AUBURN — The Androscoggin Historical Society will present a program Tuesday, April 23, on the history of mapping and how Lewiston-Auburn fits in those trends. Matthew Edney of the Osher Map Library in Portland will talk about “19th Century Maps” at 7 p.m. at the society’s Davis-Wagg Museum on the third floor of the Androscoggin County Building.

 

Edney is interested in the way people think about maps and mapping. He likes nothing more than helping people to understand maps and their history. He will treat how mapping evolved in the 19th century and how Lewiston-Auburn fits in those trends. How did residents, businesses and publishing companies decide how and what to record as they put the local environment down on paper and created atlases of the local area? What would you put on a map of the Twin Cities?

Edney is a professor of geography and the Osher Professor in the History of Cartography at the University of Southern Maine. He is also “faculty scholar” in the Osher Map Library. Since 2005 he also has directed the History of Cartography Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A recent publication is “Cartography: The Ideal and Its History.” He holds degrees from the University of London (UK) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Admission for the program is free, although donations will be accepted. Enter the County Building at the side door on Court Street and go to the third floor. An elevator is available.

For more information about the society, call 207-784-0586 or visit www.androhistory.org.