George F. Cram Company Founded in 1869, the George F. Cram company has outlived almost all other 19th century map publishers to remain a major name in the industry today. George Cram was born in 1841 and served with the Union forces in the Civil War before going into the map publishing business with his uncle in 1867. Two years later, he founded his own company the George F. Cram Company. which became a leading map firm and first American firm to publish a world atlas. It employed a relief process for publishing maps and atlases. Cram atlas publications in the 19th century include the Unrivalled Family Atlas (1883), Illustrated Atlas (1885), Unrivalled Atlas (1887), the American Railway System Atlas (1891), and the Universal Atlas (1894).