Happy Hour with a Historian: From Maine to Marne

Monday, January 26, 2026
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM

Raise a glass and step into history.

Join us for an evening of conversation, community, and compelling storytelling as we gather for Happy Hour with a Historian. This installment brings us from Maine mill towns to the battlefields of World War I, exploring how American Jewish lives were shaped — and remembered — during the Great War.

Drawing on personal letters, diary excerpts, maps, and archival images, historian Louis Miller weaves together the stories of multiple individuals to illuminate the broader American Jewish experience during World War I. The talk begins with the life of Louis Osherwitz, a Biddeford resident killed during the Second Battle of the Marne, and expands outward to consider how families, communities, and historians alike make meaning from loss, service, and memory. Along the way, Miller also reflects on his own family history, offering a deeply human lens on how the past continues to echo across generations.

As always, Happy Hour with a Historian is designed to be as social as it is substantive. Enjoy drinks and light refreshments, mingle with fellow history lovers, and settle in for an engaging talk followed by conversation and Q&A. Whether you come for the scholarship, the stories, or simply the good company, you’ll leave with a richer sense of how history lives—not just in archives, but in people.

About the Speaker

Louis Miller is Assistant Director for Research and Fellowship Programs and Cartographic Reference and Teaching Librarian at the University of Southern Maine’s Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education. He has been at the Osher Map Library for five years, supporting research, teaching, and public engagement around maps and visual culture.

Prior to his current role, Miller spent five years at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, working primarily with manuscript, graphic, and map collections. His article, “‘Honor For All’? Commemoration of the First World War in Kalamazoo,” appeared in the Michigan Historical Review (Fall 2019). He is currently pursuing a PhD in history at the University of Maine, where his research focuses on maps, visual culture, and community identity in the mid-19th century.

Louis lives in South Portland with his spouse, three sons, and two cats.

$18/Person

Tickets