
| Indianapolis | Indianapolis 500 Speedway |
| Long Beach | Sailboats in harbor |
| Los Angeles | Center for the Performing Arts |
| Miami & Miami Beach | Water Scene |
| Milwaukee | Old Milwaukee Days Circus Parade |
| Minneapolis–St. Paul | Minnehaha Falls |
| New York Metro | Lower Manhattan |
| Oakland–East Bay Cities | Bay Bridge in the Evening |
| Orange County | Disneyland |
| Philadelphia | Independence Hall |
| Phoenix | Highway Panorama |
| Portland | Portland with Mt. Hood in the background |
| San Bernardino–Riverside | Mountains and freeway |
| San Francisco & Peninsula | Cable Car |
| San Jose | Aerial view of Civic Center |
| Seattle | Space Needle |
| St. Louis | Gateway to the West Arch |
| Tampa–St. Petersburg | Gasparilla Pirate Festival |
| Washington DC | Capitol Building |
Here are a few maps that ought to exist, but I've never seen one:
Alaska, Colorado (Mount Elbert), Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Utah (Bryce Canyon NP), Wyoming, Albany, Fresno (Courthouse or Mall), Spokane (View of downtown), Tacoma (Mt. St. Helens).
