A look at American cartographic representations of WWII Europe, providing historical context for understanding our conception of global space.
Read MoreCrossing the Line: A History of Medical Inspection at the Border
Mexicans quarantined at the Santa Fe Bridge Disinfection Plant, 1917 | USPHS, National Archives
In the early 1900s, medical inspection and photographic documentation ushered in a new set of surveillance procedures for state oversight at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Read MoreBattlefields of Santa Barbara
Detail map of Ellwood and Ellwood Offshore Oil Field, showing location of Luton-Bell Well No. 17, damaged by Japanese shelling Feb 23, 1942
How does modern war mark the California landscape? A single day's photographic record produced on the Southern California coast offers one compelling answer.
Read MoreA Brief History of Border Walls
Graffiti and trash along the barrier that divides Israel from the Palestinians in West Bank | Courtesy of Goatmilk, via NYTimes.com
Incendiary Traces lists historical and contemporary border walls to provide some global and historical context for understanding Southern California's contested US/Mexico border.
Read MoreLos Angeles: Camouflage and Contestation
Bird's eye view of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, 1958 | Courtesy of Stuff from the Park Blog
Art historian Jason Weems examines three mid-century constructions understood as staples of the California landscape: Disneyland, Lakewood, and the aerospace industry.
Read More'Even Our Palm Trees Are Cooler'
San Pedro palm being brought to Fifth Street and Central Avenue for depot, 1889 | Courtesy of USC Libraries Special Collections
Incendiary Traces examines the role that real estate and the railroad played in the advertisement of Southern California as a fertile tropical utopia in the late 1800s.
Read MoreHow a 19th Century Painting Transformed California's Desert World
(Left) "California Calls You", Union Pacific Railroad pamphlet, University of California-San Diego Special Collections, circa 1900 | (Right) "California for the Settler: The Natural Advantages of the Golden State for the Present Day Farmer", Pamphlet cover, Southern Pacific Company, circa 1910 | Courtesy of the California State Railroad Museum Library
In the late 19th century, Southern California's human and natural geography transformed as millions of new residents settled its semi-arid desert world, but artistic renditions of this region seldom get the attention of its northerly neighbors. But why is this the case?
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