Gretchen Gfeller
Voice: 581-1696
E-mail: gg@umit.maine.edu
Friends Events - Spring 2008
Librarything
Tues., 1 April
3-4 p.m., Special Collections
Tim Spalding, founder of Librarything, will talk about the popular online book cataloging and networking service. Co-sponsored by the Fogler Friends, the English Department and the New Media Program.
The event is free and open to the public.
3rd Annual Edith Patch Earth Day Celebration
Sun., 27 April
3-5 p.m., University Club
This year we are focusing on the Heirs of Edith Patch.
Join us for poster sessions and presentations featuring the work of student members of Women in Science while enjoying a selection of hearty appetizers and light fare prepared by the Friends of Edith Patch from recipes included in the Edith Patch Cookbook.
$15.00 per person
For more information, contact Gretchen Gfeller. Voice: 581-1696. E-mail: gretchen.gfeller @umit.maine.edu
Cosponsored by the Friends of Edith Patch and the Fogler Library Friends
The Process of Map Design: Equal Cartographic Voice
Wed., Feb. 27
3-4 p.m., Special Collections
Michael Hermann, senior cartographer with the University of Maine Canadian-American Center, and James Francis, Tribal Historian, Penobscot Nation will join us to talk about the Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Guide and Map.
The Thoreau-Wabanaki Map and Guide is a unique mapping project. It was published by the University of Maine Press in 2007. The map provides a visual reference to better understand the extent of Thoreau's travels in Maine, which formed the base narrative of The Maine Woods, published posthumous in 1864. Thoreau took these trips over an 11 year period, from 1846 to 1857. He relied on Penobscot guides to enable his travels, and developed a much deeper respect for Indians and the land as a result of these trips. His travels in Maine represent the deepest, most remote lands he ever experienced.
Previous maps simply drew a line plotting his route. Hermann created a map that locates his narrative within the landscape. The reader literally 'reads' the map as they follow the routes and read Thoreau's words. Hermann says, "It is a genre known as mapping narrative. This piece developed into an example of ethical mapping concerning the restoration of native voice, and that angle is what is of interest to me, professionally, and what has been of interest to the field of cartography." Because Thoreau's words dominated the map, Hermann was challenged to bring a native voice to the project. By working with James Francis, Penobscot Tribal Historian, they included Penobscot placenames in addition to a selection of Thoreau's quotes specific to his Indian guides. Anglo-american maps of the era portrayed Maine as a vast, unnamed land, yet Native Americans had an intimate knowledge of all this land, and a rich language that offered both names and descriptions of place. Many of these names remain today as the root pronunciation of Maine place names. This map serves to tie those two worlds of landscape interpretation together.
The event is free and open to the public.
Copyright 2005-2008
Raymond H. Fogler Library
