Keating presents lecture at The Newberry as invited scholar

Ann Durkin Keating, North Central College Dr. C. Frederick Toenniges Professor of History, was a featured speaker for a lecture series titled “The Eighteenth Kenneth Nebenzahl Jr. Lectures in the History of Cartography: The War of 1812 and American Cartography” held Oct. 24-26 at The Newberry, Chicago’s independent research library.

Keating kicked off the series on Oct. 24 with her lecture titled “Preparing for War: The May 1812 Hay Map of Northern Illinois,” which included research from her 2012 book “Rising Up from Indian Country: The Battle of Fort Dearborn and the Birth of Chicago.” Other speakers were from The Newberry Library, University of Delaware, University of Denver and University of Texas at Arlington.  

A program of the Scholl Center for American History and Culture at The Newberry, the Nebenzahl lecture series considered how the evolving geopolitical ambitions of the United States that underpinned the War of 1812 were linked to the emergence of an American national cartography. The seven lecturers explored these and other themes, asking whether and in what ways the War of 1812 and its aftermath was a formative period in American cartography and its representation of American geopolitical ambitions and identity.

Keating has been a member of North Central’s faculty since 1991. She received her B.A. from the University of Illinois and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.