CONTACT: Wendy Leopold at (847) 491-4890 or at w-leopold@northwestern.edu

February 10, 2004

Unusual Exhibit Explores Elevator's Influence

Elisha Graves Otis demonstrates his invention at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York in 1853. Illustration from Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani and Lutz Hartwig, eds., Vertical: Lift, Escalator, Paternoster: A Cultural History of Vertical Transport (Berlin: Ernst & Sohn, 1994), p. 56.

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The history and influence of the elevator on urban growth, technology, culture and the arts is the subject of Northwestern University Library’s newest exhibit on display in the Main Library’s first-floor exhibit space through March 19. The library is located at 1970 Campus Drive.

Titled “The Elevator and the City,” the exhibit features a striking selection of books, maps and photographs that trace the history and science of freight, storage and passenger elevators from the early 1800s. Drawing from materials from Northwestern University Library’s vast collections, the exhibit traces the wide-ranging effects of the elevator in modern life.

“The Elevator and the City” shows how the elevator contributed to the growth of cities such as Chicago and New York, which were forced to expand upward with skyscrapers or “elevator buildings,” as they were popularly called in the 19th century.

A section of the exhibit highlights Elisha Otis’ 1854 demonstration of the first safety passenger hoist (patented in 1861) while another speculates about elevators of the future. Also featured are elevators of the imagination, such as Roald Dahl’s “Great Glass Elevator;” a portrait of the inventor of Muzak or “elevator music;” and elevators in art, including a farce by William Dean Howell in which guests are stuck in an elevator on their way to an elegant dinner.

Film clips from “A Corner in Wheat” (1909), “Metropolis” (1926), “North by Northwest” (1959), “Some Like it Hot” (1959), “Star Trek IV” (1986), “Being John Malkovich” (1999) and other movies explore the ways in which filmmakers have made use of the elevator. These film clips show how elevators serve as visual props propelling a story forward, providing comic relief or representing society in microcosm. A facsimile script of Billy Wilder’s comic masterpiece “Some Like It Hot” is on display.

“The Elevator and the City” curators are Rochelle Elstein and Harriet Lightman, University Library bibliographers, and Robert Michaelson, head librarian of the University’s Seeley G. Mudd Library for Science and Engineering.

University Library is open to the public Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to noon. At all other times, current Northwestern University identification is required to enter the Library. For further information, call (847) 491-8306.