An evening at the University of Southern Maine as we learn about the city of Portland in the 1830s—through maps—with our colleagues from the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education in a talk entitled “Mapping Portland in the 1830s”. Dr. Libby Bischof, Executive Director and Public Historian, and Louis Miller, Assistant Director for Research and Fellowships, will utilize John Cullum’s 1836 Map of the City of Portland with Latest Improvements to explore our historic city. This unique, full color, early map shows the community centers and development patterns of the city before trains changed everything.
Portland by Land, Portland by Sea
An exhibit and lecture series at the Portland Public Library coming January 2026. Transportation has always been the invisible architect of our cities—from port cities clustered around harbors, to trolley lines that enabled suburbs in the early twentieth century, to buses, planes, and cruise ships that reshaped waterfronts and economies.
More details coming soon!