May 14, 2009 ~~~ Bethel
The Bethel Historical Society’s 2009 Lecture Series, “Celebrating Western Maine’s History,” begins with a lecture by Executive Director Stanley Howe on the 50th anniversary of Eva Bean’s East Bethel Road. On June 4, State Historian Earle Shettleworth, Jr. will cover two centuries of Maine Homes. During Sudbury Canada Days, on August 7, H. Draper Hunt celebrates the bicentennial of Hannibal Hamlin’s birth on Paris Hill with a discussion of the Civil War Vice Presidency. Thomas Desjardin will build on this talk at the society’s September 10 annual meeting, when he discusses Oxford County during the Civil War. Randall H. Bennett’s October 10 lecture will interpret 19th century White Mountain tourism through Starr King’s The White Hills. Finally, an oral history night on November 12 will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sunday River. For details, please call (207) 824-2910 or visit www.bethelhistorical.org.
Back to the TopMay 14 and 27, 2009 ~~~ Topsham
In an effort to present, share, and record place-based narratives from the Southern Midcoast region, the Five Rivers Arts Alliance is sponsoring a series of “Arts Night at the Library” events. The first Arts Nights were held on February 26 in Brunswick and March 18 in Bath. On April 2 at the Bowdoinham Public Library, Frank Connors interviewed farmers David Prout and Don and Pat Fenimore. On May 14 at the Topsham Public Library, Brenda Cummings will interview Topsham farmer Tad Hunter. Finally, Five Rivers will sponsor a recording session on May 27 with Maine’s traveling Story Bank booth, during which the public can share its own place-based narratives of art, industry, and foodways. For more information, please call (207) 798-6964, or visit www.fiveriversartsalliance.org.
Back to the TopMay 17, 2009 ~~~ York
This spring, Museums of Old York presents a series of events exploring the experiences and perspectives of Native, English, and French people in 17th-century Maine. On April 12, two re-enactors (one depicting a French Jesuit priest; the other a habitant, or settler) provided insight into the origins of conflict betweem Anglo and French populations in Maine. On May 17, a panel discussion of French-Canadian residents will recount their experiences in light of the history of Anglo/French tensions. Both programs are scheduled for 1 p.m. at Museums of Old York Visitor Center. For details, please call (207) 363-4974.
Back to the TopMay 28, 2009 ~~~ Portland
Designing the Maine Landscape (Down East, 2009) is the first comprehensive study of Maine landscape design, the product of a ten-year survey conducted by the Maine Olmsted Alliance for Parks and Landscapes and the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. On May 28, 2009, at the Maine Historical Society, co-authors Theresa Mattor and Lucie Teegarden will give a behind-the-scenes presentation on the making of the book. The lecture, with discussion to follow, is free and open to the public. Please call (207) 774-1822 for event details, and contact the Olmsted Alliance at (207) 761-8081 to learn more about the book.
Back to the TopJune 4 - 7, 2009 ~~~ Orono and Castine
Liam Riordan, Associate Professor of History at the University of Maine, studies the American Revolution from an Atlantic perspective that transcends national boundaries, and focuses on Loyalism, one of the most understudied topics in the field. Through a series of seven events in 2009, Professor Riordan shares his expertise with teachers, scholars, and history enthusiasts. Evening lectures, free and open to the public, took place February 5 at the Bangor Public Library, March 12 at the Hutchinson Center, and April 9 at the Maine Historical Society. Each lecture was followed by a day-long teacher workshop in the same location, which will help teachers understand how to use primary sources, the Maine Memory Network, and the HBO miniseries on John Adams to teach Loyalism in Maine. Finally, a three-day conference in June, sponsored by the Canadian American Center at the University of Maine and the University of New Brunswick, will result in new scholarship on Loyalism and the Revolutionary Atlantic World. For more information, please contact Professor Riordan, (207) 581-1913 or riordan@umit.maine.edu.
Back to the TopJune 14, 2009 ~~~ Portland
Flag Day commemorates the date the Continental Congress first approved a design for a national flag: June 14, 1777. Each year, Portland Landmarks celebrates the occasion with a free community day that includes tours of the Portland Observatory and Munjoy Hill area, flag-making and art activities for children and families, and sea shanty music by local musician David Peloquin. The 2009 celebration will include a flag-raising ceremony to call attention to the original purpose of the tower as a maritime signal station. For details, please call (207) 774-5561 or visit www.portlandlandmarks.org.
Back to the TopJune 15, 2009 ~~~ Deer Isle
Akiko Busch will be writer-in-residence at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle from June 14 to 26, 2009. Busch has written about design, culture, and the natural world since 1979. She is the author of Geography of Home: Writings on Where We Live and The Uncommon Life of Common Objects: Essays on Design and Everyday Life. She has taught at the University of Hartford, Connecticut; Bennington College, Vermont; and the School of Visual Arts, New York. At Haystack, Busch will interact with summer workshop participants, present a public program on June 15, and write a monograph interpreting the contemporary craft world. To learn more, visit or www.haystack-mtn.org.
Back to the TopJuly 14, 22, 25 & 29, 2009 ~~~ Hinckley
As part of a series of programs promoting the Living the Good Will Idea exhibition at the L.C. Bates Museum, alumni of the Good Will-Hinckley facility will give tours to the public. The exhibition explores the lives of the orphan children who lived at Good Will who lived and were guided by The Good Will Idea, George Hinckley’s philosophy of child care. Other public programming will include handouts, children’s materials, and family programs. For details, please call (207) 238-4250 or visit www.gwh.org/html/lcbatesmuseum.htm.
Back to the TopJuly 18 - August 9, 2009 ~~~ Lewiston
In conjunction with the 2009 Bates Dance Festival, dance writer Debra Cash will conduct a residency from July 18-August 9. Cash will write in-depth program notes, provide pre-performance lectures, and moderate post-performance discussions on the work of contemporary choreographers Robert Battle, Tania Isaac, and Bebe Miller. She will also offer a course, “Dance in Context,” that will analyze current dance practice through dialogue and writing. For details, please visit www.bates.edu/dancefest.
Back to the TopJuly 19, 2009 ~~~ Parsonsfield
As part of the group’s fifth annual Victorian Tea and in honor of the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the Friends of the Parsonsfield Seminary will present reenactors Phillip Chetwynd and Sally Mummey. Since 1991, Chetwynd and Mummey are known for their portrayals of President and Mary Todd Lincoln, during which they speak on personal experiences with slavery and the Underground Railroad. Parsonsfield Seminary, formerly known as the Free Will Baptist Seminary in the United States, was a stop on the Underground Railroad in the first half of the 19th century, and it is decorated to recall that era on the occasion of the Victorian Tea. Many attendees will dress in period attire, and a local harpist will accompany the light repast that follows the Lincoln presentation. For tickets, please call (207) 625-4449 or visit www.parsonsfieldseminary.org.
Back to the TopAugust 7 - 9, 2009 ~~~ Whitefield
To help celebrate Whitefield’s Bicentennial, artist Natasha Mayers will lead Whitefield social studies students in the creation of an 8x12-foot mural depicting historic landmarks and events on a map of Whitefield. Rachel Hamlin will conduct two tile-making workshops with the wider Whitefield Community to create a tile border for the mural. A document of all participants from the school and the general public, along with photographs of the process taken by students, will be archived at the Whitefield Historical Society. The mural will be unveiled during the major Whitefield Bicentennial Days celebration, August 7-9, and will endure as a permanent installation in the Whitefield School. For more information, please call the school at (207) 549-7691.
Back to the TopAugust, 2009 ~~~ Machias
For two weeks each summer, young people gather at the University of Maine in Machias to experience community and creativity through Shakespearean theatre with the Maine Youth Theatre Institute (MYSTI). First envisioned and sponsored by a professor at the university, this program is now run under the auspices of Stage East, a nonprofit community theatre group based in Eastport. MYSTI’s 30 young actors (ages 12-19), most of them from Washington County, produce a full-length Shakespearean play at the end of their session. In 2009, they will present two public performances of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Machias Performing Arts Center. For details, please call (207) 853-7154, or visit www.stageeast.org/mysti.
Back to the TopSeptember 25, October 16, and November 20 ~~~ Freeport
The Freeport Historical Society recently acquired an oil painting of the merchant ship Tam O’ Shanter, which sailed out of Freeport in the 19th century. The painting will be exhibited in 2009 alongside artifacts and documents tied to the experiences of Maine mariners and their families, and especially to Tam O’Shanter. In addition, the Freeport Historical Society has planned a series of public events, “Lessons from the Tam O’Shanter,” to engage a broad audience in maritime history. After a summer break, the series picks up again on September 25 with a talk entitled “Yankee Shipmasters: Shwashbuckling Middle Class Guys…Or Were They?” (suggesting that in fact, most captains were responsible businessmen). Two more lectures, on October 16 and November 20, will address the China trade, both old and new, and the specific voyages that are on record for the Tam O’Shanter. For more program details, please call (207) 865-3170 or visit www.freeporthistoricalsociety.com.
Back to the TopOctober 22, 2009 ~~~ Portland
Joan Hedrick, the 1995 Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life, will speak at the University of Southern Maine on October 22, 2009. Her lecture, “Writing a Woman’s Life,” will explore the challenges and choices (often shaped by gender) involved in writing biography. The topic is intended to appeal to the general public as well as scholars writing about Ellen Harmon White, co-founder of the Seventh-Day Adventists. Hedrick teaches at Trinity College in Connecticut. For more information about her lecture or the Ellen Harmon White conference, please contact the American & New England Studies program at USM, (207) 780-4920.
Back to the TopMay 2 - November 29, 2009 ~~~ Bath
The Maine Maritime Museum’s new exhibit, Net Worth: the Rise and Fall of Maine’s Fin Fisheries, runs from May 2 to November 29, 2009. It illuminates the various strands of history, economics, politics, and technology that have shaped the fishing industry in Maine. Since fishing was one of the first livelihoods for both Maine Indians and European visitors, the exhibit explores the impact of European exploration on the livelihoods of indigenous people. In a public program, Native American historian and Penobscot Tribal Elder Reuban Phillips and reenactor and historian Gus Konitzky will appear together for the first time to demonstrate historic Native and European techniques for catching and preserving fish. Tentative dates for this program are July 23 and August 20. For details, please call (207) 443-1316 or visit www.mainemaritimemuseum.org.
Back to the TopMay 20 - October 18, 2009 ~~~ Portland
The Portland Harbor Museum celebrates the May 20 opening of its new space at 510 Congress Street in Portland with three new exhibits. Along with two photography shows, the multimedia Good Work, Sister: Women Shipyard Workers During World War II exhibit will tell the story of local women who worked in the WWII shipyards, filling jobs formerly held only by men. The museum’s abundant collection of photographs, artifacts, and archives will explore the impact of this change on every aspect of wartime culture. The exhibit complements the Museum’s new online educational unit on the same topic. For hours and other details, please visit www.portlandharbormuseum.org.
Back to the TopThrough May 30, 2009 ~~~ Saco
A special exhibition at the Saco Museum will feature work from New England Wax, an association of artists who work in encaustic (a beeswax-based painting medium). Juried by Katherine French, Director of the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Massachusetts, the exhibition will offer the opportunity for local and regional artists to exhibit their work together and exchange ideas. Programming will include a lecture by Kim Bernard about the history of this ancient medium, as well as art-making activities and school tours. Connections will be made to nineteenth century waxworks in the Saco Museum’s permanent collection. The exhibition opened on April 3, 2009, and runs through May 30. For more information, please call (207) 283-3861 or visit www.dyerlibrarysacomuseum.org.
Back to the TopThrough June 14, 2009 ~~~ Bar Harbor
The first test of the new textile display cases at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, purchased with support from a Humanities Infrastructure grant, comes with the exhibit Twisted Path: Contemporary Native American Artists Walking in Two Worlds, for which the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and American Art in Indianapolis has loaned a coat made by Mi’kmaq artist Teresa Marshall. This exhibit, along with future exhibits that take advantage of the new textile display cases, will particularly enhance the Abbe’s contribution to Native American studies in Maine schools. To learn more, please call (207) 388-3519 or visit www.abbemuseum.org.
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Notes from an Open Book welcomes feedback from its readers. Please contact Diane Magras by email at diane@mainehumanities.org or by phone at (207)773-5051 ext. 208 (toll-free 1-866-637-3233, ext. 208) to respond.