Mapping Chicago: The Past and the Possible

September 23, 2007 through January 6, 2008

Mapping Chicago: The Past and the Possible features nearly forty historic maps, showcases Chicago's premier globe manufacturer, and includes a number of map-related activities. This is the inaugural exhibition in our new Skyline gallery. Mapping Chicago is part of the Festival of Maps, a citywide program focusing on maps and mapmaking throughout fall 2007.

Mapping events, people, and places

Highlighting nearly forty maps, the maps in this exhibition are organized into three groups. The first group includes maps that capture events, such as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. The second group explores maps as tools for looking at people. Maps can show the life of an individual, such as Abraham Lincoln, or record the activity of an entire community, such as the neighborhood near Hull-House or jazz on the South Side in the 1910s and 1920s.

Lastly, visitors are invited to look at the physical city in unique and thought-provoking ways. Maps in this group explore the city in the past, the present, and even the future, including visions of Chicago as imagined in Daniel Burnham's 1909 plan and the planning maps for the city's 2016 Olympic bid.

More than maps

Chicago has a long, rich history as a center for cartography. A section of the exhibition focuses on the Replogle Globes, Inc. You'll discover how flat maps are transformed into globes.

The exhibition also features artwork created by Chicago-area students and a new activity cart, inviting you to talk and think about the way we use maps.

> View a slide show of the kids' artwork

> Watch a video of how globes are made

> Learn more about the Festival of Maps

More Maps to Explore—Online

The Chicago History Museum, in collaboration with the Newberry Library and Northwestern University Academic Technologies, hosts and manages the electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. A critical source of information on all things Chicago, the Encyclopedia contains a large number of fascinating maps, including two "rich maps." These interactive maps invite visitors to connect specific locations in the city to the evolving history of Prairie Avenue or the labor unrest of the late-19th century.

> Explore Encyclopedia of Chicago maps

> Encyclopedia of Chicago User’s Guide: Exploring Rich Maps

> Rich Map: Labor Unrest in Chicago, April 25–May 4, 1886

> Rich Map: Worlds of Prairie Avenue

The Chicago History Museum gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Carole and Gordon Segal, Bank of America, and presenting sponsor Replogle Globes, Inc., who made this exhibition possible.