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Coming soon to my new store at oldschoolmaps.com, a great assortment of school charts that were originally made as teaching aids for young children. But these colorful, whimsical and graphic classroom charts are certainly not just for kids'rooms. Elementary school chic.

From Mexico 1940s Basic Geographical Terms Chart

American Chart from 1890s

American Chart from 1890s

Cute! Vintage Indian School Chart

1950s French School Poster "Le Menagerie"

1950s French School Poster "Le Zoo"

Vintage Indian School Chart "Our Animals"

Paper labels have been used since the early 1880s. They were introduced to America by European artists, and this printing process became known as lithography. This was one of the first forms of commercial art. In America, orchard owners used this art as a way to advertise their crops. The labels were designed by artists and were glued on fruit and vegetable crates. Often the labels had very little relationship to the product, but that was not the point. The point was to draw attention to the product. Consequently, some of the images are quite captivating and imaginative.

As the 1950s wore on, cheaper cardboard boxes became plentiful and caused wooden crates with paper labels to be a thing of the past. Many of the labels were left in storage and have been salvaged over the years. They are a real thing of beauty.

Lush Roses

Cute Babies

Majestic Owls

Bright and Colorful Farm Animals

I have been seeing vintage maps all over the design blogosphere these days. Designsponge recently did a piece on DIY with maps. You can check it out here.

Here are some photos from their site and if you need some supplies for your crafting, I have some lots of school maps for sale on etsy that are inexpensive and can be cut up, framed or altered as you see fit. See them in my etsy shop

Also, keep an eye out for my new specialty shop Old School Maps. It will be up and open for business shortly.