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Original Exhibition
September 4th - October 29th, 2000
At Union
College and the Schenectady Museum Present
A Traveling
Exhibition
A Monument of Progress: The Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a traveling
exhibition curated by Rachel Seligman, Director/Curator of the Mandeville
Gallery at Union College
Exhibition Description:
The Erie Canal, begun in 1817, was a
triumph of early engineering in the United States and one of the most ambitious
construction projects of the nineteenth-century America. From its opening in
1825, through the period of the Enlargement, and until the completion of the
Barge Canal in 1918, the Erie Canal underwent enormous changes and expansions in
response to its overwhelming popularity as a means of travel and transport.
These additions and revisions are documented by thousands of engineering maps
and drawings created over the course of the nineteenth century. This exhibition
illustrates these complex structures using the engineering drawings created for
the Enlargement builders, as well as a number of prints and drawings from the
nineteenth century which provide other views of the canal and its structures.
the original engineering drawings are housed in the New York State Archives and
were included in the fall 2000 exhibition A Monument of Progress at Union
College, where many were displayed for the very first time. Other items used in
the exhibition came from the Canal Society of New York State and from the
Permanent Collection of Union College.
The traveling exhibition consists of high-quality Giclee reproductions that were
created from the original engineering drawings, prints, watercolors, and maps of
the Canal. these facsimile prints are displayed in exhibition cases and are
accompanied by panels with label information and interpretive text, which mount
on the wall. Also accompanying the prints are large models of Canal structures:
an aqueduct, a lock, and a change bridge.
Contact
Information:
For more information or to book this
exhibition for your venue, please contact: Rachel
Seligman, Director/Curator of the Mandeville Gallery, Union College,
Schenectady, NY 12308. 518-388-6729. seligmar@union.edu
To request a
catalogue of the exhibition contact
Rachel Seligman
at seligmar@union.edu
Lenders to
the exhibition:
Albany Institute of History & Art;
Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery;
Canal Society of New York State;
Madison County Historical Society;
New York State Archives;
New York State Museum;
Onondaga Historical Association;
Schenectady County Historical
Society;
Special Collections of Schaffer Library, Union College; Union
College Permanent Collection
Exhibition,
catalogue, and traveling exhibition made possible by a grant from
New York State, George E.
Pataki, Governor
Model
construction supported in part by the State Education Department
Professor
Andrew Wolfe's participation made possible in part by the Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation
Photographs by
Patrick O'Rourke and Craig Williams
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