pop-up exhibit
20th Nebenzahl Lectures: The AGSL Goes to Chicago
By Lauren Maddox
Last weekend was the 20th Nebenzahl Lectures that are held every few years at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The 2019 year’s theme was “Redrawing the World: 1919 and the History of Cartography”– which, as you can imagine, was a very exciting topic for staff at the AGSL. The lectures were held over three days and featured 9 different scholars including organizer Dr. Peter Nekola.
On Thursday, attendees visited the AGS Library and enjoyed a presentation by Curator, Marcy Bidney and viewing an exhibit highlighting the role of the AGS at the Paris Peace Conference following WWI. Besides providing thousands of maps, atlases, books and nautical charts from the AGS Library, which were shipped to France for use by the American delegation, the AGS building and its staff were involved in the work of the so-called “Inquiry” which preceded the actual Conference. Starting in November 1917, a team of geographers, historians, regional experts and cartographers worked in secret at the AGS headquarters building, drawing on the library’s vast resources to produce reports and maps for the American negotiators to use at the Peace Conference.
Many of the presenters at the conference, referenced resources held at the AGS Library and used in their research.
AGSL staff: Marcy Bidney, Curator ; Jovanka Ristic, Reference Librarian ; and student interns Georgia Brown and Katie Bischof attended the Lectures in Chicago. The Lectures focused on the 1919 map production boom and how cartographers helped forge the uneasy peace at the Paris Peace Treaties. Particular topics included “Mapping a New African Empire: Britain and Tanganyika Between the Wars” presented by Lindsay Frederick Braun and “Cartographies of Victimhood: Envisioning the Nation after the Paris Peace Treaties of 1919-1920” presented by Jason Hansen. The Lectures were an exciting reason to visit Chicago and the AGSL was proud to participate.
October Pop-up Exhibit
By Lauren Maddox
Happy Halloween! This month, the AGSL, UWM Archives, and Special Collections collaborated on another Pop-Up Exhibit! The official exhibit ran from October 23rd-25th and included specially curated pieces such as wood engravings of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by Barry Moser and many more spooky, scary artifacts! Well, you may have missed the full Pop-up Exhibit but don’t despair! There’s still time to see the hair-raising picks put out by the AGSL for the pop-up– our exhibition materials will stay on display until after Halloween! Peruse our collection; you may find sea monsters, witches, and haunted cemeteries– and if that doesn’t scare you, stay tuned for next week’s post which will feature some of the most spine-chilling, blood-curdling maps from this month’s Pop-Up!
The AGSL is open to the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Come see us and the Halloween Pop-up Exhibit while you still can!
In Case You Missed Us: The National Hispanic Heritage Month Pop-Up Exhibit
By Lauren Maddox
Last month, I wrote about our then-upcoming Pop-Up Exhibit in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month. The exhibit was a collaborative project in conjunction with the UWM Archives to showcase some of our collections and honor this very special month. As we move into October, we will be putting up another exciting exhibit (stay tuned for more on that later!), but in case you missed this pop-up, here are some of the digital versions of pieces we featured in the exhibit:
Map of San Juan Ulua Island in 1628. 
“The Routes of the Flying Clipper Ships,” 1930s. Click the links to see these maps in our Digital Collections! 
Map of San Juan Ulua Island in 1628. 
Fascimile of 1468 World Map, previously owned by the Hispanic Society of America.
And some photos of the exhibit live and in-person:
Stay tuned for more updates about future exhibits!
Hispanic Heritage Month: A Special Pop-Up Exhibit
By Lauren Maddox
This past Sunday marked the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month. This month is a celebration of Hispanic Americans who, according to the National Hispanic Heritage Month website, “have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society.” The tradition of a National Hispanic Heritage Month began in 1968, when Representative Edward R. Roybal sponsored legislation that would establish a National Hispanic Heritage Week. The holiday week was signed into effect under Lyndon B. Johnson and then expanded to a month-long period during Reagan’s presidency in 1988. The original start date, September 15th, was chosen to celebrate the official independence days of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua declared in 1821. The original week also encompassed Mexico, Belize, and Chile’s independence days. Now the month-long observance, celebrated from September 15th-October 15th, includes all of these days as well as Dia de la Raza.
In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, many organizations including the Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian, and the National Park Service are hosting events throughout September and October. Throughout the month, there will be a Community Day, a Hispanic Heritage Month Concert with Inca Son, a book talk with Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat, and a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon and more. And in addition to the live events, many digital archive collections are being made public this month– the National Hispanic Heritage Month website includes a list of all related exhibits and collections here. Some highlights from this list: the Library of Congress’s Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape, Documents of 20th Century Latin American and Latino Art supported and hosted by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and many, many others.
But these aren’t the only ways to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month! This week from September 25-27th, the AGSL and UWM Archives are collaborating on a pop-up exhibit featuring curated pieces from both libraries’ collections. The exhibit will span both of our libraries: materials from the Archives will be on display on the second floor and maps from our collections will be exhibited in the AGSL. We are especially excited to showcase the Tira de Santa Catarina Ixtepeji scroll. Please, come celebrate this historic month with us! And enjoy a preview of some of the maps included in the exhibit:
Map of San Juan Ulua Island in 1628. Fascimile of 1468 World Map, previously owned by the Hispanic Society of America. Map of Acapulco in 1628. “The Routes of the Flying Clipper Ships,” 1930s. Click the links to see these maps in our Digital Collections!
The AGSL is open from 8:30-4:30 Monday-Friday! We will also be participating in Milwaukee Open Doors this weekend on September 28th from 10-5! Please stop by and see us!
American Geographical Society Library 