Osher Map Library & Smith Center for Cartographic Education

06/21/2026

For Father's Day, we're highlighting map-making families! Gilles Robert de Vaugondy (1688–1766) and Didier Robert de Vaugondy (1723-1786) were a father-son team of cartographers and map publishers based in Paris during the eighteenth century.

They were known for their accuracy and attention to detail. Like this 1755 map of New England and Eastern Canada, which shows rivers, mountains, and banks. It features a cartouche engraved, hand-colored and signed by Catherine Haussard(1746-1791). Who worked at her family's engraving business with her own father, Jean-Baptiste Haussard(1680–1749), and her sister, Élisabeth Haussard (1700– 1804), best known for her scientific and technical drawing.

Making map-making a real family affair to celebrate!


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Collection: Osher Collection

Name: Partie de l'Amerique Septent? qui comprend La Nouvelle France ou Le Canada, Par le Sr. Robert de Vaugondy Geog? Ordinaire du Roy. Avec Privilege 1755.

Barcode: 690

Image Number: 690.0001

Creator: Robert de Vaugondy, Gilles, 1688-1766

From Atlas: Yes

Notes: From the author's "Atlas Universel". Colorist: Catherine Haussard.

Atlas Reference: Atlas Universel

Title Translation: Part of North America Which includes New France or Canada, By Sr. Robert de Vaugondy Geographer Ordinary of the King. With Privilege 1755.

Physical Description: 1 map: colored, illustrated

Date/Date Range Produced: 1755

Date/Date Range Published: 1755

Language: French

Region Depicted: Canada, Maine, Massachusetts, New England, New Hampshire, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Vermont

Map Type: Geographical Political maps

Dimensions: H 51.2 x W 67.5 cm

Printing Process: Engraving

Printing Technique: Copper

Material Type: Paper

Donor: Osher

Permanent URL: https://oshermaps.org/map/690.0001

06/19/2026

The Osher Map Library will be closed this Friday, June 19th, in recognition of Juneteenth.

Although the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, it wasn't immediately implemented in areas still under Confederate control. In places like the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not find out they were free until June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. Juneteenth is now recognized as the nation’s second Independence Day, but it only recently became a federal holiday.

If this is a holiday you are unfamiliar with, we invite you to do some research to better understand it's significants. You can start with this 1891 atlas, which includes a double spread of close-up maps of "Galveston, Tex. and its Fortifications" to understand where the Union soldiers arrived.


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Parent: Atlas to accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies published under the direction of the Hon. Stephen B. Elkins, Secretary of War Maj. George B. Davis U.S.A. Mr. Leslie J. Perry Mr. Joseph W. Kirkley Board of Publication Compiled by Capt. Colvin D. Cowles 23d. U.S. Infantry Part VIII.

Collection: Osher Collection

Name: Galveston, Tex. and its fortifications.

Barcode: 1261

Image Number: 1261.0007

Creator: Davis, George B. (George Breckenridge), 1847-1914Hains, Peter C.Houston, D. C. (David Crawford), 1835-1893

Date Created: 1891

Date Published: 1891

Permanent URL: https://oshermaps.org/map/1261.0007

06/18/2026

A friendly reminder that the OML will be closed on Friday, June 19th, in recognition of Juneteenth. But there are plenty of great places to celebrate around Portland!

We'll reopen for visits to the Reading Room and gallery exhibition on Saturday from 10 AM - 2 PM!

06/13/2026

Come join us this afternoon at USM's McGoldrick Center as we welcome Maine state historian Earle G. Shettleworth for a talk about the historical maps of Maine artist Mildred G. Burrage. Reception from 12:30-1 and lecture at 1pm. 2nd floor salons.

An Afternoon with Earle Shettleworth

06/10/2026

Maps come in all shapes, sizes, and formats, but in this case, it's a placemat!

Artist Ruth Rhoads Lepper was known for her work along the Maine coast. In the 1940's she developed an interest in cartography and began producing pictorial maps of the Maine coast and Maine history. She included images of places of interest and activities around the state. This placemat map features the Schooner Wyoming, which was the largest wooden sailing vessel at the time it was built in 1909.


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Collection: Osher Map Library Collection

Name: Maine Placemat

Barcode: 58888

Image Number: 58888.0001

Creator: Lepper, Ruth Rhoads

Date/Date Range: 1964

Publishing Location: Portland, Maine

Language: English

Material Type: Paper

Dimensions: 20.5 x 30.5 cm , on sheet 23.5 x 34 cm

See Also: The Maine Coast, A Map of Casco Bay

LC Call Number: G3730 1964.L4

OCLC: 147176986

Subjects: Maine coastSailing ships

Permanent URL: https://oshermaps.org/map/58888.0001

06/09/2026

Please join us for an afternoon lecture that explores a fascinating but largely unknown body of work by a major twentieth-century Maine artist who was inspired by her love of history. Between 1925 and 1940, Maine artist Mildred G. Burrage created forty maps, many of which portrayed historical subjects, including the American Revolution.

This lecture is co-hosted with the Maine Historical Society, and is part of the Osher Map Library's Founding Memories: America at 250 Lecture series, with grant support from the Maine Semiquincentennial Commission with funding provided by the Maine State Archives and Maine State Cultural Affairs Council.

Date/Time: Saturday, June 13th, 12:30-2:30 PM
Reception: 12:30-1:00 PM
Lecture and Q and A: 1:00-2:30 PM
Location: McGoldrick Center Salons, 2nd Floor, USM Portland Campus

Learn More:

An Afternoon with Earle Shettleworth

06/02/2026

This we're highlighting our 1588 "sea carde of Britayne conteining the coastes, bays, iles, and havens that lye between Rouscou and Groye verie dilligently corrected", which includes a collection of creatures!

Showing the west coast of Brittany, France, this copper engraving includes both familiar farm animals as well as giant fish roaming the sea! With some details showing familiar faces, it makes one wonder about the "mythical" nature of the other animals.


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Collection: Smith Collection

Name: The sea carde of Britayne conteining the coastes, bays, iles, and havens that lye between Rouscou and Groye verie dilligently corrected.

Barcode: 1661

Image Number: 1661.0001

Creator: Bry, Theodore de, 1528-1598Waghenaer, Lucas Janszoon, 1534 or 1535-1606

Publishing Location: London

Notes: Verso: Description in English of the coast of Britanny. Shows the west coast of Brittany, France; illustrated with sea monsters

Physical Description: 1 map: colored

Date/Date Range Produced: 1588

Date/Date Range Published: 1588

Language: English

Region Depicted: Brittany, France

Dimensions: 32 x 50 cm on sheet 39.7 x 51 cm

Printing Process: Engraving

Printing Technique: Copper

Material Type: Paper

LC Call Number: G5833.B74 W3 1588

OCLC: 58437112

Donor: Smith

Subjects: Sea monsters

Permanent URL: https://oshermaps.org/map/1661.0001

05/30/2026

You never know what you’ll find when browsing through our collections. Check out this 1948 map of New England Airports. We were surprised at the vast number of airports and landing fields in our home state of Maine almost 80 years ago. The map is chock full of information for each landing site, including elevation, length of longest runway, landing surfaces, etc. It was not, however, to be used as a flight map! ✈️ 🗺️

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Name: New England Airport Map

Barcode: 12992

Creator: New England Council. Aviation Committee

Date/Date Range Published: 1948

Region Depicted: New England

Dimensions: 86 x 66 cm

Notes: Verso: Directory of New England airports.

Permanent URL: https://oshermaps.org/map/12992.0001

05/27/2026

We are pleased to announce the digital publication of the exhibition catalog for "A Pageant of Spectacles: Chromolithography in America," by Dr. Matthew Edney, our Faculty Scholar and Osher Chair in the History of Cartography.
A Pageant of Spectacles was on display at the Osher Map Library from November 30th, 2023 - June 29th, 2024. This exhibition catalog features the companion article "Mapping, Printing, and Color," by Dr. Edney which explores the history of different printing processes used in mapmaking throughout history, as well as a catalog of the items displayed in the exhibition. Click below to download a copy [designed by Paul Fuller, Coordinator of Digital Collections and Digital Initiatives, Osher Map Library]. Please feel free to share with colleagues and friends interested in the history of printing and the use of color in mapmaking.

Chromolithography was used in the nineteenth century to create full-color and realistic images of the world. A Pageant of Spectacles: Chromolithography in Nineteenth-Century America, an exhibition at the Osher Map Library from November 30th, 2023 - June 29th, 2024, explained the printing process and...

05/24/2026

Have you voted for your favorite maps yet?

Online voting for our 4th-5th-6th Grade Map Making Contest ends at 12:00pm on Monday, May 25, 2026.

Check out the top 12 and Vote Here:

Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education Mapmaking Contest! The 2026 Top Twelve Maps: Voting ends Monday, May 25, at 12:00pm Eastern Time. The Isles of Nagspeak Clara F. of BrunswickHarriet Beecher Stowe Elem – 5th Grade. Wildthorne William R. of BrunswickBrunswick Jr. High Sc...