The Parker Map Co.'s 1934 Street and Historical Guide Map of the City of Cambridge presents both the street plan of Cambridge and its small business owners as they emerged from the Depression of 1929. The Street-Guide with its alphabetical index of streets is decorated with three pictorial vignettes: the Washington Elm under which in 1775 George Washington became Commander of the newly constituted Continental Army as "Under the Elm Tree he took formal command of the American Army July 3rd"; the Cambridge Post Office 1934; and Harvard Memorial Chapel. In the map's lower right corner a small inset "Historical Guide" reads "Founded 1630" - a reference to the founding date of Newtowne that by 1636 became the City of Cambridge - with a list numbered 1.-7. that identifies seven historic locations on this map, including the Longfellow House, Fort Washington, Lowell House, the Cambridge Observatory, the Botanic Garden and the Old Burying Ground in addition to the Washington Elm. The Cambridge Post Office on Massachusetts Avenue in the vignette was completed between1934- 1935 and is an example of the federal New Deal to finance jobs across many fields, including the arts, crafts, architecture and construction by providing financing and new investment in American cities.
The map is framed by business owners' box advertisements that read like a walk down Massachusetts Avenue into Harvard Square. There is College Stationery Shop, the Reliance Cooperative Bank, Davenport's News Agency in North Cambridge, the Briggs & Briggs Music Store, the Church Street Garage, Amee Brothers Booksellers, the Phillips Book Store, Second hand College Text Books "Largest Store of its kind in New England", many car repair garages and Clark Bros. coke, coal and fuel oil, among the many others. Cambridge is a college town but its advertisers are also indicative of Cambridge being a well settled residential city. The advertisers are merchants whose products are every day needs and necessities.