Those well-traveled Thomas Brothers. Where would I be as an investigator without them? Lost. Witness-less. At a dead end.
The first tool of the trade I received while training to be a criminal defense investigator was a hand-me-down Thomas Bros. mapbook. These are detailed mapbooks organized by county. They show schools, hospitals, parks, county lines, zip codes and most importantly, they provide us investigators with a clear route to a witness' address.
Over the years, I have gone through numerous Thomas Bros. mapbooks, from at least 10 different counties. With use and over time, pages detach from the spirals and must be taped back together, or simply get lost. It is adviseable to update your mapbook every 5 years or so since all cities add new streets and street names change. I'm sure, however, that there are investigators using 25 year old Thomas Bros. mapbooks that do just fine.
I ocassionally come across a loose page from one of my long-ago-discarded Thomas Bros. mapbooks. I'll happen upon the orphan page while cleaning a drawer, or find it underneath a seat in my car. It always gets me nostalgic about the work I did at addresses on that particular page. Sometimes I have circled the addresses where I've gone, which further guides my walk down memory lane.
Even in the age of Mapquest and Yahoo's Map It, a Thomas Bros. mapbook is an investigator's must-have. We might think we know where we're headed that morning when we leave the office with mapquest directions in hand, but we never know exactly where we'll end up by the close of business.
I found a couple short articles about the Thomas Bros.: George, Gilbert and Leonard. Apparently, they invented the concept of laying a map down on a grid, thus creating sectors. It's those sectors which make it so easy for us investigators to find particular streets, even while we're driving (Sorry, mom).
Rand McNally bought out the Thomas family in 1999, so perhaps the Thomas Bros. name will be taken off the mapbooks in the future. That won't affect my relationship with the Thomas Brothers, tho. I'm loyal. I'll always refer to my mapbooks as my Thomas Bros. I'll keep referring to Candlestick as Candlestick, for that matter.
If you're in need of direction, check out the various Thomas Bros. products here.
3 comments:
As a public defender investigator I share your admiration and need for the Thomas Bros map guides. In a previous life I worked for Thomas Bros Maps. The estate of the original Thomas Brothers was aquired by a man named Warren Wilson, an oakland attorney and brother of former Oakland mayor Lionel Wilson, in the 1950's. Over the next 40 years the family Co. grew and prospered until, as you say, it was sold to hated rival Rand McNally. Though the company culture has been dashed by the new corporate structure, they sure put out a great product.
That's very interesting, I never knew that Lionel Wilson (or his family) had any connection to the Thomas Bros. company. I remember in the early 1990's, that I saw Lionel Wilson eating alone at the Merritt Restaurant (by the lake) and he seemed so sad and alone. Is he still alive? His brother, if still alive, must be a pretty wealthy guy. Thanks for contributing to the board.
Lionel Wilson died years ago, but I believe Warren is still going strong at about 87 years old. You're right, he's worth millions. Even when he owned the company he maintained his Oakland law practice and would take pro bono cases. Once he offered to defend the Uni-bomber, but didn't get the case. He was (is) a better business man than lawyer whose had a colorful life.
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