Portland, Maine International Symposium 11-14 September 2025

REFLECTIONS AND NEW PERSPECTIVES ON MAPPING MAINE, NEW ENGLAND AND MARITIME CANADA

The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education in Portland, Maine, will host the 2025 conference, showcasing their extensive collections dating back to 1475, and utilizing the facilities of the University of Southern Maine, including the newly built McGoldrick Center for Student and Career Success. The Conference title is “Reflections and New Perspectives on Mapping Maine, New England and Maritime Canada,”

There will also be a three-day post symposium tour of Maine, to include Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, September 15-17.

PROGRAM

Thursday 11 September 2025 – Welcome to Portland

10 am – 1 pm OPTIONAL Tour: Casco Bay Ferry Lines Mail Boat Cruise of Casco Bay, Portland (select option to register for Ferry Boat cruise at registration).
Lunch on your own
3 pm – 5 pm Conference registration and packet pick-up, Osher Map Library, USM Portland
5 pm – 6 pm Welcome Reception, Hannaford Hall Lobby, Abromson Center, USM Portland – Appetizers and hors d’oeuvres; cash bar
6 pm – 7 pm Keynote address (Hannaford Hall) by James Eric Francis, Sr., ‘Penobscot Nation Tribal Historian Cultural Geography and a Wabanaki Sense of Place’
[Keynote address is open to the public] Dinner on your own

Friday 12 September 2025 – Local and Regional Context

Morning Programme: McGoldrick Center, University of Southern Maine, Salons A-C

8:30 am Arrival and Coffee/Tea
9 am – 10 am Dr Matthew Edney, Osher Chair in the History of Cartography, ‘Situating New England and the Maritimes Geographically and Cartographically’
10 am – 10:30 am Coffee break, Sponsored by Leventhal Map and Education Center
10:30 am – 11:30 am Dr Libby Bischof, Executive Director, Osher Map Library, and Professor of History, USM, ‘Mapping and Charting the History of Portland, Maine’
11:30 am – 12:30 pm Dr Garrett Dash Nelson, President and Curator, Leventhal Map and Education Center, Boston Public Library, ‘America 250 and Mapping the Revolutionary War: The ARGO Online Mapping Project’
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Catered buffet lunch, McGoldrick Salons Sponsored by the Friends of the Osher Map Library

Afternoon Programme: Maine Historical Society (MHS), 489 Congress Street, Portland

2 pm – 5 pm Maine Historical Society (Meet at MHS at 2 pm)
Our time at Maine Historical Society will focus on their recent ‘Beyond Borders: Mapping Maine and the Northeast Boundary (1625–1893)’ project and will include collection tours of manuscript maps, tour of the Longfellow House (the famed 19th-century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s boyhood home, and a panel discussion about mapping the  Northeast Boundary and the Beyond Borders project.
5pm – 6 pm Cocktail reception at Maine Historical Society.
Dinner on your own

Saturday 13 September 2025 – Teaching with Maps and Maritime History

Morning Programme: Teaching with Maps, McGoldrick Center, University of Southern Maine, Salons A–C
9 am – 9:30 am Welcome/Coffee
9:30 am – 10:30 am Teaching with Maps Panel featuring K-12 (primary and secondary school) educators discussing how they incorporate historic maps into their classroom experiences.
10:30 am – 10:45 am Break
10:45am – 11:45 am Teaching with Maps Panel featuring University Faculty from a variety of disciplines discussing creative ways of incorporating historic maps in their classrooms and assignments.
12 pm – 1 pm Map Viewing at the Osher Map Library, focusing on maps used in teaching, in alignment with the morning session panels. [optional visit]

Afternoon Programme: Excursion to Bath, Maine (Maine’s ‘City of Ships’)

1 pm Charter bus leaves from front of Osher Map Library to Bath, Maine [for those not driving on their own]. Bagged lunch available for bus ride (for those interested, select option during registration)
2 pm Arrive at Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington Street, Bath, Maine
2 pm – 3:30 pm Collections and exhibit tours
4 pm – 5 pm Optional Kennebec River Cruise (narrated one-hour tour) (select during registration)
5:30 pm Charter bus returns from Maine Maritime to Portland, Maine
Dinner on Your Own

Sunday 14 September 2025 – Treasures of the collection and farewell dinner

Morning Programme: Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education

9 am – 10 am History and overview of the Osher Map Library and Collections with Dr Libby Bischof, Dr Matthew Edney, and Mr Louis Miller
10 am – 10:30 am Coffee break (with snacks)
10:30 am – 11:30 am Thematic lecture on OML Collections (Speaker TBD)
11:30 am – 1 pm Guided Tours of the Osher Map Library [Vaults and storage areas, digital labs, gallery, treasures of the collection in the Reading Room] 1 pm – 1:15 pm Preview of IMCoS 43rd International Symposium 2026 to be held in Japan
1:15 pm – 6 pm Lunch on your own and afternoon free to explore Portland
6 pm/7 pm Farewell Dinner [Lobster/Clambake, Seafood dinner experience, with vegetarian options, etc. available] Location TBD

Registration is now open by clicking on this link

Registration fee (including closing dinner): $350 per person (students free)
Questions about the programme or the post-symposium trip can be directed to Dr Libby Bischof, Executive Director, Osher Map Library, elizabeth.bischof@maine.edu

15–17 September 2025 – Post-Symposium Trip

The post-symposium trip will be to Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park, with two-nights in Bar Harbor, Maine. It will include visits to the Farnsworth Museum of Maine and American Art (Rockland), Acadia National Park, the Abbe Museum, the Asticou Terraces and Thuya Gardens, etc. The trip is limited to 25 guests.

Accommodation in Portland:  The part of Portland that USM and the Osher Map Library is located in is not within a short strolling distance from any hotels in Portland. Most are within a mile (a selection is listed below). Buses, taxis and Ubers are available.

Hotels within 1-1.5 miles of the Osher Map Library/USM Portland Campus:

Longfellow Hotel, 754 Congress Street https://www.longfellowhotel.com/hotel/
Holiday Inn Portland, By the Bay,88 Spring Street, https://www.innbythebay.com/
The Westin Portland Harborview, 157 High Street https://www.marriott.com
The Press Hotel, Autograph Collection, 119 Exchange Street, https://www.marriott.com
Portland Regency Hotel and Spa, 20 Milk Street, https://www.theregency.com/
Canopy by Hilton Waterfront, 9 Center Street, https://www.hilton.com
Courtyard Marriott, Portland Downtown, 321 Commercial Street https://www.marriott.com

Travel Notes: We recommend that international guests fly into Boston’s Logan International Airport, and either rent a car or take the Concord Coach Lines bus (stops at each airport terminal) up to Portland, Maine (2 hours North). Guests from the
US and Canada may instead wish to fly into the Portland International Jetport, which is about 10-15 minutes from downtown Portland, Maine