Programs

Rivers, Bridges, Transportation, and Roads: Infrastructures in History

Recent catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina and the bridge collapse in Minneapolis have made the problem of infrastructures vividly clear to Americans. Commerce and social mobility depend upon roads, rails, and river links.

In this program participants will examine how American attitudes towards transportation infrastructures have changed over time and what this historical legacy means today. An historical overview will include the debate over "internal improvements" in the Early Republic and the intense flurry of canal building epitomized by the Erie Canal. Moving west, Zeller will look at man's almost constant reshaping of the Mississippi river since the mid-1800s. The role of the Army Corps of Engineers and its changing conceptions of river management will be discussed in tandem with the environmental ramifications of these interventions. More recently, the 1956 Interstate Act and the building of interstate highways remade the American landscape. Plans and photographs will be shared to illustrate the impact of these infrastructures.

Dr. Thomas Zeller is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Maryland whose area of expertise is technology, environmental history and the history of roads and rivers. He also holds a joint appointment with the A. James Clark School of Engineering. He has written on the history of roads and landscapes in the United States and Germany during the 20th century and published, in 2007, a monograph "Driving Germany: The Landscape of the Autobahn, 1930-1970."

Dr. Thomas Zeller is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Maryland whose area of expertise is technology, environmental history and the history of roads and rivers. He also holds a joint appointment with the A. James Clark School of Engineering. He has written on the history of roads and landscapes in the United States andGermany during the 20th century and published, in 2007, a monograph "Driving Germany: The Landscape of the Autobahn, 1930-1970."