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This online exhibition was first published in 2014 by Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. It accompanied and featured content from a physical exhibition of rare materials displayed on the first floor of West Sibley Hall, Cornell University, from April 20 to June 30, 2014. Cornell University Library archived the original version of the online exhibition in 2024 to preserve its earlier design. This version maintains access to the original images and text within an updated website.
Exhibit co-sponsored by the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
From the roaring twenties to the New Deal era, planners, civic leaders, and other reformers diagnosed urban ailments and prescribed new interventions to treat them. The young profession of city planning pointed to the debilitating effects of congestion and sprawl, as large metropolitan areas grew up and out. The negative aspects of automobiles were already becoming noticeable in urban areas. Planning as a profession evolved alongside a growing demand for improvements to urban mobility, safety, and parking.
This exhibition explores these planning approaches through items drawn from the architecture and city planning collections in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.