The co-curators of “Make Big Plans: Daniel Burnham’s Vision of an American Metropolis” discussed the pleasures and challenges of placing Burnham and Bennett’s “Plan of Chicago” in historical perspective, and of capturing both the document’s textual and visual meanings.

Following the talk, Newberry Library staff led a gallery walk of the Library’s Spotlight Exhibition, “Daniel Burnham in the Philippines”.  This show places Burnham’s visit to the Philippines in an historical context that reveals several, sometimes conflicting, processes at play.  First, Filipinos nationalists’ ongoing struggle for Philippine independence, and second, the American’s desire to assert control over its new colony politically, economically, and to some extent, culturally.  The Philippines Burnham encountered, and the plans he created, are the focus of this Spotlight Exhibition.

The “Make Big Plans” exhibition is supported in part by the Burnham Plan Centennial Committee and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For more information and insight on Daniel Burnham and how his ideas influenced the region, explore Chicago Public Radio’s coverage as part of the year-long series, Chicago Matters: Beyond Burnham.

Recorded Saturday, June 27, 2009 at The Newberry Library.