American Journeys: Columbus to Kerouac

The voyage of Christopher Columbus unleashed forces of unprecedented speed, scope, and impact. Driven by choice or coercion, Europeans, Africans, and Asians crossed the oceans to make their way in this New World, with catastrophic consequences for Native Americans. The interactions of these diverse peoples created the conflicts and innovations that shaped American history, literature, and culture.

In this ever-shifting landscape, words on paper preserved public acts and private thoughts and became powerful agents of change. In celebration of the opening of the Mary and David Harrison Institute of American History, Literature, and Culture and the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, the University of Virginia presents this selection of treasured manuscripts, books, and artifacts, which trace some of the remarkable journeys that brought us from 1492 to the mid-twentieth-century era of social protest.

Exhibit sections:

• Sudden Impact
• Under Duress
• Destiny Manifested
• Collision Course
• The Road Unknown
• Survivors
• One-Way Ticket
• On the Road
• Coda