MAPS: Exhibition Highlights

Maps: Finding Our Place in the World
November 2, 2007 — January 27, 2008

From clay tablets to sea charts, from satellite navigation systems to sketches of worlds real and imagined—maps are much more than wayfinding. Travel through landscapes of time and space, science and imagination, in a rare exhibition of more than 100 of the world's greatest maps. Explore high-tech interactive displays, and see original works by Ptolemy, Leonardo da Vinci, J.R.R. Tolkien, and many others. You'll learn how early maps were made, see how the technology changed over centuries, and discover the latest advances in digital map-making.

In creating Maps: Finding Our Place in the World, The Field Museum has partnered with The Newberry Library, a world-renowned independent research library. The Newberry's extensive holdings include rare books, manuscripts, and 500,000 historic maps, making it a foremost authority on the history of cartography. In addition to this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition, The Field Museum and The Newberry Library have joined together to create lectures and public programs about maps and mapmaking.

Maps: Finding Our Place in the World, is part of The Festival of Maps Chicago. The Festival of Maps Chicago is a citywide celebration, made up of more than 30 cultural and scientific institutions, dedicated to exploring and understanding the discoveries and history of wayfinding across time, space, and cultures.

Continue through Exhibition Highlights >>

Maps: Finding Our Place in the World is organized by The Field Museum and The Newberry Library.

Presented by

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Detail at top: Courtesy of The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore