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Current Exhibits
Museum
Dressing Up, Fitting In, Standing Out: Adornment & Identity in Maine (Through May 27, 2012)
Lecture Hall Gallery
Take to the Streets! (Through March 31, 2012)
Showcase Gallery
Student art work from our Local History/Local Schools program
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Winter Hours
Museum & Museum Store: Mon-Sat 10am-5pm
Brown Library: Tues-Sat 10am-4pm
The Wadsworth-Longfellow House is closed for the season. Guided tours resume in May.
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Seen at MHS
Our Celebrate the Season events this year were festive and lively. We hope you'll join us again next year during the holidays!
Friends gathered for the annual MHS members holiday party.
Artist Cole Caswell made tintypes during the Longfellow Family Christmas.
MHS staff enjoyed their "Mad for Plaid" themed holiday party.
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Maine Facts & Trivia
Mainers lead the way
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Jedediah Preble
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Jedediah Preble (1707-1784), a Portland businessman, is recorded as the first non-native to climb to the peak of Mount Washington in New Hampshire.
In 1981, George Murray of Millinocket was the first person to cross North America in a wheelchair.
Ellen Shulman was the first woman in New England to compete in men's varsity intercollegiate athletics. She swam on the Bowdoin College men's team in 1972.
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Digital History from Maine Memory Network
Waterville, 1911: "We are growing to be somewhat cosmopolitan..."  | |
MMN Item #61883
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In 1911, Waterville was booming. This online exhibit, created by the Waterville Public Library with a digitization grant from MHS, explores how the efforts of local businesses, city government, and residents helped transform Waterville from a small town isolated in central Maine to a city with connections to the rest of the state, country, and the world. The next grant deadline for digitization projects, online exhibits, and the Maine Community Heritage Project is April 1. |
MHS News
City of Portland Tax Records Go Online
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1924 Tax Record, 485 Congress Street (MHS)
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A partnership between MHS, the City of Portland, and Portland Public Library is pleased to announce that the first 10,000 entries from the 1924 Portland Tax Records have gone online on Maine Memory Network. This major initiative vastly expands access to a valuable and heavily used research collection. The records were created as part of a city-wide tax reevaluation and include photographs (in most cases) and other information, including descriptions of building materials, finishes, and the property's assessed value. About half of the records have been scanned and added to the site (for street names from A-M). The project is expected to be completed by summer 2012. Search these records by owner, address, neighborhood, style, or use. **********************
Sign Up Now for Portland History Docents Program
Are you interested in becoming a docent in the Longfellow House or volunteering at another local history site? The Portland History Docent program, a collaboration between eight Portland museums, is an incredible way to get involved, learn about Portland history, and become part of a great community. The twelve-week training program for new docents will be held Thursday mornings from February 9 through May 3. Learn more.
New Grants Support Garden Interpretation
MHS recently received two important grants--$10,000 from the Horizon Foundation and $5,000 from the Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust--to support interpretation of the Longfellow Garden. The grants will help staff develop interpretive material--including signage, handouts, and programs--that connect the garden to MHS, the Longfellow family, and the city. Look for these new resources this summer!
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Maine Memory Toolkit Lands in Local Libraries  Next time you visit your local library, look for posters and bookmarks featuring Maine Memory Network. The materials were recently sent to every public library in the state as part of a toolkit that promotes the role that libraries can play in fostering interest in Maine history. There are five different posters, and five bookmarks. Click here to learn more and download copies! |
January Programs
Tuesday, January 31, 12pm MHS Book Event: Celebrating A Maine Prodigy Please join us to hear the story behind Maine Historical Society's publication of A Maine Prodigy: The Life and Adventures of Elise Fellows White. White was a violin prodigy from Skowhegan whose musical talents and adventuresome spirit took her around the country and abroad in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This new book was compiled by Dr. Houghton White from his grandmother's autobiography, diaries, letters, and photographs, now part of the MHS library collection. A Maine Prodigy was edited by MHS staff member Candace Kanes, who also wrote the introduction. Dr. White and Kanes will share background on Elise's life. Purchase the book. |
Upcoming Program Series
(Re) Designing the Greater Portland Landscape: Issues in Contemporary Design and Development MHS and Greater Portland Landmarks are excited to announce a new joint program series. The four-part series will provide an immersion in historic and contemporary issues related to the greater Portland landscape through case studies and rigorous discussion of specific sites and current development and infrastructure projects. Each program will feature a moderator, a panel of stakeholders, and opportunity for discussion. Programs are open to the public. Suggested donation: $10 ($5 for MHS/GPL members) Tuesday, February 21, 7pm Public Parks: Care and Cultivation of Fort Williams Park, Cape Elizabeth Tuesday, March 20, 7pm Downtown Corridors: Franklin and Spring Streets Tuesday, April 24, 7pm Gateways to Portland: Rebuilding Veterans Memorial and Martin's Point Bridges Tuesday, May 15, 7pm On the Waterfront: Heritage, Re-use, and Economic Development |
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From the Collections
MHS Map Reveals Presumpscot River, ca. 1840
 Graduate student (and former education department assistant) Marieke Van Der Steenhoven has been closely studying Alexander W. Longfellow's map of the Gambo Falls area along the Presumpscot River in 1840 (Map RR 20 at MHS). It's a remarkable document, now being exminded at NEDCC.
The map was commissioned as part of a court case between two mill operators along the river in Gorham. The powder mill owner, O.M. Whipple, found that his mill couldn't run as well after a dam and mill were constructed by the Cumberland Cotton Manufacturing Company. The map shows many mill buildings and reveals the thriving water-powered industry in Maine during this period. The Whipple mill went on to produce more powder for the Union troops during the Civil War than any other mill in the country.
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Coming Soon:
Sign-Up Now!
2012 Book Discussion Group:
Extraordinary Histories of Ordinary Things
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Portland City Hall Rum Room, ca. 1930
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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 codfish changed history; the toothpick as a paradigm for American manufacturing; and the influence of rum on the development of the New World.
WHEN: Tuesdays 2/28, 3/27, 4/25, and 5/22 @ 7PM
WHERE: MHS Lecture Hall
COST: $10 Members/$20 Non-members
BOOKS: Discounts available through MHS Store
REGISTRATION REQUIRED: By Friday, January 27 (Space is limited.)
Program facilitated by Larissa Vigue Picard. Click here for more information and to register.
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Museum Store
Baby, it's COLD outside!
The cold winter weather is here! Warm up with our 100% lambs wool blankets and scarves featuring the Maine State Tartan!
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In store only. Visit us at 489 Congress Street in Portland. Museum store winter hours are Monday through Saturday 10am-5pm.
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