Fictional and nonfictional accounts written by Americans living in the Canal Zone, including both boys’ and girls’ adventure stories and stories from the official Canal Record, give insight into how the United States wanted the Canal constructed in the minds of its smallest citizens: as an adventure, a trail of progress, and a set of locks that held the key to the future. Contemporary children’s books from Panama illustrate historic and modern conflicts relating to the Canal and the Panamanian fight for independence.

Ralph Emmett Avery (American)

America’s Triumph at Panama. 1913. Regan Printing House

TC 774 .A85 Latin American & Caribbean Collection, George A. Smathers Libraries.

Gift of the Panama Canal Museum.

Clara Ingram Judson (American, 1879-1960)

Soldier Doctor: The Story of William Gorgas. 1942. Scribner

23h51217 Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature, George A. Smathers Libraries

Sue Core (American)

Isthmiana. 1939. Panama American Publishing Company

PS 3529 .D514 I85 Latin American & Caribbean Collection, George A. Smathers Libraries. Gift of the Panama Canal Museum

Rosalba P. de Barb (Panamanian)

Panamá en el Mundo. 1972

Libros McGraw-Hill F 1566 .B37

Latin American & Caribbean Collection, George A. Smathers Libraries. Gift of the Panama Canal Museum

 

 

Pat Alvarado (American)

El Barco que Estrenó el Canal de Panamá – The Ship that Opened the Panama Canal. 2006.

Piggy Press Books HE 537.8 .A58 Latin American & Caribbean Collection, George A. Smathers Libraries.

This online exhibition is based on the Panama Canal Centennial exhibitions that were organized by the George A. Smathers Libraries to celebrate the centennial of the opening of the Panama Canal. The exhibitions were presented across the University of Florida campus, including the Fisher School of Accounting, Florida Museum of Natural History, Legal Information Center, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, and Smathers Libraries. All items are part of the Panama Canal Museum Collection, Special & Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida unless otherwise noted.

 

 

View the complete object lists from the centennial exhibitions