Early Maps of Portland and Casco Bay

Tuesday, December 4, 12:00 pm
Early Maps of Portland and Casco Bay
Speaker: Frances Pollitt

The early maps of Portland and Casco Bay include street and lot plans, nautical charts for mariners, general area charts, and insurance maps. Come have a look at, and learn more about, representatives from each of these categories including: a 1773 manuscript map of Munjoy Hill, a ca. 1800 map of Bramhall area hand drawn by Peleg Wadsworth, the Atlantic Neptune nautical charts created by the British Admiralty in the 1760s and 1770s, the 1825 subscription chart of Casco Bay by Lemuel Moody, A. W. Longfellow's 1854 U.S. Coast Survey chart of Portland Harbor, Portland's revaluation plan of 1882, and the maps of Portland after the Great Fire of 1886—to name just a few.

Speaker Frances Pollitt has worked extensively with the map collection at Maine Historical Society, cataloging and caring for the 8,000 or so maps. In 2008 she attended the University of Virginia's Rare Book School course, Introduction to the History, Collection, Description and Use of Maps, and has lectured and published articles about the historic map collection at the Society in venues as far away as Winnipeg, Canada.