The Maine Forum for Map History supports the development of map history as a field of study by providing a regular forum in which small groups of experts can productively explore pressing issues, whether methodological, theoretical, interpretive, pedagogic, institutional, or disciplinary. Each forum works towards the preparation of position documents or reports, to be published online as soon as possible after the forum concludes.

The Maine Forum is underwritten by the Osher Chair in the History of Cartography at the University of Southern Maine. It is intended to meet, depending on the availability of funds, every two years, for three or four days of meetings and discussion. The forum meets in USM’s Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education.

Each Maine Forum is formulated and coordinated by a facilitator. (The facilitator will, in some years, be the Osher Chair.) The facilitator will work with the Osher Chair to define the forum’s topic and task, solicit any further necessary funds, recruit participants, identify required readings to establish a common foundation for discussion, manage the meeting itself, and prepare final product(s). The particular format of each Maine Forum will depend upon its subject matter. It might entail the discussion of pre-circulated papers; it might entail a series of working panels and discussions. The format determines the kind of product(s) that each forum should produce, whether a position statement intended to elicit broader discussion in the field, a detailed report of proceedings and findings, or a set of essays. Regardless of the product’s form, it should be published, preferably in digital format and freely accessible on the website of the Osher Map Library. (A video of the proceedings, and perhaps a transcript, might also be published online.)

Possible Topics

In addition to any number of potential topics defined by research subject, possible topics include:

Methodological Practices

• cartobibliographical practices for a critical history of cartography
• the creation of online databases of maps
• bibliographical practices in a digital environment

Theoretical Issues

• development and spread of symbolic conventions
• “text”/”context” as a model for understanding maps and map history
• discourse, practice, and the performativity of mapping (the relationship of map history to “non-representational theory”)
• the character and history of the modern cartographic ideal
• the study of maps as material objects
• the boundaries of the field: where do “maps” end?
• new approaches to understanding the histories of cartography in particular cultures and societies
• interpreting the broad sweep of particular cartographic modes

Pedagogy

• instructional models for (online) courses in map history · content required for (online) courses: which primary, secondary, or tertiary sources? (alternatively, what might a textbook on the history of cartography look like?)
• preparation of a “reader” in “map history”: value, content?
• incorporating old maps in K-12 education
• cartographic literacy

Preservation and Access

• the future role of historical and rare map libraries in the twenty-first century?
• the future of publishing research on map history in a digital world and sustaining high quality
• standards for access and preservation of digital imagery

Disciplinary Concerns

• creating dynamic forums for scholarly exchange developing standards, resources, bibliographies, etc. for graduate study of map history

Matthew H. Edney, 10 June 2009