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Last updated on Tuesday, August 22, 2017
(SEYMOUR) - The ways maps can be viewed, both as documents and as mirrors of their times, are explored in one of the Indiana Historical Society’s (IHS’s) traveling exhibits - Indiana Through the Mapmaker’s Eye.
Seymour Museum Center will host the exhibit at the Old Federal Building located at the southeast corner of Chestnut Street and Third Street, during the month of October. The museum and the IHS exhibit will be open at times during Oktoberfest and the rest of the month. SMC hours will vary as hosts are available and as restoration projects allow in the former post office and city hall.
Groups including school classes may schedule tours by contacting the SMC through a message on its Facebook page or by calling the SMC president, Lenny Hauersperger at 812-530- 9272. Additional hours will be announced on the FB page.
The exhibit is drawn from IHS's collection of about 1,700 maps and atlases of Indiana and the Midwest dating from the 16th century to the present. It examines four ways people have used maps through the years: as documentation, as tools, as political images and as art.
Some of the maps displayed in the exhibition include an 1833 tourist's Indiana pocket map; a 1913 Sanborn Company fire insurance map for Bloomington; Thomas Kitchin's 1747 map of French settlements in North America; an 1881 bird's-eye view of Mount Vernon, Ind.; and a circa 1880 scale-model map of the University of Notre Dame.
Local maps on display will include an 1880s bird's-eye view of Seymour as well as a variety of Sanborn Fire Insurance maps from 1886 to 1924 and the revisions that followed.
Individuals are invited to message SMC if they have maps which they would allow to be copied for display. Especially desirable are maps from the 1800s and the first half of the 20th Century.
About IHS Traveling Exhibitions
Historical societies, museums, libraries, schools and other nonprofit organizations in Indiana can book this and other traveling exhibits through IHS's Local History Services department. Exhibits may be borrowed for approximately four to five weeks at a time. To book an exhibit, please contact Karen DePauw at localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org or (317) 233-3110. For more information about the traveling exhibit program, visit www.indianahistory.org.
About the Indiana Historical Society
Since 1830, the Indiana Historical Society has been Indiana's Storyteller ™ , connecting people to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing the state's history. A private, nonprofit membership organization, IHS maintains the nation's premier research library and archives on the history of Indiana and the Old Northwest and presents a unique set of visitor experiences called the Indiana Experience. IHS also provides support and assistance to local museums and historical groups; publishes books and periodicals; sponsors teacher workshops; produces and hosts art exhibitions, museum theater and outside performance groups; and provides youth, adult and family programs. IHS is a Smithsonian Affiliate and a member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience.
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