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2026 marks the 100^th anniversary of the establishment of Route 66 in Chicago, Illinois. The celebrated, historic 2,400-mile “Mother Road” connected Chicago to Santa Monica, California with countless stops along the way, from small roadside towns to large cities, through the Midwest and to the West Coast. With this 100-year milestone as its inspiration, this session explores the art and material culture of travel and tourism by considering the visual culture of and along the travel routes which bind and connect us. In the Route 66 instance, examples for reflection and discussion might include billboards, postcards, souvenirs, National Park photo-ops, and the distinctive travel oases whose architecture highlights local styles or tourist expectations of such styles. This is, of course, but one example. This session intends to reflect the chronological and geographical expansiveness of various kinds of travel (commerce, tourism, pilgrimage, migratory, refuge-seeking) and the visual culture it generated. Medieval pilgrimage routes, the caravan routes of the Silk Roads, or the Grand Tour, hint at the breadth of longstanding, communal travel routes. Related scholarship on art creation prompted by travel born of necessity, such as with the Great Migration, the Dust Bowl migration, or the current refugee crises, is also sought. This session aspires to interrogate the art, artifacts, and associated visual culture that developed alongside this diverse travel or responded to it and its travelers.

Proposals are not restricted to MAHS members and are welcome from all scholars.