Exhibit

The tourist is a vile and ludicrous figure; he is always wrong. It is he who debauches the hospitality of primitive peoples, who vulgarises the great monuments of antiquity, littering cathedral squares with ice cream stalls, the desert with luxury hotels. A comic figure, always inapt in his comments, incongruous in his appearance; romance withers before him, avarice and deceit attack him at every step; the shops that he patronizes are full of forgeries . . .


But we are travellers and cosmopolitans, the tourist is the other fellow.


Evelyn Waugh.


The 1920s marked a significant change in travel habits. More people had more time and more discretionary spending for tourism. Likewise, automobiles, trains, ocean liners, and even zeppelins offered reliable, comfortable, and luxurious methods for transport. Explore this golden age of travel through the eyes of 2 prominent locals: H. Phelps Clawson and Geneva Thompson Porter. Travelers and Cosmopolitans: the Tourist is the Other Fellow showcases diaries, photographs, and travel ephemera from the pivotal era of the 1920s and 30s.


The exhibit runs from February 2 to May 29, 2011 in the Rare Book Room, Central Library.  The exhibit is free and open to the public.




Exhibit hours
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday:  8:30am to 6pm
Thursday:  8:30am to 8pm
Sunday:  12pm to 5pm (until Sunday April 17)

Directions to Central Library can be found here.

Interested in obtaining an image from the exhibit?  Contact the library via email or call (716) 858-7900.  Fees may apply; see the Rare Book Room policy on image reproduction for details.