Humbead's Revised Map of the World with List of Population
- Title:
- Humbead's Revised Map of the World with List of Population
- Alternate Title:
- Humbead's Revised Map of the World
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Crabb, Earl [Humbead] & Rick Shubb
- Other Creators:
- Berkeley Graphic Arts, printer.
- Date:
- 1968
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2488.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2488_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1960 - Present
- Subject:
- Allegorical
Ethnocentrism
New York City
Other Moral & Social
Pictorial
Satirical
Unusual Projection - Measurement:
- 53 x 41 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- Not many maps are reviewed in the press upon their publication; this one was: "Certainly the most astonishing document to come from the underground presses is Humbead’s Revised Map of the World With List of Population. It provides the independent verification of the fallacy of space, and that pernicious reasoning that makes New York and Berkeley seem far apart on normal maps. Everyone knows that what’s important is people, not distances, and now for the first time we have a map recognizing this. . . . Perhaps you’ve noticed, if you are a traveller, that you continue to run into the same people over and over again . . . . The reason for this is the relatively small population of the world, we’ve always suspected. Now here for the first time is a list of the population of the inhabited world (Berkeley, SF, LA, NYC, Boston & Cambridge)." Denson, E. D., Berkeley Barb, March 1-7, 1968.
The map was produced by "a pair of heads" (Jarnow 2016, 28), Earl Crabb and Rick Shubb. Crabb was an entrepreneur in the 1960s music scene, founder of "Humbead Enterprises," photographer, publisher, organizer and producer. In his later years, he was a distinguished computer programmer, designer of one of the first online programs for banking and other financial institutions and a founder-participant in the landmark online virtual community "The WELL." Rick Shubb was a musician who played the 5-string banjo in a variety of San Francisco folk and bluegrass bands and a talented graphic artist. He is best known today for inventing various accessories for musical instruments, including the "Shubb Capo" for banjos and guitars.
The idea for the map arose out of a discussion between Crabb and Shubb in a Berkeley music shop. In his memoirs, Shubb himself described the creation of the map. (https://shubb.com/wp-content/uploads/Humbead.pdf, accessed August 12, 2022.) "[Earl] had drawn a random shape that was supposed to be a land mass, which he labelled 'the world,' and within it he placed these 'countries:' Berkeley, Los Angeles, New York, and Cambridge. His little map had a stunning truth about it. You did tend to see the same people in Berkeley that you'd see in Cambridge, at least within the folk music scene. And there was a similarly common population pool shared by NY and LA, and he'd arranged them so as to support this. . . . I suggested the addition of San Francisco, and also lobbied for Nashville. We threw in Southeast Asia. Since the Viet Nam war could not be ignored, it had to be included in our world. We created a tiny island offshore called 'rest of the world island.' It went on. Within the cities, or countries as we called them, we added the important clubs and music shops. . . . At some point I said 'You know what? This would make a great poster,' and told him that I had skill and some experience as a graphic artist. 'Hmmm,' he said. . . . . He offered to front the cost of the printing, and to market the poster, if I would do the artwork." (North Africa was added to the map to reflect "the steady stream of hashish from the far side of the Atlantic," and "for similar reasons, every territory has a chunk of coast labeled 'Mexican Border.'" Jarnow 29.)
Shubb also described creating the list of more than 800 names surrounding the map. "While brainstorming over what else should be added to our world, we looked at the fact that our map was a social report, not a geographical one, about where people went and the paths they took to get there. We had the places, so what about the people? We decided to add peoples' names to our map. We set out to identify and include the population of this world. We joked about it as a sales gimmick. If you walked into a book store, and saw a poster for sale that had YOUR name on it, could you resist buying it? But it would become more than that. We began making a list of names of people to be included. Some were friends and acquaintances, others were famous people. It was not everyone we could think of, but it was not limited to people we liked. . . . [A]s I went along I tried to create a sort of controlled randomness to their placement. Whenever two or more names were associated with each other, such as music partners, they would not appear together. Instead I tried to make unlikely combinations and clusters." Shubb, supra.
Many of the names are simply those of friends or obvious choices from the world of folk, rock and popular music (Pete Seeger, Paul McCartney, Aretha Franklin). Others are figures from the era of psychedelics and other drugs: Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, William Burroughs. And some are random celebrities: Charlie Chaplin, Norman Mailer, Lyndon Johnson, Brigitte Bardow, L. Ron Hubbard, Mickey Mantle, Richard Nixon, Bugs Bunny, Che Guevara.
Whatever the reason, the map was "an instant hit, selling like hotcakes from head shops and music stores." Jarnow 30. This is the first edition of the map, from 1968. The success of the map led Crabb and Shubb to publish a slightly revised version in 1969 with more than 200 additional names, and a third in 1970 with entirely new and more elaborate artwork.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.