Courtesy Photo­Image White Stone Junction (Buffalo & Shenandoah Railroad, No. 23) by Michael Flanagan

Courtesy Photo­Image Slow Train Through Arkansas, 1939 by Thomas Hart Benton.

This year's Sheldon Statewide exhibition, "Railroads and the Making of Modern America" will be displayed Sept. 27-Oct. 29 at the McKinley Education Center in North Platte.

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The show is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Fridays, or by appointment.

The show is organized by William Thomas, John and Catherine Angle Chair in the Humanities and Professor of History at UNL and is on view at the Sheldon Museum of Art until May 27, 2012. It will then travel to greater Nebraska.

Occurring on the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act, the Morrill Act, and the Pacific Railway Act, the exhibition provides the opportunity for discussion of these important pieces of legislation that helped shape Nebraska, organizer Julie Jacobson said.

From the 19th century onward, the railway became a political force that altered the American landscape and shaped economic growth. Railroads played a vital role in reconfiguring the country's understanding of time and space and American's relationship towards nature.

The railroad's significance to Nebraska is reflected in the state's curriculum. The exhibition allows for connections to be made to the social studies framework for elementary through high school students.

Railroads are included in the 8th grade standards under "time", "continuity", and "change," with a proposed analysis of railroad construction. The exhibition fosters interdisciplinary connections between art and history curriculums, organizers say.