Crossings: Mapping, Migration, and Tourism in the United States. An Exhibition at the Newberry Library

FAIN: GE-271463-20

Newberry Library (Chicago, IL 60610-3305)
James R. Akerman (Project Director: January 2020 to present)

Planning of an exhibition that illustrates how mapping and the shared experience of travel has shaped the American identity.

The Newberry Library requests $39,950 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support planning of the exhibition, Crossings: Mapping, Migration, and Tourism in the United States. Using maps, guidebooks, and travel accounts, Crossings will present a historical and geographic panorama of Americans “on the road” and illustrate how mapping and the shared experience of travel on four enduring pathways, or “crossings,” has shaped their American identity. The exhibition will be on view at the library in Spring 2022. NEH funding will provide partial support for planning the exhibition, associated publications and web resources, public programs, and programs for K-12 educators and students. This planning grant will enable the curator to engage three consulting scholars and two educational consultants; finalize the exhibition checklist; draft the exhibition script; work with exhibition designers; and plan for producing a gallery guide, web resources, and curricular materials.

Associated Products

Crossings: Mapping American Journeys (Catalog)
Title: Crossings: Mapping American Journeys
Author: James R. Akerman
Author: Gabrielle Guillerm
Author: Madeline Crispell
Abstract: Travelers and traveling have long been associated with American history and identity. One kind of traveler, the immigrant, occupies a central place in the national mythology about the United States as a land of opportunity, welcoming peoples from other nations. Another traveler, the tourist, exercises apparently unfettered free- dom of movement. But the story of American mobility also must include the displacement and forced migration of Indigenous people, the prejudices faced by many immigrants, and the mobility denied or forced upon enslaved and exploited peoples. These travelers nevertheless often followed the same pathways, transformed by those who preceded them and by changing technologies, but geographically durable. Crossings: Mapping American Journeys tells stories of American travel in all its diversity. With a gallery organized like a map, the exhibition traces four signi cant pathways, or “crossings” across the continental United States, illustrating them with maps and guide- books that recreate the experiences of American travelers across time and space.
Year: 2022
Catalog Type: Exhibition Catalog
Publisher: The Newberry Library

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