More Frequently Asked Questions

Who created the Festival of Maps?

The Festival of Maps was coordinated by a volunteer committee of leading experts and collectors of historical maps, globes and atlases. The Festival of Maps is led by a group of advisors who have interest and experience in the field of cartography.

Why was the Festival of Maps created?

The Festival of Maps was created to advance the knowledge of mapping as well as inspire an appreciation for the field of cartography through exhibitions, lectures, seminars and multimedia presentations.

When is the Festival of Maps?

The Festival of Maps begins in Chicago on Nov. 2, 2007 with the opening of The Field Museum exhibit, Maps: Finding our Place in the World, and continues into 2008. Many exhibits run through January 2008, although some will have longer or shorter runs. Please visit www.festivalofmaps.com for exact dates, times and locations for Festival of Maps events.

Festival of Maps Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Festival of Maps?

The Festival of Maps is a Chicago-wide celebration of humanity’s greatest discoveries and the maps that record the world’s boldest explorations.

More than 25 cultural and scientific institutions join a unique collaboration that features maps, globes, artifacts and artwork that track the evolving technology of wayfinding from ancient to modern times.

Is the Festival of Maps only about maps?

The Festival of Maps serves to educate and inspire visitors through exhibits, lectures and multimedia programs that illuminate how societies discover, interpret and record their physical, political, psychological and virtual worlds.

The Festival of Maps contains a wide range of exhibits. Guests can plan to see everything from exquisite art to rare book collections, and botanical explorations to online tours of how technology has influenced explorations. Visitors can become explorers in multiple ways – through sight and sound, in virtual spaces and in-person – to chart new territories for their own adventures.

Find your way to map display - Chicago Sun-Times

MUSEUM | 130 -- from Middle-earth to space -- to be featured

April 20, 2007

More than 25 Chicago area cultural institutions are joining together to present a "Festival of Maps,'' beginning in November.

The Field Museum, with the Newberry Library, will present about 130 maps, including a 3,500-year-old clay tablet of a city that is now in Iraq, the map Charles Lindbergh carried with him on the first nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris in 1927, and drawings by author J.R.R. Tolkein of the Middle-earth setting of Lord of the Rings.

Others include sky maps at the Adler Planetarium, GPS images used to track African and South American wildlife presented by the Lincoln Park Zoo, and plant explorer guides at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

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Andrew Herrmann