The Calgary Institute for the Humanities is home to the Calgary Atlas Project, the aim of which is to create a series of local heritage maps of the City of Calgary. Supported by a Community Grant from the Calgary Foundation, this project seeks to recover crucial stories about Calgary’s past and present, stories that illuminate in surprising ways the character of the city. The project will produce eighteen to twenty maps that each document an alternative history and geography of the city. Each map will be an original work of art commissioned from local writers, artists and illustrators.
Individual maps document such phenomena as the early histories of Calgary’s queer communities, the story of the First Nations’ involvement with the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, underground artists and alternative art movements, and paths of immigration, as reflected in independently owned restaurants and groceries and many more! The Atlas Project aims to bring a new vision of Calgary to Calgary; to show us how we got to where we are, and who we came to be.
Maps will be launched at appropriate community locations and the launches will take various forms: talks, guided walks, and/or museum and gallery exhibitions. As well as easy-to-use and easy-to-distribute folded maps, limited edition prints of each map will be available for purchase. The whole project will, in the end, produce a series of maps that can be gathered to form an atlas.
More information about the maps and where to get them in your community check out the Calgary Atlas Project website. Follow them on Facebook @CalgaryInstitute, Twitter @humanitiesYYC, or email CIH@ucalgary.ca to connect. Each map purchased helps to fund additional map printing to share this project throughout Calgary.
Additional resources:
Check out this story from the launch of their first map A Queer Map: A Guide to the LGBTQ+ History of Calgary.
The next map launch will be for the First Nations Stampede Map virtually at the Glenbow Museum, TBD based on current public health orders. The Buffalo Robe map will be on display at the Glenbow throughout 2021.
You can find the project's maps for sale at these local distributors.
Content contributed by the Calgary Atlas Project
I received both maps in the mail already. Fascinating history, thanks for information.