No contemporaneous map of the Underground Railroad in Western Illinois, or any other of the national network of illicit escape routes of people escaping slavery, has been found. All maps of the WIUGRR were created long after its wind-up with the abolition of slavery in 1865, and are based on recollections, some written down, many oral, of UGRR conductors. In other words, the maps in this exhibit are educated guesses. It is interesting to compare the level of precision that each map shows as well as other features - topography, context, and publication dates -which reflect emphases and historical questions of modern scholars and commemorators.