COMMON DESTINATIONS: MAPS IN THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE A Winterthur Conference October 11-12, 2013 Wilmington, DE

Today maps are primarily tools to help us reach our destination, but in the past they played a much more diverse role, shaping everything from commercial to social activities. They were an integral part of everyday life for citizens of the new United States. At this two-day gathering, a group of leading scholars will reflect on the material nature of American maps popular before 1900. Join us on a guided journey through maps in everyday life, featuring discussions of maps as tools and spectacles, as disposable knickknack and art objects, as sources of fantasy, and as the glue for social community.

Presenters include:

James Akerman, Director, Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography, Newberry Library, "Map, Text, and Image in Early American Travelers' Maps and Guidebooks,"

Martin Brückner, Guest Curator and Professor of American Literature and Material Culture Studies, University of Delaware, "The Rise of Monumental Maps: Aesthetics and Technology in Nineteenth-Century America"

Diane Dillon, Assistant Director of Research and Education, Newberry Library, "Mapping Real Estate: A Case Study of Early Chicago"

Matthew Edney, Osher Professor in the History of Cartography, and Director, History of Cartography Project, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "Investigating the Materiality of Geographical Discourse and Practice: Tracing the Transatlantic Circulation of Geographical Maps of British America before 1763"

Nenette Luarca-Shoaf, Guest Curator, Amon Carter Museum of American Art and Visiting Research Associate, McNeil Center for Early American Studies, "Mapping the Mississippi: Form, Function, and Metaphor in Nineteenth-Century River Maps"

Margaret Pritchard, Curator of Maps and Prints, Colonial Williamsburg, "To Educate, Elevate, and Decorate: Maps as Symbols of Status and Gender"

Jennifer Roberts, Professor of History of Art and Architecture, and Chair, Program in the History of American Civilization, Harvard University, "Scale, Matter, and Meaning: Sizing Up Popple's Map"

Susan Schulten , Professor of History, University of Denver, "Mapping Crisis: The Sectional Conflict and the American Civil War"

Workshops with:

David Bosse, Librarian and Curator of Maps, Historic Deerfield , "Putting Color on the Map"

Christian Koot, Assistant Professor of History and Director of American Studies, Towson University, "Mapping Delaware in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries"

Joan Irving, Paper Conservator and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Winterthur Museum and Chela Metzger, Conservator of Library Collections and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Winterthur Museum "Upon Close Inspection: A Conservation Perspective on Winterthur's Maps and Atlases"

Emily Guthrie, NEH Associate Librarian responsible for the Printed Books and Periodicals Collection and Jeanne Solensky, Librarian, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera "Teaching Geography: Instructional Materials in the Winterthur Library"

Martin Brückner, Guest Curator and Professor of American Literature and Material Culture Studies, University of Delaware, "Common Destinations: A Curator's Tour of the Exhibition"

For information and full workshop descriptions visit winterthur.org or call 800.448.3883

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