January 19, 2015
MHS NEWS
We're closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 
Our campus may be closed, but Maine Memory Network Curator, Candace Kanes, will be in Richmond today at the Southard House Museum discussing the hundreds of former slaves who came to Maine in the last years of the Civil War and immediately afterward. See Digital History for more on this topic. 
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
FEATURE PROGRAM: Thursday, January 22, 5:30 pm 
In partnership with Osher Map Library:
The Emergence of Portland: Early Homes and Early Maps
 

John Cullum, A Map of the City of Portland with its Latest Improvements (Portland, 1836). Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine.

This illustrated lecture shares from the collections of MHS and the University of Maine's Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education. 

Come here the analysis of urban maps as cultural documents and interpret Portland's spatial history from the colonial era through the nineteenth century.

Join us in the Brown Research Library at 5:30pm for a light reception followed by the discussion in the Shettleworth Lecture Hall at 6:30pm.

This is a free program, but reservations are required, RSVP here. 
Thursday, January 29, 5:00 - 7:00pm

Program: Local History Local Schools Celebration

Hall Elementary School 

Location: MHS Student Gallery and Lecture Hall

Price: Free

Details: Students rom Portland's Hall Elementary School present the results of their month long Local History Local Schools units of study based on the current MHS gallery exhibition, Home: The Longfellow House and the Emergence of Portland. Read more online.
Thursday, January 31, 1:30pm

Program: Post Mortem Mourning Practices in 18th and 19th Century New England

Presented in partnership with Spirits Alive

Speaker: Libby Bischof, Associate Professor of History, USM

Location: MHS Lecture Hall

Price: Free

Details: Online.
Tuesday, February 3, 12:00pm

Program: The History of Political Cartoons

Speaker: Erin Bishop, Director, Maine Archives & Museums

Location: MHS Lecture Hall

Price: Free for MHS members & $5 non-members; pay at the door

Details: Online.
MHS BOOK GROUP
The deadline to join the MHS book group is Friday, January 23! The group meets on the last Tuesday of the month through May. This is our sixth year and the group is a great opportunity to engage in literary discussions about history and connect with members of the MHS community.

Our theme this year, "Home is Where the Heart Is," is inspired by our current exhibition Home: The Longfellow House and the Emergence of Portland. 

Session readings explore themes of home, family, place, immigration, and community in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry with a historical resonance.


Our first session is Tuesday, January 27 at 6:30 pm in the Lecture Hall. Registration deadline is January 23 and the cost is $20 for MHS members and $30 for non-members.  

To sign up please email lvpicard@mainehistory.org or on-site at the MHS store. Find out more information on our programs page. 
HOUSE TOURS
Love in the Longfellow House: Couples Guided Tour
19th century valentine. MMN #4137

"Love keeps the cold out better than a cloak." 


 

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
From The Spanish Student

Bring your special someone to a love-themed tour of the Wadsworth-Longfellow House in celebration of Valentine's Day. Come hear about 19th century courtship rituals and the family's many romances, heartbreaks, marriages, and more-including Henry's honeymoon! 

Prior to the tour, enjoy locally-made chocolates and a glass of champagne or sparkling cider, and leave with a reproduction print of a vintage valentine from our collection.


Tour Dates:
February 5, 6 (SOLD OUT!), 12, 13 and 14 from 6:00 - 7:30pm.

Reservations are required and each tour is limited to six couples. 

Cost: $40 per couple for MHS members; $50 per couple for non-members.

Buy your ticket online or contact John Babin, Visitor Services Manager, at jbabin@mainehistory.org or 774-1822 ext. 212.
PORTLAND'S HISTORY DOCENT PROGRAM
It's that time of year again...

The Portland's History Docents Program (PHD) is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this year! Please join us for this special year, and receive knowledge, experience, and friendships that last a lifetime.

 

The PHD program is a collaborative effort by: 
  • Greater Portland Landmarks
  • Maine Historical Society
  • Tate House Museum
  • Victoria Mansion
  • Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad and Museum
  • Fifth Maine Regiment Museum
  • Eastern Cemetery. 

Each spring, these organizations join forces to provide a nine-week training program for new prospective volunteer guides at each organization's respective museum site. Several weeks of lively and informative talks and presentations take place at MHS, combined with site visits to each partnering organization.

 

Upon graduation, PHD participants become eligible to volunteer at the site(s) of their choice, and training at those sites is scheduled on an individual basis. Graduates are asked to commit to a year of volunteer time. At MHS, docents provide tours of the Wadsworth-Longfellow House, conduct the Old Port Walking Tour, assist with school groups, and work in other aspects of MHS operations.

 

When: Every Thursday mornings from 9am  - 12:00pm; March 5 - April 30

Cost: $30, or $20 with a valid student I.D.


 Download the application now. 

 

For more information on the PHD program contact MHS's Kathleen Neumann, Manager of School and Interpretive Programs at 207-774-1822 x214, or email  kneumann@mainehistory.org. For information on the application process specifically, email volunteer@portlandlandmarks.org.

 
DHDIGITAL HISTORY
John Nichols, Lewiston, ca. 1873. MMN #98699

John Nichols, a native of North Carolina, was a slave who escaped to the Union during the Civil War in 1862.

At only 14 years of age, Nichols fled with a group of slaves only to be separated when part of the group was captured. 

According to Nichols, Dr. Alonzo Garcelon, Maine's surgeon general during the war, brought him and several other former slaves to Maine at the end of the war to work on farms.

The tintype portrait may have been taken in 1873 when Nichols married Maggie E. Brooks, who was born in Canada. The couple raised ten children.

Nichols lived in Lewiston for about 60 years and went to Boston to live with a daughter in about 1928, where he died in 1931.

Find more images like this on the Maine Memory Network. 
VINTAGE MAINE IMAGES
Newlyweds at Christmas Cove, 1904 VMI #5986

This Valentine's Day, surprise your sweetie with a unique gift: a museum-quality print from Vintage Maine Images.

With more than 26,000 images to choose from, your beloved will delight in the gift of a photograph of their hometown or an iconic Maine scene. 

Search now for that perfect gift. Archival prints start at just $15, and your purchase benefits history preservation projects across Maine! 
WINTER HOURS
Wadsworth-Longfellow House in Winter, ca. 1920. MMN #11418

Gallery & Store

Monday: Closed
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 5pm
Sunday: Closed

Brown Library

Wednesday - Saturday: 10am - 4pm
ONGOING PROGRAMS & EXHIBITIONS

 

Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. Lecture Hall 

Wholesome Habitations: Architectural Collections of the Maine Historical Society 

 

Showcase Gallery 

Remembering Our Visit: Souvenir China and Mementos of the Longfellow House

 
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MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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207-774-1822

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