Field Trip: The Library of Congress and The National Air and Space Museum
December 6, 2008
On December 6, 2008, I ventured to the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum located in
downtown Washington D. C. to examine some exhibits about different forms of exploration as seen through the eyes
of scientists and historians.
The exhibit I observed in the Library of Congress was titled Exploring the Early Americas, and it contained maps,
documents, artifacts, and works of art which detailed early Native American culture before and after contact with
the expanding Western world and the impact of the two worlds encountering one another. While at the Library of
Congress, I studied three particular items before and after Western contact with the Americas.
The first artifact I encountered was a Miniature “Altar” which dates from AD 200-600. This object was most likely
a manifestation of Mayan mythology regarding the creation of the universe. The “Miniature Altar” looks like three
spheres surrounding a flat plate with the head of jaguar depicted on the surface of the plate. It is supposed to
display Mayan ideas of the beginning of time and symbolizes the “hearth of creation” as the center of the universe.
There are two dates inscribed on the object, and both dates are mythological; the exhibit states that the
mythological dates suggest that the events the altar depicts, like creation, are not to be associated with this
world. The exhibit also stated that it is likely that this altar, of three hearthstones and comal, was in the tomb
of a royal woman to accompany her on her journey to the “other world,” where it is likely the dates suggest the
events depicted on the altar occurred. This piece reveals some Mayan ideas about the myths they believed to be
true about this life, the next, and the origin of life. The fact that it could have been meant to accompany a
woman to the next world reveals particular aspects about their religion and beliefs.
Mayan Miniature "Altar" (200-600 AD)
The next piece I examined was the First European Chronicle of Peru. It was written by Pedro de Cieza of Spain who
ventured to the New World, to Hispaniola first and then to Peru as a soldier. This chronicle was written between
1518 and 1560 AD, within a century of the Western World discovering the New World. Cieza’s chronicle is the product
of much research and interviews with the indigenous people of Peru, the Incas; his work documents the Inca realm
and its past, as seen through the eyes of this Spaniard from his interviews with local officials, Inca lords, and
high officials. He captured the ethnography, natural history, and sociopolitical history and tradition of the Incas
in a legitimate attempt to understand who the Incas were and from whence they came.
First European Chronicle of Peru
The final object I studied in this exhibit at the Library of Congress was a map with notes and commentary from
Emanuel Bowen (1673-1767), a London engraver and map-seller, who developed this map in 1720. This map came from a
time when “treasure fleets” were making regular trips to the Americas in order to deliver merchandise and to
collect treasures from the New World. This practice demonstrates the way Europe began to exploit the New World for
it resources and riches and shows the way they regarded the indigenous peoples with no claim to the precious metals
and treasures they took. Bowen’s map notes the routes of the Spanish treasure fleets and other points of interest
like Columbus’s landing site in Hispaniola; it was likely useful to the Europeans in their pursuits of exploration
and quests for riches of the New World, especially since these treasure fleets embarked almost annually between
the mid-seventeenth and late-eighteenth centuries.
Bowen's Map of the New World
After Exploring the Early Americas in the Library of Congress, I ventured to the National Air and Space Museum.
There, I examined different displays regarding space exploration missions. It was certainly interesting to see the
different ways NASA projects to undertake to explore space in the next few years as I perused the plans for projects
which will soon be out of this world (I couldn’t resist)!
The first project I viewed was the Ares I mission which is a part of NASA’s Constellation Program, which intends to
send Americans back into space by 2014 and to the moon by 2012. NASA is planning to build a long-term outpost on
the moon through this program in order to support a long-term human presence on the moon. They hope for astronauts
to learn to use the resources which are already on the Moon as a means of preparation to venture to Mars or to
other destinations in the Solar System. This exhibit itself has a model of the Ares I and the “flight plan” of the
project. When Ares I and Ares V are in orbit, NASA plans to have Orion rendezvous the Earth departure stage and the
Altair lunar module. The Earth departure stage is planned to propel this combined spacecraft as it journeys to the
Moon; all four astronauts will use the Altair lunar lander to drop to the Moon’s surface while the Orion circles
in lunar orbit. Altair is projected to be the base for weeklong surface exploration missions and the means of life
support for the astronauts; then Altair will propel the crew back to the Orion spacecraft which is planned to take
them back to Earth. This exhibit has models of the crafts and image displays which detail the projected events of
this mission.
Ares I
The second mission I viewed at the Air and Space Museum was about the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity which
were launched on Mars in 2004 by NASA. The rovers were meant to explore the chemistry and geology of the Martian
surface. Though it had long been speculated that there was once water on Mars, adequate data was not available to
substantiate this claim. These rovers found convincing evidence which correlated with the presence of water on
Mars. Among the things found by the rovers which support this speculation are rocks collected with deposits of
salt, left by evaporating water; hematite, which forms in the presence of water, and rocks with ripple-like layers,
as though formed by the lapping of large lakes. It is because of these findings of Spirit and Opportunity that we
know there was once water on Mars. This exhibit comes complete with a miniature model of a Rover and an
illustration of one in action on the surface of Mars.
Model of a Mars Rover!
The final mission I examined was NASA’s SOFIA, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, which will study
the stars from a 747 airliner cruising around 45,000 feet. Cruising from this height will remove some of the
distortion caused by water vapor, dust, and pollutants in the atmosphere. SOFIA will capture infrared light since
many objects in space are invisible in ordinary light or obscured by clouds of gas and dust, but detectable by the
infrared light they emit. The formation of new solar systems; identification of complex molecules in space; planets,
comets, and asteroids in our own solar system; nebulae and dust in galaxies; and black holes at the center of
galaxies are some of the phenomena SOFIA is projected to study. The exhibit includes pictures of SOFIA, displays
detailing the mission, and a model of SOFIA’s infrared telescope nestled in the fuselage of its 747 mothership.
SOFIA's Infrared Telescope Nesteled in the Fuselage of its 747 Mothership
The exhibits at each of these museums were different in the ways that they presented data. The Library of Congress
displayed a retrospective account of events that occurred in the past, while the Air and Space Museum looks to the
future. The Early Americas exhibit displayed raw data, but the space exhibit had interactive things to do which
made the displays more interesting for younger people or audiences less familiar with the topics the exhibit was
addressing. Both exhibits centered on the theme of exploring a seemingly new world; the Early Americans exhibit
showed explorations outside of the familiar continents, and the space exhibit detailed explorations outside of the
familiar planet. The similarities are interesting in this respect, but the differences seem quite appropriate. The
information presented in the space exhibit may be harder to understand for people without a background in the
topics, so the engaging fun and interactive activities enable people to pay attention long enough to appreciate
the displays. The material in the Library of Congress could be read at face value, and, though it had many
artifacts and displays, they were not as interactive as the displays at the museum. This is fitting since the
displays at the Library of Congress seem more suited to a more academic audience seeking to observe the indigenous
cultures of the New World before and after contact with the West.
These two exhibits also display differing and similar aspects of exploration. The space exhibit does an exemplary
job of displaying the technological advancements necessitated by exploration in a world so far removed from our
own. The European explorers embarked on their ventures in wooden ships, while astronauts leave the atmosphere in
rockets. Some Europeans took cartographers and mathematicians along to calculate latitude, but they had very little
to go on, apart from compasses and projected maps. Astronauts have some of the most brilliant, hardworking people
in the world calculating every minute detail of their trip. Their ventures are calculated, and their technology
has certainly come a long way. The innovations in technology and logistics are a testament to how far exploration
technology and precision have come. The Early Americans exhibit had many maps from European explorations; these
reveal how large of a scale exploring the New World was to the Europeans. While exploring the New World seems to
pale in comparison to the magnitude of exploring something so endless as space, it is important to remember that,
to people who lived then, the ocean was perceived to be a vast expanse whose end they did not know. The explorations
of the Europeans also seemed to center around extracting valuables from the New World, while space exploration
appears to be more of a purely scientific pursuit. It can lead one to understand that the Europeans valued
treasures from the New World as NASA explorers value the knowledge and understanding of our universe we can derive
from exploring space. As a science and history major, I really enjoyed going a field trip that examined these two
different approaches to studying a concept like exploration.
Hanging out on the moon with my roomie!
The Library of Congress
National Air and Space Museum
Last modified: 15 December 2008