Samuel Augustus Mitchell (1790,

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. The ...

– December 20, 1868,

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

) was an American

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

. He was born in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. Mitchell worked as a teacher before turning to publishing geography textbooks and maps. He became involved in

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

after teaching and realizing that there were so many poor quality geographical resources available to teachers. He moved to

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in either 1829 or 1830. He was in Philadelphia when he founded his company. His son, S. Augustus Mitchell, became owner in 1860. Their publications covered all genres of geography: maps,

travel guide A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying det ...

s, textbooks, and more. Sales of his 24 works reached an annual volume of over 400,000 copies.

Works

*'' Mitchell's School Atlas, 1845—1857 *''General View of the World, Physical, Political, and Statistical'', 1846 *''Travellers' Guide through the United States'', 1850 * ''A system of modern geography, physical, political, and descriptive : accompanied by a new atlas of forty-four copperplate maps and illustrated by two hundred engravings'',1865

References

External links

Mitchell's Ancient Atlas
digitized by

Loyola University New Orleans Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, private Jesuit university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the nam ...

1790s births 1868 deaths American geographers People from Bristol, Connecticut Scientists from Philadelphia {{geographer-stub