YOU ARE HERE: Expanding the Concept of Place Special Collections Research Center

Bird Library

04-20-2017 to 08-11-2017

For most, the term “place” refers to a specific location or a singular state of mind. However, a shift in perspective can redefine “place” to include a vastly wider vocabulary that encompasses displacement, migration, and ways of moving through spaces that connect specifically to the Syracuse community: as in the geographical relevance of the Erie Canal and the imagined destination of the Underground Railroad. The physical manifestation of these historical events and social reform movements are often recorded and defined through handwritten notes, surveyor’s maps, personal photographs and journals. YOU ARE HERE: Expanding the Concept of Place utilizes rare books, pamphlets, maps, manuscripts, photographs and other artifacts from the permanent collection of the Special Collections Research Center at the Syracuse University Libraries to reframe and expand the notions of what this “place” is, was, and what it can be.