Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine
she/her
Libby Bischof is Executive Director of the Osher Map Library and
Smith Center for Cartographic Education, Professor of History, and
the inaugural University Historian at the University of Southern
Maine, where she has taught courses in Maine History, History
and Photography, Popular Culture, and Public History for the past
18 years. A visual and cultural historian of the 19th and 20th
centuries, Bischof is interested in the ways in which friendship
informs cultural production, especially in relation to landscape
and place. A public historian, Bischof believes deeply in
site-based, hands-on education, and the ways in which teaching
local and regional history can lead to deeper civic engagement.
She lives with her husband and children in Gorham, Maine, and
when she’s not working, she’s either reading, swimming, hiking,
or sending postcards.
Talks
Great Grief: Mourning and Remembrance in New England
This program explores the changing experience of public and private grief in society over the past 200 years. Using local archives and artifacts, Professor Libby Bischof will lead an engaging discussion of the history of grief and mourning and what it means to each of one us over time. Participants will hear performances of historic letters and diaries while considering the importance of making room for grief in our community. This program kicks off a year-long project at the Museum to explore how we remember those we love, resulting in a collaborative community exhibition.
Visual History of Maine Through Postcards
Libby Bischof, Professor of History and Director of the Osher Map Library at University of Southern Maine will look at how the concept of “Maine” and specifically our local region of Maine, was created visually, focusing on postcard imagery from the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Dr. Bischof is also the creator of the Maine Postcard Project, which promotes the history and resurgence of postcards as a communication device.