'Railroads and the Making of Modern America' showing at Sheldon

            The Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln presents "Railroads and the Making of Modern America" through May 20. The exhibition features 50 works from the Sheldon Museum of Art's permanent collection -- as well as a handful of local loans -- and examines the ways artists captured and shaped the modern ideas and practices made possible by the railroad, emphasizing the broader cross-border movements and their global consequences.

            "Railroads and the Making of Modern America" is organized by William Thomas, John and Catherine Angle Chair in the Humanities and professor of history at UNL, and coincides with the publication of his book, "The Iron Way: The Civil War, Railroads and the Making of Modern America" (Yale University Press) as well as a national symposium on the year 1862 hosted by UNL in March.

            A miniature operating railroad -- including both Burlington and Union Pacific O scale model trains -- from the private collection of James C. Seacrest will run in Sheldon's Great Hall during the exhibition. O scale models are constructed to a scale proportion of 1:48 and are often exact models of the locomotives they represent. Jeff MacDonald, of Boulder, Colo., created a 13-by-27-foot track installation with references to Nebraska locations specifically for Sheldon's Great Hall. Trains will run each hour and half-hour during museum hours.

            Sheldon Museum of Art houses a permanent collection of more than 12,000 objects focusing on American art. Sheldon, 12th and R streets on the UNL City Campus, is open free during regular hours: Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; closed Mondays. For information or to arrange a tour, call 402-472-2461. Additional information is also available on the museum's website, www.sheldonartmuseum.org.

Writer: Ann Gradwohl