On December 6, 2008, ELT took a field trip to The Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Specifically, we explored the “Exploring the Early Americas” exhibition which featured pre-Columbian and post-colonization items from the Jay I. Kislak Collection of over 3000 maps, documents, artworks and artifacts. We were asked to examine three different iteams, one being before the arrival of the Europeans, one being from 1492 to 1642, and one being a map. Painted miniature flasks from Guatemalan Lowlands (Maya), dated from AD 600–900, were used by midwives for healing and birthing rituals. Several flasks of the flasks were inscribed with the words “homes for may,” which were the traditional native tobacco and lime mixtures used for medicinal and ritual purposes. Prior to Columbus’s fourth and final voyage to America, Columbus gathered several judges at his home in Seville in 1502 to validate copies of original documents in which Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand had granted titles, powers, and privileges to him and his descendants. This was a thirty-six document entitled “Columbus’s Book of Privileges.” The map of Tenochtitlán (Mexico City) made by Hernán Cortés’ personal memory and published in 1524, is the first European image in print of Tenochtitlán and the Gulf Coast of Mexico. The map of the city includes a main temple precinct and plaza, houses, lakes, suburbs, and towns along the shore. According to the accompanying description, the map draws on both European and indigenous sources. This exhibition provided a great glimpse of past America including the conflicting culture of Native Americans and Europeans and the changes experienced through this interaction.
Additionally, we were asked to visit the National Air & Space Museum, specifically the “Space: Our Journey to Our Future” exhibit. This exhibit emphasizes past and current projects in space exploration such as satellites, space telescopes and provides a preview to future human space travel. One of the future exploration projects showcased in the exhibit is called “Ares: Back to the Moon” which is part of NASA’s Constellation Program. This program would like to send American astronauts back to space in 2014 and to the Moon in 2020 and eventually onward to other sites via the Ares rocket, which is visually shown in a picture. The goal of the program is to set an outpost on Moon to support a long term human presence. Astronauts would have to learn to use resources already on the Moon and prepare for journeys to Mars. The exhibit also highlighted past explorations and projects. For instance, the “Cassini Probe” was a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency to study Saturn and its moons. The probe was launched in 1997 and orbited around Saturn in 2004 and sent back images and data. Some of the images are shown in showcase. This project released the Huygens probe that descended into the atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, in January 2005. More than 250 scientists, who were responsible for designing the probe, are studying the data sent back to them. This exhibit also highlights the Apollo program through various pictures which took place from 1961–1975. The program is known for conducting manned moon landing missions. Apollo was the third human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA. The program set major milestones in the history of human spaceflight. For example, Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit another celestial body. Apollo 17 is known for the last moonwalk.
The Library of Congress and the National Air and Space Museum have very different types of exhibits. The Library of Congress has a very detailed and elegant decorated interior. It is embellished by sophisticated works of art from American painters and sculptors. There are large ceilings, tall columns and beautiful murals everywhere. Every piece of artwork, from tiles to large paintings, has symbolic meanings. The National Air and Space Museum has the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. There are models and replicas of early spacecrafts hanging from the ceilings. The “Space: Our Journey to Our Future” had advanced interactive displays, projection and audio. There were also hands on activities such as allowing visitors to touch actual rocks from the lunar surface and the Red Planet. The information at these two exhibits shows that exploration has changed in technology and scale. For one, humans have expanded their definition of exploration from Earth to that of space. We have expanded our technology from ships to spacecrafts. Our motive for exploration, however, has not significantly changed. From Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas to the first landing on the moon, our motive has always come from human curiosity and desire to understand the world around us.