Maps!

Not long ago, my friends and I went to see the Maps exhibit at the Field Museum. Last spring Sean saw an ad for the upcoming exhibit and we have been anticipating it ever since. We went with Kelly and Christina, each of whom have their own passions for maps and globes.

So we got all bundled up, took the train downtown and the museum campus bus to get there. Christina and I had never been to the museum before so we wanted to see some other parts. We got there a little before our reservation for the maps so we took a look at Sue, the famous dinosaur and then wandered into the section with all the stuffed animals. One thing that really sticks out to me was realizing how big wolves are and how small foxes are. I had never seen either up close at all, so I was really surprised to note the differences in their sizes.

Finally, it was our turn to get to see the maps. We are all pretty big nerds so we began to wander our way around pointing out little details, "oohing" and "ahhing" our way around the first room. In this first room, the curators create several contexts for maps, showing the various uses for maps and how differing styles of maps can be used. The rest of the exhibit furthered the idea of contextualizing maps. Each room showed various maps and globes that were created for varying reasons by giving the audience a specific lens to consider the mini-collection. For instance, there were maps that were used to tell stories, those used for war strategies, those used to illustrate power, those used to show the relationships between societies and their beliefs.

There were quite a few that really stood out to me. First of all were the huge globes. I don't remember their stories, but they were enormous a few feet across. Also, there were the European maps that were embroidered by school girls to teach history and needlepoint. And then there were the maps of fantasy-lands. These were some of the most interesting to me because as a child I was obsessed with mapping my own known world and linking it to my imagined world. The fairy tale world was especially interesting, you could also see that it hasn't been too long ago that some fairy tales were used to show certain groups power over others. On this map you could find the old woman who lived in a shoe, Jack's beanstalk, and all of your favorite princesses. But we were all surprised and taken aback when we found "The Wandering Jew." Also, it was pretty exciting to see a couple of Tolkien's sketches, one of which was drawn on the back of one of his student's tests.

The exhibit fully explored (but not exhausted) all the ways of looking at maps and how they have evolved. The final room showed a few interactive maps and GPS and showed how technology has always played a part in map science and art. This brings me to one thing I really appreciated about this exhibit. I have always felt maps are one of the great examples of where art and science meet. There were some incredibly beautiful pieces, but so many of them were created not for their aesthetic appeal but for their utility.