The Newberry Library in Chicago has truly impressive cartographic collections and also hosts the Hermon Dunlop Smith Center for the History of Cartography. The Smith Center holds a major annual lecture series on the history of cartography at the Newberry Library and this year’s lectures will be held soon.

Here is the announcement from the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography:

The Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography is pleased to announce that the 21st Kenneth Nebenzahl, Jr., Lectures in the History of Cartography will be held at the Newberry Library on Friday and Saturday, November 4-5, 2022. This year’s series, Mapping as Performance, considers the many ways people map through action in space. In the past fifteen years a number of scholars in a variety of fields have examined how performances, ranging from on-stage to the movements of travelers, should be seen as forms of mapping. Literary scholars, anthropologists, art historians, geographers, practicing cartographers, and scholars of the performative arts all have invoked the concept, but for different ends determined in large measure by their own disciplinary orientations and interests. In Mapping as Performance, we will bring together scholars from several fields to encourage an interdisciplinary dialogue about the concept. 

This year’s lectures will feature papers and performances organized in four topical sessions on Friday, November 4 and Saturday Morning, November 5: 

• Surveying as Performance 
• Performing Space, Place, and History in Indigenous North America 
• Mapping Dance 
• Travel As Mapping

The 21st Kenneth Nebenzahl, Jr. Lectures will now be livestreamed via Zoom for those unable to attend in person. We still ask that everyone who wishes to attend please register using the link below. You will receive a link to the Zoom after your registration is complete.

For more information, see the website for Mapping as Performance or the main website of the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography.