This Week at MHS: Navy Firefighting School, Maine: The Wilder Half of New England, and John Ford

Digital History: Stories from Maine Memory Network

Online Exhibit:
Navy Firefighting School, Little Chebeague Island

Instructor's building, Little Chebeague Island, 1947 MMN# 67323

Maine Island Trail Association's MMN exhibit, Navy Firefighting School, Little Chebeague Island, reveals how the small Casco Bay island played a central role in naval training exercises during World War II. Photographs for the exhibit were contributed by the National Archives at Boston. This exhibit was created under a Maine Memory Network Community Mobilization Grant.

View this online exhibit.

This Week

Join us every Thursday evening in July for back-to-back programs. Book talks at 5:30pm are followed by John Ford film screenings at 7pm.

Thursday, July 12, 5:30pm
Book Event: Maine: The Wilder Half of New England

Speaker: Author and Historian William D. Barry

Barry has written the latest in comprehensive Maine history, chronicling 500 years from first contact between Native Americans and European explorers to the achievement of a Down East identity.
Free. Signed books available in the Museum Store.

Thursday, July 12, 7:00pm

John Ford Screening: How Green Was My Valley

Introductions by Kevin Stoehr, Ford scholar

Join us for the second of four film screenings that celebrate the work of Portland native John Ford. How Green Was My Valley, winner of the 1941 Academy Award for Best Picture, dramatizes the emotion and physical toll exacted on a small Welsh town by the coal mining industry.

Included with museum admission.

Next Week

Thursday, July 19, 5:30pm
Book Event: Maine: Moxie in a Bottle

Maine author Jim Baumer shows us why this soft drink has garnered such a loyal and vocal following. Representing old-fashioned values and a sense of community, Moxie is a Maine symbol of Americana.

Thursday, July 19, 7:00pm

John Ford Screening: The Grapes of Wrath

Based on John Steinbeck's classic American novel, The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joad family out of the Dustbowl to California in search of work and prosperity.

To see a full list of upcoming programs, visit us online.

Register Now!

Saturday, August 4, 10:30am-12:30pm

Set sail in Casco Bay on the schooner Wendameen

Join MHS for a sail on Casco Bay aboard the historic Maine schooner Wendameen. Historian Jim Millinger will be our host and will talk about Portland Harbor's past and present. The 88-foot schooner, 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 is limited and registration is required.
To register, please call 207-774-1822. Fee: $45; members: $40.

Ongoing and Family Programs

Visit us online, or call 207-774-1822 for times, ticket information, and details.