Archives & Special Collections
A&SC at Hillman Library
3960 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Phone: 412-648-8190
Email:
ULS-Archives&SpecialCollections@pitt.edu
This guide was created in the Spring of 2019 by Museum Studies intern, Meghan Lees, under the guidance of Slavic, European, and Global Studies Curator, Dan Pennell and Archives & Special Collections staff member Ben Rubin.
The Ground Floor cases in Hillman Library feature a map of the Silk Road from its Eastern terminus in the Chinese city of Xian to its Western terminus in Constantinople. They also display the late 14th century Catalan Atlas, the most detailed map of its time, showing key places along and major figures who traveled the overland route of the Silk Road.
The exhibit continues on the Second Floor of Hillman Library in five thematic display cases: Horses and Dynasties: Cartography and Painting in China,10th -14th Centuries; Alexander the Great, Kublai Khan, and Marco Polo: Confluences of Power and Exchange in "Assia"; Musical Encounters in the Deserts and Mountains of Central Asia; Explorations in Turkestan: Aurel Stein and Bamiyan; and New World Exploitation and the China Trade with Europe.
Archives & Special Collections is featuring a series of articles written by our student staff in conjunction with our current exhibit Travelers Along the Silk Roads: 10th Century to the Present, which is currently located on the Ground Floor and the Second Floor of Hillman Library. This post was written by Demetri Ramos, a student employee in Archives & Special Collections at the Hillman Library location and a history major who is graduating this month.
Dan Pennell wishes to extend his sincerest thanks to all ULS colleagues who contributed materials, ideas, and suggestions for this exhibit. Particular gratitude goes to the Digital Research Library, to Kari Johnson, and especially to Margaret McGill, without those whose tireless commitment and dedication the exhibit would not have been remotely possible. Dan also wishes to thank the ULS administration; the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; and Year of PittGlobal for their support of the exhibit and of the related Silk Road film and speakers series.