X Marks the Spotlight
The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education (OML) is turning philanthropy into a world of discovery for more people across our region… and drawing national attention.
Featured in a deeply reported story on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday in December 2025, the library is building support through the experiences it makes possible. OML’s educational outreach inspired generous gifts from attendees of the International Map Collectors’ Society symposium, hosted at USM for the first time this year.
Other donors are opening new avenues for exploration. An anonymous gift brought a second work by artist Billy Gerard Frank into OML’s art collection while a gift by Professor Emeritus of Archaeology, Nathan Hamilton ’77 supported a project archivist to process the Oakes-Hilton Collection and the purchase of a rare Japanese World War I map.
With support from the Simmons Foundation and Lewiston-Auburn Children’s Fund, the library’s K-12 and Community Map Lab in Lewiston extends that spirit of discovery-connecting philanthropy with opportunities to learn, question, and understand our world.