Overview

The World Tour


This article is pending research. A Phase 2 investigation will populate it.

Schoolchildren viewing The Family of Man during the USIA tour
Schoolchildren viewing a Family of Man tour-edition installation. Photographic record from the USIA's documentation of the show's 1955–1962 international tour.U.S. National Archives · DPLA · Public domain

Between 1955 and 1962, editions of the exhibition traveled under the auspices of the United States Information Agency (USIA). The figures commonly cited — ninety-one venues across thirty-seven countries, roughly nine million visitors — are to be verified against USIA records in the U.S. National Archives (RG 306) before any specific number appears here without a source.

Exterior signage of the Family of Man exhibition at Clervaux
Clervaux signage for the permanent installation — the final resting place of the prints after the 1955–62 tour.Joachim Köhler · CC BY-SA 3.0
Perspective note The tour was a flagship of Cold War cultural diplomacy. Fred Turner (The Democratic Surround, 2013) reads it as an instrument of liberal internationalism; Eric Sandeen (1995) reads its reception venue-by-venue; Allan Sekula reads it as ideological work. Articles under this topic must name their sources.
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