Contributors

Libby Bischof explores American society through the lens of history — and the lens of a camera. A nineteenth-century American cultural historian, Professor Bischof specializes in the history of photography, particularly in Maine. Prof. Bischof is the Executive Director of the Osher Map Library & Smith Center for Cartographic Education.

Matthew Edney has a rather complex existence at USM. He is a professor of geography and (since 2007) the Osher Professor in the History of Cartography, with responsibility for courses in map history. He is also “faculty scholar” in the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education. Since 2005 he has directed the History of Cartography Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since 2022, he has also taught an intensive week-long course at Rare Book School, University of Virginia.

Dr. Adam Schmitt began his career in education as a middle school social studies teacher in Illinois, working in both public and private schools. As a teacher educator, Dr. Schmitt is dedicated to helping preservice teachers critically examine themselves and the curriculum in order to expand representation in the curriculum and engage students in interrogating how and why we teach the history we do.

Ashley Towle’s scholarship focuses on the experience of African Americans in the South during the transition from slavery to freedom. She is the author of African Americans, Death, and the New Birth of Freedom: Dying Free during the Civil War and Reconstruction and co-editor of Grave History: Death, Race, and Gender in Southern Cemeteries. At the University of Southern Maine, Dr. Towle teaches classes on the history of the United States, including the history of women, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the history of death and dying, and the history of sexuality. Dr. Towle also serves as the director of Putting History to Work, the history internship program.

Paul Fuller is responsible for creating the digital version of this exhibit in fall 2025.