Travel is more than just tourism, as is illustrated by a new exhibit at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library on the Homewood campus. What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been: Travel Accounts from Special Collections uses manuscripts, sheet music, photographs, books and other articles to portray how the call of the unknown, of the foreign and the exotic, has long tempted people to travel. The exhibit, which runs through April 1, is free and open to the public.

The lure of adventure and the appeal of educational pursuits, self-discovery and scientific exploration are all part of this exhibit, which features a sketchbook made by Baltimore architect Laurence Hall Fowler during his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1904, sheet music celebrating journalist Nellie Bly's trip around the world in 1889, books written by the first American woman to climb the Himalayas and propaganda postcards collected by an American student stranded in Germany at the outbreak of World War I.

The exhibit also highlights the travel experiences of Elisabeth Gilman, daughter of Daniel Coit Gilman, the university's first president. Elisabeth first traveled with her family on a European grand tour in 1883. In 1917, strongly influenced by her family's commitment to social welfare, she volunteered for service with the YMCA in France. In 1931, she left on a fact-finding trip to Russia and for talks with other Socialists in Europe as part of the official delegation to the fourth meeting of the Second International, a federation of socialist parties and trade unions. These trips are documented by photographs, letters and diaries.

The exhibit is on the Eisenhower Library's main level and can be viewed during the library's normal hours, which are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday.