Upcoming Events at the Maine Historical Society
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These programs are made possible with support from the Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust, DownEast, and H.M. Payson & Co..
August Programs
Coming Home?: A Poetry Reading
Wednesday, August 4, 5:00 pm
Estha Weiner and Betsy Sholl
Estha Weiner brings her newest book, "Transfiguration Begins at Home," back home to Portland, to read with Betsy Sholl, Poet Laureate of Maine. Hear the poets, who first met at The Stonecoast Writers Conference, weave their friendship and their poems as they consider how "home" shapes and shifts over time. Maine, of course, plays a key role in that: Estha, a Portland native, moved away to go to college while Betsy moved here 27 years ago. A book signing will follow.
Maine Revised and Revisited
Maine Revised and Revisited: A Poetry Workshop
Wednesday, August 4, 09:30 am
Estha Weiner
This multi-genre 3-hour writing workshop welcomes your poems, short fiction, plays, and non-fiction. Its only requirement is a fresh vision of Maine, past or present, an attentive ear and eye, and supportive feedback for fellow writers. (If you have work taht has nothing to do with Maine, that's OK too). We will read and discuss each other's work, discuss the writing process, and participants will receive careful, helpful feedback, towards revision. Please bring 11 copies of your work. We may add a short in-class exercise or two, and discuss how you go through your day as a writer, even if you think you can't!
Workshop date: Wednesday, August 4, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm.
Registration is required by Friday, July 30, 2010.
Fee: $100/person. $75/person for MHS Members and students.
For more information or to register, please email Estha Weiner at esthalynne@hotmail.com.
Set Sail on the Wendameen
Saturday, August 7, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm
Historian Jim Millinger
Join the Maine Historical Society for a sail on Casco Bay on board the historic Maine schooner Wendameen. Jim Millinger, MHS Trustee, former Casco Bay Lines skipper, and now a Portland Harbor historian, will be our host, and will talk about Portland Harbor's past and present. The 88-foot Wendameen, designed by John Alden, one of America's most celebrated yacht designers, was built in East Boothbay in 1912. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Help the crew raise the sail, take a turn at the wheel, or just relax and enjoy the talk and the scenery. Space limited. Registration required. Call 207-774-1822.
Space limited. Registration required. Fee: $40; members: $35.
Family & Ongoing Programs
The Children's Hour - Family Tour of the Longfellow House
Mondays and Wednesdays July 12 through August 25: 11:00 am – 12:00 noon
Enjoy a special family tour of the boyhood home of America's beloved poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Recommended for children ages 5-12. An adult must accompany children.
Fee (includes MHS Museum admission): Adults: $8.00; Children: $3.00.
The Longfellow Trail: An Urban Expedition - Family Walking Tour
Fridays, July 9 - August 27, 11:00 am – 12:00 noon
Discover the city that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow knew on this guided expedition through downtown Portland. Tour leaves from Maine Historical Society, 489 Congress Street, Portland.
Fee: Adults: $5.00; Children: $2.00. Includes MHS Museum admission, but not Longfellow House admission.
Special Fee to Combine Family Walking Tour with Longfellow House Tour: Adults: $9.00; Children: $4.00.
FILM SCREENING:
Innocent Interlude: Scenes of Life in Portland, Maine, 1940-41 (2004)
Mondays-Fridays in July and August, 2:30 pm. PLEASE CALL AHEAD to verify time.
Take an amazing tour of Portland in the early 1940's. City officials made this remarkable series of color films that document life around Portland, capturing: longshoremen unloading ships on the waterfront; regattas; a soap box derby on Park Avenue; baseball, swan boats, and ice skating at Deering Oaks Park; aerial views of the city; snow plows; the removal of trolley tracks from Congress Street, and many other subjects. Film narrated by Historian Joel Eastman. (60 minutes)
Included with Museum admission: $5 Adult, $2 Children, Members free.
Annual Cruise
CRUISE - Danube River Cruise From Vienna to the Black Sea, October 6 - October 20, 2010
Join other history enthusiasts from the Maine Historical Society as we trace the millennia-old timeline along the Danube River from Vienna to the Black Sea for a trip of a lifetime! You’ll cruise through seven countries: Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania, seeing sights that you won’t forget, immersing yourself in new cultures, meeting new friends, and delighting in new types of food and drink. Celtic fortifications, medieval tours, Turkish baths, 19th-century neoclassical architecture, Roman ruins, and modern resorts make this one of the most extraordinary voyages in the world. Get Details.
Exhibits
ZOOM IN: New Approaches to Maine History
June 25, 2010 through May 29, 2011
The exhibit celebrates the launch of Maine History Online, a major new interpretive section of the Maine Memory Network, and explores the rich ways that digital technologies complement and enhance the use of physical objects—and vice versa—in the telling of Maine history. Stories explored in the exhibit include: the widely popular Franco American snowshoe clubs formed by Louis-Philippe Gagné when he moved to Lewiston from Québec in 1922; Biddeford’s industrial transformation in the 19th century; peace movements in Maine; life at the Western Maine Sanatorium; and the experience of Maine prisoners of war (and German and Spanish POWs held here); among others. 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.