Open Borders

Festival of Maps organizers welcome two more exhibits for the attention of map enthusiasts. These venues came to our attention after our list of exhibits was fixed, but they are too special to miss. We encourage visitors to check out: 1) The ABOV Gallery to see mysteriously beautiful works of art created using satellite images; and 2) the Harold Washington Library, where you will discover an exhibit of rare Civil War maps.

Maps of the Civil War

The Reading Room of Special Collections will feature an exhibit of twelve maps of the Civil War. Items in the show range from crudely drawn maps created in the battlefield to fine color-lithographed maps published by the War Department in the Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (1891-1895).

Highlights include:

A manuscript map drawn by General Abner Doubleday of Elys Ford on the Rapidan River near Falmouth and Fredericksburg, Virginia. Doubleday created the map nine days before the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862.

A letter home written by soldier John H. Roe included a hand-drawn map of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River during General Ulysses S. Grant’s efforts to take the Fort in February, 1862.

A printed 1863 map, “Approaches to Vicksburg and Rebel Defenses,” based on a reconnaissance by C. Fendall of the U.S. Coast Survey.

Dates of exhibit: November 17, 2007 – March 1, 2008

Hours of exhibit: Monday – Thursday, noon until 6 p.m.
Friday – Saturday, noon until 4 p.m.
Sunday, closed

Location of exhibit: Chicago Public Library
Harold Washington Library Center
400 S. State Street
Special Collections, 9th Floor
Chicago, IL 60605
(312) 747-4875

The Chicago Public Library is comprised of the Harold Washington Library Center, two regional libraries and 76 neighborhood branches. The Chicago Public Library offers a rich resource of books, DVDs, audio books and more, provides free access to the Internet and WiFi in all of its locations, as well as free public programs for children, teens and adults.

The Harold Washington Library Center, Carter G. Woodson Regional Library and Conrad Sulzer Regional Library are all open 7 days a week, the remaining 76 branch libraries are open 6 days a week and patrons can access all of the libraries’ collections online 24 hours a day. For more information, please visit the website at chicagopubliclibrary.org or call the Chicago Public Library Press Office at (312) 747-4050.