The History & Experience of Route 66 (OOL)
Osher Online | Registration opens Sunday, August 16, 2026 2:00 PM
Route 66 is as much an idea as it is a place. Since its creation in 1926, America’s most famous highway has evolved from a 2,400-mile transportation corridor into a powerful symbol of nostalgia, travel, and the American road. Today, it functions as a kind of pilgrimage route, marked by neon signs, roadside attractions, and preserved motels, cafés, and gas stations.
In this course, we will explore the history, cultural meaning, and enduring appeal of Route 66. Together, we will examine its origins, rise and decline, late-20th century revival, the role of nostalgia and car culture, preservation efforts, and the possible future of this iconic highway.
The program meets on Mondays, 10/5/26 through 11/9/26 at 6:00 pm.
Each live session is 90 minutes
Monday, October 5
Monday, October 12
Monday, October 19
Monday, October 26
Monday, November 2
Monday, November 9
- As this class is delivered by the National Resource Center for OLLIs (NRC) at Northwestern University, you will receive a welcome email from osheronline@northwestern.edu. The email will include your credentials (username & password) as well as a hyperlink to the Osher Online Website through which you will access your course website.
Please save the link once you receive it. Multi-session courses will use this same link each week.
Peter Dedek
Peter B. Dedek, PhD, is a professor of American history at Texas State University whose work explores the cultural history of the built environment and the stories embedded in historic places. Dedek brings together cultural, design, and social history to illuminate how people shape, and are shaped by the spaces they inhabit. He is the author of Hip to the Trip: Route 66 Centennial Edition and The Cemeteries of New Orleans: A Cultural History, and wrote Historic Preservation for Designers, a guide integrating preservation with design.