Boothbay Region Historical Society
Volume 19, Issue 2
Fall 2006
New Book, Boothbay Region Historical
Sketches,Volume III, Just Published
Barbara Rumsey has just
completed the third book in her series of Boothbay Region Historical Sketches. The public will be able to meet the authors on
Saturday, November 18th from
This latest book is divided
into sections entitled: The Outer Islands, Treasure and Shipwreck, Rascals and
Characters, Fishing, Shipyards and Vessels, and Pitfalls in Researching Local
History. It is, like previous volumes, a compilation of articles, almost all
which first appeared in the historical society's column in the local region
newspaper, the Boothbay Register. The monthly column, Out Of Our Past, was introduced in 1988 with the goal of
acquainting those interested in the Boothbay region history with past events,
places and people. Because of the public interest expressed in seeing the
articles available in book form, a first volume of 36 articles was printed in
1995; another volume of 55 articles followed in 2000.
Sketches III is softcover, 272 pages long, and includes more
than 100 photos, drawings, maps and charts. Barbara
Rumsey wrote the majority of the articles, with others supplied by Alden
Stickney, Chip Griffin, Dave Dash, Flora Hodgdon Bishop, and Ruth Begin. It is
priced at $16.80, tax included. Shipped out of state, the cost will be $18.50,
including shipping but no tax.
SEAFARING ADVENTURES
Our region has a
long-standing history of taking to the sea. This tradition continues into the
present, with many of our neighbors and family members making a living or
spending leisure time on the water. The historical society has begun a new
series of programs featuring local people with great stories about their time
at sea.
Our programs began in
October with Robert Zimmerli sharing his experiences on Minesweepers in the
pacific and continued this month with Roger Duncan relating his adventures
sailing the
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
We now have 627 members.
Thank you to all of our members for their continued support through membership
dues which provide a large portion of our operating funds.
NEW MEMBERS
Mary Ellen Barnes:
Robert & Calista Boyd:
Jeffery P. Slayton:
Jack & Holly Fulmer: East
Christopher Crowley:
Winnie & Bill McKelvey:
John Blois:
Martha & Donald Goldstone:
Larz & Nancy Neilson: East
Dwight W. Harvie:
CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE WITH ANTIQUE APPRAISER
RICHARD LUNKETT
Our annual open house will be held on Saturday, December 2 from
VOLUNTEERS IN ACTION
Our volunteers continue to
help us on practically a daily basis. Ken Hanson and Alan Fisher
continue to update our collections database, Judy Davidson keeps our files in
order, and Bob Vawter has been busy cataloguing new collections. Bill Wilson
is our resident problem solver. Among other things, he has fixed the air
filter, installed a light in one of our show cases and built several shelves.
Robert Rice has put in many hours cataloguing photos and taking out the trash
while Judy Dunsford and Holly Fulmer have been willing to do any task Barbara
puts before them. Judy Cook, Barbara Bush and Judy Burgess have all been a big
help "staffing" the museum and helping with office work, and Bruce
Wood continues to maintain our website and is a great help with any computer
issues. A big thanks to the ladies who are always willing to help out with
mailings and to everyone who helped with the Fall Foliage Festival.
ACCOUNT BOOKS - Barbara Rumsey
I see the historical society
as principally a research facility, with its core the reference room. There
are several discrete collections in that room: topical history/clipping files,
family files, town records, town reports, newspapers, document collections,
books, photos, account books, and more.
When I'm researching in
depth, my favorite source is the account book collection. Traditionally,
businesses entered every sequential transaction in a day book, so you get to
see who drops in when. Later, day book entries were transferred to an account
book which was arranged by the customer's name and cross-referenced to the day
book page. So if blacksmith William McCobb performed jobs for
Money was rare in the early
1800s, and people customarily paid their bills in kind. In account books the
left side was the customer's job and bill; the right side was the payment,
which often was owed for a year or more. In blacksmith books, for instance,
you see what people were making or repairing, such as vessels, plows,and
chisels; and see the payment with shoes, pumpkins, money, leather, or
dressmaking. The same is true of the surviving store accounts, with staples
paid for with labor, such as "your son and team of oxen for a day,"
with goods, such as wood, shingles, bricks, and so on.
You can quickly build up a
picture of a village's activities, figure out who's the shoemaker, who's the
tanner. And their personal lives. Account books do more to bring people to
life before the late 1800s than any other collection.
WELCOME TO OUR NEW
TRUSTEE JOHN MCKOWN
As you may assume, being a
McKown, John is a native of the region. He lives in
and is employed in the
administrative offices at Bigelow Laboratories.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Nov.
18,
Dec.
2,
Jan.
17,
February 21, Seafaring
Adventures TBA
March
21,
April
18,
NEW ACQUISITIONS
Andrew Twaddle - Damariscove picture, The Coast of Maine; Barbara Fellows - All Saints by the Sea
History; Fred Bennett - Tibbetts Graveyard list and stone photos; Peg Stewart - Wylie photos; Dot Rice Booth - Rice photos; Addison Smith - Adams photos; Friends of the Library - Phippsburg and Georgetown
Vital Records; Joanne Reynolds - Kenney family material; Larry Crane - DVDs of Colin Woodard '06
talk, Jim Stevens '99 talk, Cecil Pierce '94 talk; Florence Harrold - Boothbay Harbor High School logs of 1948 and 1952, Sample's
Shipyard monograph; Claude Brinegar - 1923 and 1929 copies of Automobile Green Book; Ronnie Spofford postcard of local views and seasonal greetings; Dickie Spofford - Sandwich board for announcements; Jon Richardson - Kimball family history; Bruce MacDonald Smith family history; Brud Pierce Estate - Pierce family photos and
documents, hot dog business material; Ruth Ann Szostek - Knights of Pythias ribbon
and medal, 1842 Boothbay treasurer document; John G. Wilson family - 1934 Calhoun wharf drawing, 1935 Guptill scow watercolor, local
history books; Paul Feyling - DVD "Double Vision," images from Bettinson-Feyling
exhibition, Brud Pierce photo; Evelyn Giles - crowbar made from an axle to
tear up Harbor wharf after the fire of 1945; John Hodgdon - sounding lead; Town of Boothbay - treasurer's vouchers,
1877-1879; Tony Heyl - Photos and negatives of region townspeople by Bullock's Jewelry
store and George Rankin; Bea Walker - Boothbay tourist brochures
from the 1940s; Boothbay Studio catalog, Boothbay Harbor paperweight; Eleanor Alley - 1959 Dixieland Memories program for a local minstrel show.
LOCAL ARTISTS TO MAKE
QUILT FOR RAFFLE
Local quilters Kevin Bowler
and Marty Helman have joined with Sarah Giles to create a quilted wall hanging
as a fundraiser for the historical society. Kevin and Marty plan to create the
wall hanging using hand applique and silk ribbon embroidery. They say it will
be approximately 40 by 50 inches square when finished, and it will depict 12
historical and unique buildings in the Boothbay region, including the Burnt
Island Light, the footbridge tender's building, and the fort in Edgecomb. It
will also include well-loved buildings such as the
The quilters plan this
project as "winter work;" once the quilt is finished in the spring,
the historical society will sell raffle tickets for this, a great memento of
our beautiful Boothbay region.
OUT OF OUR PAST
Barbara Rumseys articles that have appeared in
the Boothbay Register column, Out of Our Past, since the last
newsletter:
Cecil Pierce's Childhood Memories of
Cap'n John Stories, Part XIV & XV
The
The Knickerbocker Ice Works
The Leach House on
Early Years on
Photographs that Barbara has published with
detailed captions:
Meadow Cove Ice Works
Sardine Factory at
The Linekin Chapel
The
ITEMS FOR
BOOKS
History of Boothbay,
(reprinted 1984, 1986, 1999)
Family History of the Boothbay Region, Francis B. Greene, 1932 $26.25
(This 1932 book duplicates the genealogies in the last 185 pages of
Greene's 1906 history)
Shipping Days of Old Boothbay, George W. Rice, 1938 (reprinted 1986) $47.25
The Boothbay Region, 1906-1960, Harold B. Clifford, 1961 (reprinted 1982) $13.60
Reminiscences of a Boothbay Shipbuilder, James P. Stevens, 1993 $ 8.40
Boothbay Region Historical Sketches, Barbara Rumsey, editor, 1995 $14.70
Boothbay Region Historical Sketches, II, Barbara Rumsey, editor, 1999 $15.75
Boothbay Region Historical Sketches III, Barbara Rumsey, editor, 2006 $16.80
Hodgdon Shipbuilding and Mills, A
Documentary History of the First Hundred Years, 1816-1916,
Barbara Rumsey, 1995 $15.75
Colonial Boothbay, Mid-1600s to 1775, Barbara Rumsey, 2000 $16.80
Boothbay Region Revisited, Boothbay Region Historical Society, 2004 $21.00
I'm Different, A Biography of Ethelyn P.
Giles, Carl R. "Chip"
Coming of Age on
Shipping for the books is $2.50, except for
Greene's 1906 history which is $3.00.
Price includes 5% sales tax; out-of-staters can
deduct the sales tax.
Members receive a 10% discount off these prices.
MONOGRAPHS
"Researching Your Old Boothbay Region
House," Barbara Rumsey $ 3.68
"Early History of
Shipping for the monographs is $1.25
PHOTOGRAPHS
We have gone almost entirely
to scanning in order to reproduce photographs in our collection.
As a rule, copies of existing prints cost $10.
Scans may be on matte or glossy paper.
SINCE SPRING...
Many things have happened at
the historical society over the past six months. First, we are excited to
welcome a new trustee, John McKown who joined us after the annual meeting in
May. Robert Rice's temporary display of the Rice Brothers history was enjoyed
by many. Visitors were impressed with the models and many attended the related
talk given by Jim Hunt. Colin Woodard returned once again and spoke to a very
full house about his research for the book, The
The Fall Foliage Festival
was a great success this year. We tried something new and sold some sharp
cheddar. It sold out within 2 hours! We'll definitely have more to sell next
year.
Just last month, we held a
small fundraising event at the historic Leach house on
Help your Society and increase our local supportgive the membership form to interested friends and encourage them to join the Society.
INFORMATION email: brhs@gwi.net_________________________
Home Newsletter Society Events Research & Services About the Society Map Membership