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This online exhibition was first published in 2019 by Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. It accompanied and featured content from a physical exhibition of rare materials displayed in Cornell University’s Carl A. Kroch Library from March 21 to September 13, 2019. 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.
Drawing from Cornell’s Rare and Manuscript Collections and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, “World Picture” examines how published travel imagery created and transmitted geographical knowledge during the nineteenth century, a period of rapid and extraordinary change in how people traveled, represented, and understood the world. After photography’s 1839 debut, the new medium was seen as uniquely suited to the task of presenting accurate geographical description. At the same time, traditional illustration methods such as wood engravings, etchings, and lithographs offered varied and often romanticized interpretations of their subjects in an exploding number of publications dedicated to travel and exploration. What does this reveal about the roles of authenticity and aesthetics in the success of the Western project to teach audiences about faraway places?