“Reading Popular Cartography”

In July and August 2004, the Smith Center hosted Reading Popular Cartography, a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College and University Faculty. Twenty-five scholars from across the nation attended the five-week institute designed to foster an interdisciplinary appreciation of the history and nature of popular mapping. Participants attended daily lectures given by a faculty of scholars representing the fields of history, art history, geography, cartography, and literature. The interpretations of and potential applications for the lecture topics within the participants’ diverse fields of study–history, geography, literature, art, and architecture–yielded thorough and lively discussions throughout the Institute. During workshop sessions, the participants used items from the Newberry’s extensive map collections to develop map analysis skills and to create small virtual exhibits that demonstrate many of the ways that maps have influenced and have been influenced by popular culture. The virtual exhibits—on topics from map orientation to Boosterism to Lewis and Clark—will be available in Mapline and on our Web site this coming winter.

The Participants and Newberry Staff

Front Row: Deirdre Egan (Luther College, English Department), Janet Halpin (Chicago State University, Department of Geography, Sociology, Economics, and Anthropology), Susan Hanf (The Newberry Library). Second Row: Susan Bazargan (Eastern Illinois University, Department of English), Hugo Freund (Union College, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences), Magali Carrera (University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Art History), Ziba Rashidian (Southeastern Louisiana University, English Department), Laura Milsk (Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Department of Historical Studies). Third Row: Judy Schaaf (University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Department of English), Melinda Kashuba (Independent Scholar, Redding, CA), Lisa Hall (Oberlin College, Comparative American Studies Program), Cynthia Millis-Horton (Houston Community College-Southwest, Art Department), Michael Sponberg (Laredo Community College, Social and Behavioral Sciences Department). Back Row: Alexander Zukas (National University, Department of Mathematics, Sciences and Humanities), Joseph Bigott (Purdue University- Calumet, Department of History and Political Science), Nichole Wiedemann (The University of Texas-Austin, School of Architecture), Curtis Keyes, Jr. (East-West University, Behavioral and Social Sciences), Kelli Lyon Johnson (Miami University, Department of English), Wendy St. Jean (Dickinson College, History Department), Jonathon Lewis (Benedictine University, Psychology and Sociology Department), Darin Jensen (University of California-Berkeley, Geography Department), JoAnne Brigham (Houston Community College-Central, Fine Arts Department), Charles Hailey (University of Florida, School of Architecture), Robert Edsall (Arizona State University, Department of Geography), Ethan Yorgason (Brigham Young University-Hawaii, Departments of History and International Cultural Studies), James Akerman (The Newberry Library).