Upcoming Events at the Maine Historical Society
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February Programs
Saturday, February 11, 1:00 pm
In Partnership with Portland Ovations
“Old Maine’s Swedish Farms”
This 30-minute documentary chronicles Maine’s unique Swedish history through interviews with six residents of Maine’s Swedish Colony. In 1870, Swedish settlers flocked to far northern Maine to farm, creating a unique colony where the Swedish language is still spoken today. The film, which will be looped throughout the afternoon, is being screened in partnership with Portland Ovations in advance of the upcoming performance by Vasen which will be held February 16. Included with MHS museum admission. Free for Ovations & MHS members.
Tuesday, February 21, 7:00 pm
Public Parks: Care and Cultivation of Fort Williams Park, Cape Elizabeth
(Re) Designing the Greater Portland Landscape: Issues in Contemporary Design and Development (Program 1 of 4) Series details.
Moderator: Terrence DeWan, Landscape Architect Panelists: Bill Brownell, Fort Williams Advisory Commission; Lynn Shaffer, Arboretum at Fort Williams; and Dick Gilbane, Friends of Goddard Mansion
Fort Williams, a town-owned park in Cape Elizabeth, is one of Greater Portland’s gems. A former military base and home to Portland Head Light, one of the most iconic and oft-visited lighthouses in North America, the seaside park is one of the region’s favorite and most heavily-used recreation sites, drawing visitors of diverse interests, incomes, and backgrounds. The cost of maintaining the park and providing access is significant, though. Current initiatives seek to find sustainable funding models, preserve the park’s history, character, and architecture, and to define and provide appropriate visitor amenities. Efforts to maintain the ruins of the Goddard Mansion, to establish a new arboretum, and to keep access to the park free to individual visitors all reflect evolving ideas about the uses of public landscapes and the values brought to their design. In Partnership with Greater Portland Landmarks. Open to the public. Suggested donation: $10 ($5 for MHS/GPL members)
Saturday, February 25, 10:00 am
Please join us for
Longfellow's Birthday Party!
Join us for a family party to celebrate Longfellow's 205th birthday!
Special guests will read Longfellow's poetry, and there will be craft activities, prizes, cake, and a birthday card for Henry for everyone to sign. Fun for all ages! This event is free and open to the public.
Courtesy of Boston Athenaeum
Saturday, February 25, 1:00 pm
Longfellow and Bull: The Poet and the Virtuoso
Speaker: Charles Kaufmann, Artistic Director, The Longfellow Chorus
Join us to learn about the fairy-tale life of 19th century violinist Ole Bull (1810–1880), Norway's Paganini. Bull performed for the kings and queens of Europe, and for presidents in the United States. His colorful artistic temperament inspired artists, writers and poets around the world, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His daughter, born in West Lebanon, Maine would inherit his legend and legacy. Charles Kaufmann explores Bull's friendship with Longfellow and his mysterious connection to Maine in a talk that includes previews of two documentaries and music from the upcoming March 3, 4 and 5 Longfellow Choral Festival in Portland and South Portland.
Tuesday, February 28, 7:00 pm
MHS Book Group: Extraordinary Histories of Ordinary Things
Facilitator: Larissa Vigue Picard
Join us for interesting discussions about history, and a great opportunity to connect with the MHS community.
In recent years, historians have cultivated a fresh and imaginative new genre: studies that trace broad historical narratives through the stories of individual, seemingly-small objects, ideas, or phenomenon. This year's book discussion group will examine four particularly interesting examples: studies of the evolution of artificial light; how the lowly codfish changed the world; the toothpick as a paradigm for American manufacturing; and the influence of rum on the development of the New World. Registration required. Space is limited.
Readings include: Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light by Jane Brox; Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, by Mark Kurlansky; The Toothpick by Henry Petroski; and And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails by Wayne Curtis.
WHEN: Tuesdays 2/28, 3/27, 4/25, and 5/22 @ 7PM
WHERE: MHS Lecture Hall
FEE: $10 Members/$20 Non-members
BOOKS: Offered at $48 package discount (20% off retail) through MHS Store
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Tuesday, February 21
Details and registration here.
March Programs
Tuesday, March 6, 12:00 pm
Longfellow's Shadow: A reading of poems by Wesley McNair and Betsy Sholl
The Richard D’Abate Lectures: Conversations About History, Art, and Literature (Program 1 of 7) Series details.
Join us for readings by two Maine Poet Laureates. Richard D’Abate, a poet himself, has embraced MHS’s Longfellow legacy as an opportunity to incorporate literature, the arts, and culture as vital elements of a Maine history that is broadly told and understood. The poets’ readings will reflect themes in Longfellow's poetry, his stance as a poet, and his attitude toward social issues of his time.
Thursday, March 15, 7:00 pm
The Richard D’Abate Lectures: Conversations About History, Art, and Literature (Program 2 of 7) Series details.
Hold On: The Privilege of Keeping Old Things Safe
Speaker: Nicholson Baker, Author
In 2001, writer Nicholson Baker published Double Fold, a book about libraries, paper science, and lost history. In it he documented his efforts to save a large collection of beautiful and exceptionally rare newspaper volumes, which were being scrapped in favor of microfilmed replacements. Baker’s forceful case served as a seeming coda to the era of print, a beachhead for those who believed in the lastingness of paper, and presaged issues and arguments that organizations like MHS face in the digital age. Why, we are asked, do we need to keep all this ephemeral stuff now that it can be digitized? Baker will revisit the intellectual underpinnings of his newspaper crusade, share tales of research recently done in the MHS library, and remind us of the essentialness of real, physical things.
Tuesday, March 20, 7:00 pm
Downtown Corridors: Franklin and Spring Streets
(Re) Designing the Greater Portland Landscape: Issues in Contemporary Design and Development (Program 2 of 4) Series details.
Downtown corridors move us through and help define Portland’s urban landscape. Roadways like Congress and State Streets connect, bisect, and/or bypass neighborhoods. These corridors are defined by architecture, travel patterns, business and residential development, pedestrian routes, and landscape features. But certain corridors—like Franklin and Spring Streets—are the source of much dissatisfaction. Efforts to modernize and streamline traffic flow through the city in the 1960s and ‘70s disrupted neighborhoods, demolished buildings, and fundamentally altered the historic feel of parts of the city. What are our options moving forward? Stakeholders will share their ideas, discuss current initiatives, and consider what future development along these routes might look like. In Partnership with Greater Portland Landmarks. Open to the public. Suggested donation: $10 ($5 for MHS/GPL members)
April Programs
Tuesday, April 3, 12:00 pm
The Richard D’Abate Lectures: Conversations About History, Art, and Literature (Program 3 of 7) Series details.
Perspectives on Maine History: Maine at Work, 1860-1900
Speakers: Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., Maine State Historian; and, William Bunting, Historian, Author, and Master Story-teller
Join us for a glimpse into one of the most important and revealing photographic collections in the state: the collections of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. Shettleworth and Bunting will pay particular attention to and share selections from a large collection of stereo views that includes wonderful images of Mainers at work. Shettleworth will also help recognize the contributions that Richard D’Abate has made to the state by sharing perspectives on how Maine history has evolved over the past decades.
Thursday, April 5, 7:00 pm
The Richard D’Abate Lectures: Conversations About History, Art, and Literature (Program 4 of 7) Series details.
The Nature of Lost Things
Speaker: Rosamond Purcell, Photographer
Rosamond Purcell wrote Owls Head: On the Nature of Lost Things (2003) in order to understand how and why thirteen acres mounded high with scrap intermingled with antique machinery and historical ephemera had taken over the landscape. The answers came from William Buckminster, owner of this culturally over-charged place who, one day, in passing, mentioned that the only person he would like to have acquire the two-centuries-old brass foundry that he had found in a pile of hay would be the Director of Maine Historical Society, Richard D’Abate, who, according to a recent magazine article, “seems like a decent sort of fella.” On Bucky’s behalf, Purcell took up the song. Join us to hear about the connections between Buckminster, Purcell, and MHS.
Tuesday, April 10, 12:00 pm
The Titanic: A Survivor’s Story
Speaker: Dr. Karen Lemke, Professor of Education, St. Joseph’s College
Join us to recognize the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the largest movable object built by man. Lemke’s talk will focus on the story of eight-year old Marshall Drew who survived the sinking. Lemke spent time with Drew in 1986 for a story for the Bangor Daily News, and captured many of his vivid memories.
Thursday, April 19, 7:00 pm
The Richard D’Abate Lectures: Conversations About History, Art, and Literature (Program 5 of 7) Series details.
The Civil War of 1812
Speaker: Dr. Alan Taylor, Professor of History, University of California, Davis
This year marks the bicentennial of the War of 1812, a formative moment in both Maine and U.S. history and the subject of Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Alan Taylor’s new book. Taylor will tell the riveting story of a war that redefined North America. In the early 19th century, Britons and Americans renewed their struggle over the legacy of the American Revolution. In this second confrontation, soldiers, immigrants, settlers, and Indians fought to determine the fate of a continent. Would revolutionary republicanism sweep the British from Canada? Or would the British contain, divide, and ruin the shaky republic? Taylor will tell us about an often brutal (sometimes comic) war and help illuminate the tangled origins of the United States and Canada. Alan Taylor, a Portland native, is one of the foremost historians of early America.
Tuesday, April 24, 7:00 pm
Gateways to Portland: Rebuilding Veterans Memorial and Martin’s Point Bridges
(Re) Designing the Greater Portland Landscape: Issues in Contemporary Design and Development (Program 3 of 4) Series details.
The bridges and roadways that connect Portland to the interstate and surrounding communities play an essential role in the life of the city and are a defining characteristic of its landscape. They carry thousands of vehicles every day to and from surrounding towns and further points. They function as both critical thoroughfares and gateways to the city’s downtown. Two of Portland’ most important and heavily trafficed bridges—Veterans Memorial Bridge which connects the city to I-295 and South Portland, and the Martin’s Point Bridge which provides a commuter link to Falmouth—are currently being rebuilt. Both projects have mobilized diverse stakeholders, and raise practical issues ranging from cost to traffic efficiency, social issues like the impact on local neighbors, and conceptual issues such as how the design of a bridge or roadway heralds entry into a city. In Partnership with Greater Portland Landmarks. Open to the public. Suggested donation: $10 ($5 for MHS/GPL members)
May Programs
Saturday, May 5, 5:00 – 11:00 pm
The Mad Hatter Affair: Hats Off to Richard
Location: The Woodlands Club in Falmouth.
Consider this an official invitation to the Mad Hatter Affair, MHS's gala fundraiser. Now in its 16th year, the Mad Hatter is a festive Kentucky Derby party, a spirited way to welcome spring, and great opportunity to support MHS. The Mad Hatter offers a chance for friends of MHS and guests to gather, dress up in derby attire (outlandish hats encouraged!), sip mint juleps, watch the race live from Churchill Downs, and to dine and dance the night away. Activities include a hat parade and contest, and live and silent auctions. For more on this wonderful evening, including photos from last year’s event, visit the MHS blog.
Tickets: $100/person. For additional sponsorship opportunities, information about purchasing a table, and to view the list of fantastic auction items, please visit the Mad Hatter's homepage.
FMI and to buy tickets, contact Elizabeth Nash at 207-774-1822 ext. 206 or enash@mainehistory.org.
View from Pride's Bridge, Portland, 1861
Thursday, May 10, 7:00 pm
The Richard D’Abate Lectures: Conversations About History, Art, and Literature (Program 6 of 7) Series details.
Saving Second Nature: The Environmental Movement in New England
Speaker: Dr. Richard W. Judd, Professor of History, University of Maine, Orono
This talk will focus on the pastoral landscapes of New England — the valley farms, familiar woods and past-enshrouded fishing out ports that became iconic symbols of New England beauty. It will explore how farm, village, and woods were idealized and romanticized in the tourist literature and regionalist writing of the late 19th century, and how these idealized images shaped New England environmental politics. New England environmentalists avoided the common premise that nature and culture were separate and antagonistic worlds, and instead embraced as their rallying points a blended landscape rich in cultural symbol and ecological harmonies, what Thoreau called “a partially cultivated country,” and what environmental historians today call “second nature.” This environmental goal generated a vast array of policy innovations, from farmland preservation to protecting the northern “working wilderness.” Judd is one of the foremost Maine historians and editor of the journal Maine History. This program is MHS's annual Olmsted Lecture, given this year in honor of Helen Koulouris.
Tuesday, May 15, 7:00 pm
On the Waterfront: Heritage, Re-use, and Economic Development
(Re) Designing the Greater Portland Landscape: Issues in Contemporary Design and Development (Program 4 of 4) Series details.
Development and use of the waterfront is an ongoing policy balancing act, and has significant implications for Portland’s economic development, harborside landscape, and the city’s identity and heritage. Within recent years, major projects have included the construction of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and new hotels, the development of Ocean Gateway and other maritime infrastructure, and the effort to put significant structures like Cumberland Cold Storage back into active use. Other important sites—including the Portland Company complex and Maine State Pier—are works in progress. The waterfront will remain a subject of perpetual interest, opportunity, and concern. Please join us to learn about the issues that the city, developers, business and property owners, fishermen and lobstermen, preservationists, and city residents face and think about when they consider development along the waterfront. In Partnership with Greater Portland Landmarks. Open to the public. Suggested donation: $10 ($5 for MHS/GPL members)
Thursday, May 17, 07:30 am – 8:00 pm
Genealogy Research Trip to Boston
Join MHS for a day of genealogical research at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). NEHGS, which was established in 1845, boasts a collection of more than 200,000 genealogical and historical volumes, over one million manuscripts, as well as census records, vital records, deeds, probates, military records, plus the latest resources in print, microtext, and CD-Rom. Individuals who would like to take the MHS bus to Boston for a day of sightseeing but who do not plan to do research are welcome.
Registration required by Monday, May 7. Fee: $35 for MHS members; $45 for non-members. *Does not include admission to NEHGS Library (NEHGS Admission: NEHGS Members: Free; non-NEHGS members: $15). To register, please call 774-1822.
Thursday, May 24, 7:00 pm
The Richard D’Abate Lectures: Conversations About History, Art, and Literature (Program 7 of 7) Series details.
The Mysterious Penobscot Belle: Early Photography & A Forgotten Wabanaki Encampment in Portland in the mid-1800s
Speaker: Harald E.L. Prins & Bunny McBride, Kansas State University
About a dozen years ago, Prins and McBride, noted anthropologists who have done extensive work with Maine native communities, obtained a mid-19th century engraving of Mary Louise, a beautiful young Penobscot Indian woman, originally published as a ”Fashion Plate” in a popular women’s magazine. For purposes of mass reproduction, this fine image had been copied from a Daguerreotype, probably made by the young photographer Marcus Ormsbee who operated a studio at Middle Street in Portland. Although it is unlikely that the original artifact still exists, Prins and McBride claim that she was the first American Indian woman photographed in the Western hemisphere. Their presentation will explore her individual identity, comment on some fascinating details relevant to this particular portrait, and, last but not least, describe the long-forgotten coastal encampment just outside Portland frequented by Penobscots and other Wabanakis, including itinerant basketmakers, doctors, and showmen.
Family & Ongoing Programs
Please check back soon for Family and Ongoing Programs.
Regional Genealogy Programs, Events, and Conferences
Annual Cruise
CRUISE - 13-Day Imperial Waterways of Russia, September 2 - 15, 2012
Enjoy a truly unique experience as Maine Historical Society cruises for 13 days on River Victoria through Russia.
Discover the rich history and traditions along the imperial waterways of Russia. Explore enchanting St. Petersburg with visits to Catherine's Palace the Hermitage Museum, and a viewing of a breathtaking ballet. Visit Mandrogi, a reconstructed Russian village and UNESCO-designated Kizhi Island, and experience daily life in Russia with visits to the Children's house of Arts and Crafts. Cruise along the Golden Ring to some of Russia's most beautiful cities—including Yaroslavl and Uglich. Your journey ends in Moscow. Awe-inspiring sights such as Red Square; the Kremlin; and the iconic, onion domed St. Basil's Cathedral will bring you up close to the rich traditions and royal history of Russia. Get Details.
Exhibits
Dressing Up, Fitting In, Standing Out: Adornment & Identity in Maine
June 24, 2011 through May 27, 2012
This exhibit will draw heavily on the MHS collection of artifacts of adornments—hats, jewelry, shoes, hair combs, walking sticks, and other personal accessories. The exhibit will feature a handful of costumes from several periods and a selection of photographs and paintings that together show how people have dressed up in Maine. More info.
Maine Memory Network
Offers online access to numerous Web–based exhibits and a constantly growing collection of nearly 20,000 historical documents, images, and objects contributed by more than 200 organizations around Maine. New exhibits added regularly. Go to www.mainememory.net.
Registration
All events, unless otherwise noted, are held at the Maine Historical Society. Click here for Directions or Parking.
For more information or to sign up for any of the events listed below, call (207) 774–1822 or email info@mainehistory.org. Support our efforts and become a member today.