181. A 50s REPLOGLE SCHOOL GLOBE

I always wished our class had a school globe, because I thought it's one of those things that made a school---well, a school. But I went to a public school that was always short of funding, so our class never had one. That's why when I found this 10 inch Replogle globe in a thrift shop, I just had to have it--despite the fact that it's missing its original base. The company that made these paper-wrapped globes was started by Luther Replogle in 1930, a school supply salesman who had a special interest in globes. He hand-assembled the globes and sold them from his Chicago apartment. To make one, one has to cut 'map gores' by hand, which were then applied manually to a globe ball, a time-consuming process.

Today, Replogle is the biggest manufacturer of globes in the world. The maps in my vintage globe show all nations, colonies, possessions, boundary lines and place names as approved by the U.S. Government. Of course, the first country checked--the Philippines--still had for its capital, Manila. Its population was still under 500,000 (as indicated by a 'star' legend). What a different perspective of the world this vintage reference globe offers! From longitudes, latitudes, international date lines, prime meridians to zero point and the equator, there's so much to learn, and it's good to wonder!