Louis Miller: "Resurrecting ‘Rhat Soupe’: Alcohol and Allegorical Maps in Mid-19th Century America”

Sponsored in partnership with California, Chicago, New York, Philip Lee Phillips, Rocky Mountain, and Texas Map Societies.

Location: Zoom

Time:  7:00 PM ET/ 6:00 PM CT/ 5:00 PM MT/ 4:00 PM PT

Title: “Resurrecting ‘Rhat Soupe’: Alcohol and Allegorical Maps in Mid-19th Century America”

Speaker: Louis Miller, Assistant Director for Research and Fellowship Programs and Cartographic Reference and Teaching Librarian, Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine

Summary: What is 'rhat soupe' and what does it have to do with maps produced by the Temperance Movement? While perusing early photographic images to pair with John Cullum’s 1836 map of Portland, Louis came across an image of a store with an advertisement for "rhat soupe." Eager to learn more about how this nausea-inducing "soupe" gained its moniker, as well as what it was actually made out of, his research led him down a rabbit hole that ultimately reveals the clever cartographic arguments utilized nationally by the Temperance Movement in the 1830s as well as how "rhat soupe" and the 1835 court case that inspired its name, fundamentally shifted the platform of the American Temperance Society.

Bio: Louis Miller is the 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 (OML). He has been at the OML for five years. Prior to his current role he worked for five years at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, primarily with the manuscript, graphics, and map collections. He published his research article "'Honor For All'? Commemoration of the First World War in Kalamazoo," in volume 45, no. 2 of the Michigan Historical Review (Fall 2019) and is currently enrolled in the PhD program at the University of Maine pursuing a doctorate in history. His current 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.

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