9 am to 3 pm
Towner Fellows Lounge
Motivated by concerns about resource scarcity and the quality of urban life, in the early twentieth century conservationists succeeded in creating a national park system and extensive urban parks. This seminar examines this crusade, particularly its unexpected environmental and social impacts. The first day examines the National Park System by focusing on one of its crown jewels, Yellowstone. Drawing on scientific reports, maps, and travelers’ accounts from the Newberry’s collections, the seminar will explore the basis for the preservation of Yellowstone as well as discuss the challenges that this preservation posed for the region’s peoples. Next we will turn our attention to Chicago’s public parks system, where naturalists and conservationists attempted to create a refuge from the strain of industrial life. But city parks offered no more an escape from society than did places like Yellowstone, as the history of Chicago’s 1919 race riot indicates.
This seminar is sponsored by Peoples Gas.
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For registration information, please contact Rachel Rooney at rooneyr@newberry.org