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Will We Always Recognize America? By Kevin Kirkey, Archive & Research Associate
11/3/2009
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity for a brief visit of our nation’s capital. While in Washington, I made my way to a small number of the many museums, memorials and monuments. During this trip I utilized a variety of transportation methods including airplanes, cars, trains and even a water taxi. I explored the Mall by foot from one end to the other, taking pictures and gathering memories.
I have been to DC a couple of other times. Many of the places are just as I remember, others have changed a bit and some things were brand new. While walking the streets of Alexandria, I stopped at Market Square. Interpretive signs helped relay information about the places our founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington spent time. Even though much has changed, many of these places have been preserved for the future. After two centuries, I wondered if they would still recognize these places all of us had visited.
On the return trip, seated next to a window with quite a clear view, I had the chance to look down on America as we raced overhead. The landscape was dotted with evidence of our civilization. Squared off land planted with row crops, dammed waterways backfilled by large reservoirs, zigzagging roads connecting hamlets, sprawling cities that stretched miles all came into view from my perch above. So much change, so much growth. I was amazed at the footprint man has left on our country. I wondered if someday we could ever run out of room to stretch and grow.
Upon my return to work, I took up the task of displaying our latest exhibit addition at the Interpretive Center. This small display is made up of the photography of Bob Lindholm. As an amateur photographer he has traveled from the East Coast to Montana, gathering material for a book about the land and river routes taken by Swiss artist Karl Bodmer and German naturalist, Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied. Lindholm’s photos document the large scale changes along the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers as well as illustrate the landscapes that have changed little since Bodmer painted them 175 years ago.
Bodmer and Maximilian captured a moment in time of our history. They recorded and painted what they thought were “vanishing” people and “unspoiled” state of nature. What they found were people that were adapting to the times. Our exhibit presents two views; Bodmer’s from the 1830’s and Linholm’s from the present. When you gaze at the paired images you may conclude that some of Bodmer’s landscapes are barely recognizable today, others are just as they appeared to these early explorers. During your next visit to the Interpretive Center, take a look at these paired images and perhaps you will think the same thing I did…”two hundred years from now, would I still recognize these places?”
I have been to DC a couple of other times. Many of the places are just as I remember, others have changed a bit and some things were brand new. While walking the streets of Alexandria, I stopped at Market Square. Interpretive signs helped relay information about the places our founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington spent time. Even though much has changed, many of these places have been preserved for the future. After two centuries, I wondered if they would still recognize these places all of us had visited.
On the return trip, seated next to a window with quite a clear view, I had the chance to look down on America as we raced overhead. The landscape was dotted with evidence of our civilization. Squared off land planted with row crops, dammed waterways backfilled by large reservoirs, zigzagging roads connecting hamlets, sprawling cities that stretched miles all came into view from my perch above. So much change, so much growth. I was amazed at the footprint man has left on our country. I wondered if someday we could ever run out of room to stretch and grow.
Upon my return to work, I took up the task of displaying our latest exhibit addition at the Interpretive Center. This small display is made up of the photography of Bob Lindholm. As an amateur photographer he has traveled from the East Coast to Montana, gathering material for a book about the land and river routes taken by Swiss artist Karl Bodmer and German naturalist, Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied. Lindholm’s photos document the large scale changes along the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers as well as illustrate the landscapes that have changed little since Bodmer painted them 175 years ago.
Bodmer and Maximilian captured a moment in time of our history. They recorded and painted what they thought were “vanishing” people and “unspoiled” state of nature. What they found were people that were adapting to the times. Our exhibit presents two views; Bodmer’s from the 1830’s and Linholm’s from the present. When you gaze at the paired images you may conclude that some of Bodmer’s landscapes are barely recognizable today, others are just as they appeared to these early explorers. During your next visit to the Interpretive Center, take a look at these paired images and perhaps you will think the same thing I did…”two hundred years from now, would I still recognize these places?”
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