Events at Member Institutions

The Sullivan-Sorrento Historical Society & Frenchman's Bay Library present

Songs from Way Downeast: Historic Songs from Hancock & Washington Counties

Performed by Stephen Sanfilippo

A free and fun family-friendly event featuring songs of the sea that tell stories of our own local past. Learn about the importance of songs in preserving the 19th century history of the working waterfront.

All ages welcome! Light refreshments to be served after.

July 28 at 2pm

Sorrento Community Center

81 Pomola Ave.

Sorrento, ME 04677

Read more about Dr. Stephen Sanfilippo here!

Tate House Museum is offering an English Country Dance in the Tate House Yard & Garden on Wed, July 3 from 5:00 -7:00 pm. Come celebrate our country’s independence with a contemporary historical activity! English country dancing has deep roots in British history. The first published collection dates to 1651. ECD came to America with the colonists and became an important social event for the well-to-do. It continued after the War of Independence, and spawned the American contradance. ECD is a living tradition, with new dances being introduced by multiple choreographers each year. For this program, our caller Robb Spivey will concentrate on some of the simpler dances from the colonial and early American periods. All dances will be taught and backed by live music from accomplished 317 Main musicians. Come experience lively tunes, friendly people, and the beautiful surroundings of the Tate House yard and garden, which will make our English Country Dance a pleasant and energizing experience. All dancers welcome from beginners to experts. No special clothing is required, but comfortable clothes and shoes are recommended as the dance takes place in the grassy yard.

Tickets will be available at the door. $15 General Admission and $12 for Tate House Museum members.

The 1755 Tate House will be open for a sneak peak from 4:15 - 5:00 pm and all attendees will receive a coupon for 50% off a Tate House guided tour that can be used during our regular open season.

Please bring your own chair or blanket for resting between dances. Picnics are welcome!

*Check our website and social media for an alternate location if it rains.*

FMI: Holly Hurd

hkhurd@tatehouse.org

Tate House Museum

1267 Westbrook Street

Portland ME 04102

207-774-6177

In honor of Juneteenth, the Tate House Museum is offering an

Imagining Freedom Cyanotype Workshop 

with Re-Site 2024 artist Ashley Page

from 12 noon - 3:00 pm

Participants will start by gaining an in-depth learning session about the history of the Tate House, Stroudwater Village, and the state of Maine from Ashley and Tate House Museum’s executive director Holly K. Hurd and consulting curator Laura F. Sprague which will be grounded in the theme of Imagining Freedom. Following this, we will explore these themes through cyanotypes. Participants are encouraged but not required to bring found objects, ephemera, or materials with personal significance. For example: grass, hair, beads, rocks, shells, feathers, fabric, inks, special papers, etc.

Advance tickets cost $30 each and include all materials. Space is limited to 25. Visit space538.org for tickets.

Please note, due to the cyanotype process, sunlight is essential. *Rain date for this event is Sunday, June 23, *2-5 pm*. Please be mindful of both dates when signing up.

The Tate House Museum will also be open to the public for a Community Day of free admission on June 19th from 10 am - 4 pm with tours every hour on the hour at 10:00 am, 11:00, 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 pm.

**Registration for free tours is required by June 17 at tatehouse.org. FMI contact Director Holly K. Hurd hkhurd@tatehouse.org**

https://www.simpletix.com/e/juneteenth-community-day-tickets-174073

   From 1919 to 1921, Augusta was home to a movie production company founded by Edgar Jones and local businessmen. His goal was to make “North Woods” films. He chose the Augusta area because of the Kennebec River, surrounding lakes and forestland, and its four seasons. Jones brought in a company of actors and a film crew, who all lived together at 129 Sewall Street. Jones used locals as extras in the films. The films premiered at the Colonial Theater in Augusta.

    Jones worked with local writer Holman Day to adapt many of Day’s stories for the films. In 1921 Day and local businessmen took over the company, ousting Jones. Day soon bankrupted the company.

    Six of the dozens of two-reel films from this era are known to survive. Four are archived at the Library of Congress in various collections, and British Film Institute donated a pair to Northeast Historic Film in Bucksport. Digital scans of the original 35-millimeter films, with new music scores added, were screened in June 2023 at the Colonial.

    KHS presenter Ed Lorusso will show two of the films, Caught in the Rapids and Cupid, Registered Guide, roughly 20 minutes each. He also will provide commentary, then answer questions after the viewing.

    Lorusso has been restoring silent films since he retired. Six of his projects have been licensed by Turner Classic Movies, including The Enchanted Cottage (1924), which will air later this year. His projects have been screened at various theaters and silent film festivals across the country. He’s also the author of The Silent Films of Marion Davies and is working on a book about filmmaking in Maine during the silent era.

    The Kennebec Historical Society presentation is free to the public (donations are gladly accepted) and will take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 21, at Augusta City Center, located at 16 Cony Street in Augusta. If you have questions about the program, call Scott Wood, executive director, at 622-7718.

After spending five years traveling thousands of miles around Maine, here are a few things writer Tim O’Brien has learned, according to a summary of his recent book, The Maine Roadshow: A Roadside Tour of the State’s History, Culture, Food, Funk & Oddities: “There’s a one-ton replica of the Liberty Bell on the grounds of the Maine State Capitol. The seeds for the Space Shuttle Pines, now growing in Augusta, travelled 2.4 million miles before being planted. Our state has more moose per mile than any of the other lower 48 states. Maine’s oldest town was incorporated 125 years before the birth of the United States. There’s a building in Columbia Falls that looks like a blueberry and one in Wells that looks like a hunk of cheese.”

O’Brien, the Kennebec Historical Society’s speaker for July, has captured these and other Maine highlights in his illustrated book. His lecture, supported by a PowerPoint presentation, will be about the book. A resident of Belgrade and Nashville, Tennessee, he is a photojournalist with 18 books to his credit. He has worked for decades as a communications specialist in the entertainment industry chronicling theme parks, amusement parks, roadside attractions, circuses, carnivals, and sideshows.

The lecture, co-sponsored by the Maine State Library, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. July 17, 2024, at the library’s temporary location, 242 State Street in Augusta. Donations are gladly accepted. If you have any questions about the event, please call the society at (207) 622-7718.

Maine’s forest is immense. Since Colonial times, Maine settlers have cut trees from its millions of acres of forest. Britain cut thousands of tall pine trees for masts for their royal navy ships. This slide presentation, titled “Logging in Maine,” describes logging from its earliest methods, including primitive cutting and hauling methods and water-powered sawmills, to the development of steam log haulers and steam-powered sawmills in the early 20^th century, when her latest logging book, Trouble in Nathan’s Woods, takes place. Log drives, on the Kennebec River and others, will be discussed. Cowan’s passion for writing about forests and logging was inspired by her family’s history. The Mortons owned Paris Manufacturing Company, located in South Paris, Maine, where they manufactured wooden sleds, skis, and other wood products. They also operated a large lumber camp, where her father lived as a young boy. The program includes pictures of 19^th-century logging camps, shows how logs were harvested and hauled out of the woods, and includes historic photos taken by her grandfather.

Award-winning author and KHS presenter, Mary Morton Cowan, has been writing books and articles for young readers for more than 30 years and has completed several courses focusing on that genre. A Maine native, Cowan graduated from Westbrook High School and Bates College, where she concentrated her studies in English and Music. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and of Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

The Kennebec Historical Society’s June presentation is free to the public (donations are gladly accepted) and will take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 26, at the Augusta City Center, located at 16 Cony Street in Augusta. If you have any questions about the program, please call Scott Wood, executive director, at 622-7718.

COLONIAL LIVE! Saturday June 22, 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm

OPENING SEASON CELEBRATION AT TATE HOUSE MUSEUM

Join us in celebrating the opening of the Tate House Museum’s 2024 season on Saturday, June 22 nd from 12 noon to 4:00 PM. We’ll be doing colonial up big with fun activities for the whole family. Our special guest is colonial reenactor Michael Dekker who will be demonstrating how structures were built in the 18 th century including the hand-hewing of logs using colonial tools and basic timber framing joinery. Dekker is the author of French and Indian Wars in Maine and will be engaging visitors with his extensive knowledge of the time period.

Colonial games and activities for children will be offered as well as tours of the housefeaturing our new temporary art installation by Ashley Page. There will be other colonial-focused activities such as a colonial play Tate Family & Neighbors, architectural tours,colonial displays, and more! See tatehouse.org for schedule details.Entrance fees are $18 for adults, $8 for children 6-12 (under 6 free), $40 for families with up to 3 children. Members of Tate House Museum are $15 / $5 / $35.

Come join in the fun and experience this unique museum with its colonial trappings LIVE! Experience our new, more inclusive narratives featuring the work and life of a domestic servant who was likely enslaved and Wabanaki baskets representing colonial trade.

Tate House Museum is now open for regular house tours through Oct 12. Please visit our website for advance tickets and information: www.tatehouse.org.

We are offering free house tours on Juneteenth and a special artist workshop with Ashley Page (ticketed) from 12 noon - 3 pm. Registration is required on our website. FMI visit tatehouse.org

FMI: Holly K. Hurd

hkhurd@tatehouse.org

Tate House Museum

1267 Westbrook Street

Portland ME 04102

Enjoy a mystery tour of local homes and gardens that would not normally be open to the public. Each location will present a unique theme. Advanced orders will be taken for a boxed lunch (by phone or through our online store). Proceeds from this even fund the Rufus Porter Museum and it's community programs.

Buy tickets here

Reserve a boxed lunch here. 

“Painting an Inclusive History: Maine Women in Politics,” is an exhibition of the work of Jerri Whitman. Based in Dresden, Maine, Whitman is a longtime artist who works in oil, pastel, acrylic, colored pencil and graphite. Presently, Whitman is working to create a portrait of every woman from Maine who has been elected to the Maine Legislature, the U.S. House of Representatives, or the U.S. Senate. The first twenty-six of these portraits are featured in “Painting an Inclusive History” and are currently on display at the Margaret Chase Smith (MCS) Library. This exhibition opened on Monday, May 20th, and will close on Wednesday, November 27th, 2024.

On Thursday, June 20th, from 4pm to 7pm, there will be a public opening reception for “Painting an Inclusive History” at the MCS Library in Skowhegan, Maine. This event will be free and open to all, there will be light refreshments served, and brief welcoming remarks will be given at 5pm.

The staff of the MCS Library encourages everyone to either attend the public opening reception on Thursday, June 20th, from 4pm to 7pm, or visit the MCS Library before the exhibition ends in November 2024. The MCS Library is open to the public Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm, and reservations are highly encouraged for visitors. To make a reservation, please call the MCS Library, (207) 474-7133.

Margaret Chase Smith Library

56 Norridgewock Ave, Skowhegan, ME 04976

Tate House Museum’s Annual Plant & Herb Sale on May 18

Portland --- It’s that time of year again when fingers are itching to get out into the garden. We invite you to shop for perennials and annuals for your garden in support of Tate House Museum on Saturday May 18, from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm.

This popular plant sale features moderately-priced perennials divided from the Tate House Museum’s 18th century reproduction garden. There will also be a variety of annual flowers, vegetable seedlings, native plants, other perennials and hanging baskets to choose from. This can be your one-stop garden shop to support a good cause!

We will once again have a “Make Your Own Seed Bomb” activity and a sneak peek viewing of Tate House featuring our new art installation by Ashley Page from 10-12 noon.

Proceeds from the sale support the educational mission of Tate House Museum, the only colonial area historic house open to the public in Greater Portland.

FMI: Contact Director Holly K. Hurd

Tate House Museum

1267 Westbrook Street

Portland, ME 04102

hkhurd@tatehouse.org

207-774-6177