Matthew Edney from the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine will be Skidompha Library's “Chats with Champions” guest speaker at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 9. Please allow time for parking.

Edney has a spectacular background in the field cartography, the study of maps and especially the history of maps, and will be addressing some of the fascinating links found in maps that show many relationships across cultures over time. Some aspects of the intellectual revolution can be traced thru maps from the prehistoric times to now.

Edney was appointed to the Osher Chair in the History of Cartography in 2007.  Since 2005 he has been the director of the “History of Cartography” project based at the University of Wisconsin, which is a collaborative effort to create an all-encompassing history of maps and mapping in a series of volumes examining the social production and consumption of maps across cultures from prehistoric origins to the 21st century, which is an enormous task.

Edney was born in Great Britain, studied geography at University College London and then the University of Wisconsin. He taught cartography at SUNY Binghamton before coming to Maine.  Initially interested in surveying, the British imperial cartography and the nature of Enlightenment cartography, Edney is also now pursuing the colonial mapping of New England and North America generally.

Chats with Champions is a free community offering from your national award winning Skidompha Library and is sponsored by Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop. For more information call 563-5513.