COMING EVENTS

 Anniversary Celebration

When the Boothbay Region Historical Society was founded in 1967, the founders looked back at the region's rich history and resolved to finally gather and perpetuate it in an organized way. Instead of voicing the familiar words, "Somebody really should do something," they did the doing.

Thirty-five years have elapsed since then, and now the society can look back on its own history and its role within the towns' history. We have a home, we have great archives and artifacts, and we consistently work at the task of being prepared to tell the townspeople about the past.

We plan to mark our thirty-fifth anniversary in various ways during the year. On Friday, August 9, we will host an anniversary party, to take place at Hodgdon Yachts in East Boothbay.

The event will unfold at the main shipyard shop from 5 to 7 p.m. Attendees will get a rare look at Scheherazade, the 154-foot yacht now under construction, enjoy live music by Castlebay, light drinks, and hors d'oeuvres catered by Baggettes. Tim Hodgdon or a member of the yacht-building crew will be on hand to answer questions about the design and construction of the vessel.

Some people, including founding trustee Jim Stevens and our founding members, loom large in our thirty-five years. In addition to offering guests a chance to see, up close, shipbuilding in East Boothbay today, this party will provide an opportunity to recognize the contributions made by a number of people to the well-being of our society.

The anniversary party will coincide with an exhibit at the museum of region shipbuilding, featuring photos and models of locally-built vessels. A selection from the society's archives will be on display at the Hodgdon event.

Society members are receiving advance notice of this event through this newsletter. If you'd like to join in this anniversary celebration, we urge you to reserve tickets now, before the event is announced in June and tickets become available to the general public at some retail stores. Tickets are $30 each for members ($35 for non-members) and may be purchased at the museum at 72 Oak Street, Boothbay Harbor, during our open hours, or by sending a check to BRHS, P. O. Box 272, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538. Tickets are limited.

This event promises to be a special one this summer, and we are grateful to Tim Hodgdon for his willingness to open up the shop. We are also thankful for the generous support of one of our members for assistance in underwriting the celebration. Any funds raised from ticket sales will be directed to our endowment fund, helping to ensure success during our next thirty-five years.

 

The Annual Meeting

The annual meeting will take place at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21, at the museum. The brief business meeting will include election of trustees and officers, remarks by officers, and a trustees' report.

Following the meeting, society director Barbara Rumsey will give a short slide show of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century local views. There will be refreshments and socializing following the slide show. All members of the society and other interested parties are welcome. Please plan to join us at the museum!

 

Summer Speaker

On Friday, July 19, at 7 p.m., John Rousmaniere, one of the country's most respected and widely read boating authors, will gave a talk at the museum entitled, "After the Storm: Storms at Sea and their Consequences."  

His talk will be in conjunction with a New England book tour, promoting his nineteenth and latest book, After the Storm. During the afternoon before the talk, a book signing at Sherman's Book Store is planned; and after the talk he will also sign books at the museum, thanks to cooperation with Sherman's.

The author of many books, including Annapolis Book of Seamanship and Fastnet, Force 10, he's recently finished another dealing with disaster and recovery at sea. Two of the incidents he'll discuss touched Boothbay with lost lives: the Yankee gale of 1851 and the 1898 sinking of the steamer Portland.

Plan to attend and hear this noted author. Refreshments will be served following his talk.

 

Maine Heritage Day

We will have an open house on Saturday, September 14, 2002, Maine Heritage Day, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Our 35th anniversary and the local shipbuilding exhibit will be the main features. Door prizes will be drawn for some lucky attendees. Also, all visitors will be given a local view (photo or postcard) they may choose from a selection on hand. Please plan to come and join us for socializing and refreshments.

 

Volunteer Recognition Reception

Volunteer manhours last year totalled about 2,400. We are deeply appreciative of this great contribution by so many people. This year we will have a reception to honor our volunteers on September 24 at 5 p.m. at the museum. All our volunteers are welcome—those who man the museum in the summer, those who work behind the scenes in collections, and those who help in so many other ways, such as painting the building or donating legal work. Let the trustees volunteer for you for one afternoon!

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 MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

 Memorials

Sandy Mautner donated funds in memory of his wife Pearl Mautner. Pond Cove School gave in memory of Gerald E. Lewis. We appreciate being recipients of such recognition of community figures.

 Membership

Our membership rolls now stand at 574. Since the fall newsletter we've gained 26 members. Thanks, everybody—your dues provide a large chunk of our operating funds; and welcome to the new members!

New Members

MAINE

East Boothbay

Andy & Meagan Hamblett
John McKown
Bill & Pat Wilson  

Ocean Point

Pat Waldman
Peter & Suzie Hamblett (and Rye, NH)
Bob & Janet Foster  

Boothbay

Arthur & Verna Slater
Lucie Shubert  

Boothbay Harbor

Norman Pierce
Jane Cowley
Barclay Shepard  

Isle of Springs

Edgar Reed II  

Auburn

Elaine Robinson  

Jonesport

Carol Iossa  

Freeport

Joseph Carroll

OTHER STATES  

Dover, New Hampshire           Roger Hayden  

Southboro, Massachusetts    Janet Ward & Paul Skidmore  

Melrose, Massachusetts        Frances & Roger Hayden  

Lebanon, Connecticut             Mrs. Naomi Crowder  

Basking Ridge, New Jersey     Laurie Summers  

Indiana, Pennsylvania             Dee Mitchell  

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania     Steven Schonwald  

Alamogordo, New Mexico     Mary Eastman

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ACTIVITIES

Winter Open House

We held a very successful open house on Saturday, December 1, during the pre-Christmas Harbor Lights celebration. We had more than 100 people visit the museum, many of them old friends dropping in to see what's new, and some brand-new friends.

The winning ticket for the Alden Stickney painting of the steamer Virginia was drawn at the open house. The winner was Robert Duncan of Concord, Massachusetts.

Les Fossel Talk

Les Fossel of Alna, an expert on building restoration, gave a slide lecture on features of early buildings at the museum on Sunday, April 21. To illustrate his points about framing, windows, etc., he showed New England examples, mostly from Maine.

An enthusiastic audience filled the room and kept Les occupied for a full three hours with comments and questions both during and after the talk. His April talk was his third for us—the others were in 1989 and 1996. We will surely have him back just as soon as we can, for I think everyone there would agree that Les gives a terrific talk!

Les owns the business, Restoration Resources, and employs several crews in "preserving the character, integrity, and safety of period structures," focusing on eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century buildings.

Special Thanks

The Garden Club provided Christmas wreaths for our windows. We appreciate their help in making the museum more attractive. All winter we've enjoyed the geraniums Ginny Stapleford gave us, which are visible in the windows.

For many years during November's Early Bird Sale, Tony Heyl has given us a spot in A Silver Lining to sell raffle tickets. He did it again last November 17 and helped make our Virginia raffle a great success.

Great Results from Fundraising Letter

In mid-October we sent letters to the membership appealing for funds for the new administrative assistant position or for the endowment fund. We had a wonderful response, with 145 members sending donations. Approximately $8,000 was donated toward the new position, and $16,000 was dedicated to endowment.

The endowment fund was created in 1999 with the intent to build the total amount and eventually use some of the interest to defray continuing costs. The endowment now stands at approximately $50,000, all donated by members who believe in us and have invested in our future. Our old friend Eleanor Miller (now of Bandera, Texas), who has been our most generous supporter over her more than twenty years of membership, led the way again with her $10,000 endowment donation. The board is grateful to Eleanor and all our members who made this fundraising effort such a success.

Out Of Our Past

Articles that have been in our Boothbay Register column, "Out of Our Past," since the last newsletter include four by Barbara Rumsey: Sardine Factories at West Harbor and Mill Cove, My Folks and Music in 1950s East Boothbay, My Father and the 20/20 Club, The Meadow; and Early 1900s West Harbor memories by Jessie Orne Larrabee, edited by Barbara.

There is usually a month-long lapse between articles or a series of articles. Two weeks after the appearance of an article, we run a photo with a detailed caption in the Register. The society has so many thousands of great photos that more should see the light of day.

Some of the photos profiled: East Boothbay in 1919, the 1890 East Boothbay Elvira J. French launching, the Junior Hose Company of West Harbor, laying the water main at Mill Cove in 1912, a circa 1910 view of Bay Street in Boothbay Harbor, and the Menawarmet Hotel, once a landmark on the Harbor's east side.

WoodenBoat

The May issue of "WoodenBoat" contains an interview with the society's last founding trustee Jim Stevens by director Barbara Rumsey. It covers events in his shipbuilding career, seen through particular vessels he had built. Included also are vessels built by Goudy & Stevens shipyard in the 1920s and 1930s, before Jim's direct involvement with the yard. Get a copy and learn details of his fifty years in shipbuilding.

Administrative Assistant

Pat Waldman, who was hired last fall for our newly-created administrative assistant position, has been a wonderful help in the last six months. With just a few hours spent on a weekly basis, she's attended to hundreds of letters, tracked the email, contacted volunteers to man events, and has set up a new database for our members and donors. Many other small but necessary jobs have been taken over by her. Thanks for everything, Pat!

Collections Work

We went to our winter hours of Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. right after Labor Day. A number of volunteers have been working behind the scenes this winter on most Wednesdays.

Ken Hanson continues winter and summer the long task of cataloging artifacts in the computer. George Patch and Lois Streett have replaced and refurbished the file folders in the history and family file cabinets. They've now started organizing a large amount of documentary material donated by Robert Holbrook.

Faith Meyer and Barbara Rumsey continued the routine collection work of accessioning, cataloging, and acknowledging artifacts and small collections. Barbara tries to spend her time describing and filing individual documents and photos in the discrete history files and photo files.

New volunteers who've joined our Wednesday group are Doreen Dun of Ocean Point and Edith Tauber of East Boothbay. Doreen has typed lists compiled by other volunteers and has cataloged and housed surveys and plans in archival boxes provided by Brenda Bettinson and Cordula Mathias. Edith has started to create better order in the family history files. Thanks to all our collections volunteers, new and old!

Website: http://www.boothbayhistorical.org  

Bruce Wood of Southport and Maryland continues to maintain our website, as he's done since September. Another key element in our internet activities is Great Works Internet (GWI) which hosts our email and website. GWI generously provides access at no cost to non-profits.

Bruce also has been regularly going to the National Archives to retrieve information for us that is unobtainable elsewhere. We are grateful to Bruce for his donation of time and expertise—he has put in an incredible amount of hours for our benefit, in website work, scanning photos, and research.  

Channel 5

Besides the "slide show" Eric Chamberlin created last summer for the local cable station, Rick Prose of West Harbor is creating a similar show of old photos. Rick's first show focuses on photos of the West Harbor area. His show should appear on Channel 5 soon. We have so many photos—it's great for these two guys to ensure that more people see them.

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 ACQUISITIONS

We've had a number of donations since the fall newsletter. Ed Malcom gave books and periodical collections on genealogy; Sawyers Island maps, photos, and plans; a rug beater, a VCR, an early 1900s wicker traveling trunk, and an Oakhurst dairy porch milk box. Ruth Leavitt gave a 1902 Cabbage Island receipt. John Gordon gave some 1920s Frank Rice letters.

Candy Prince gave a Pierce & Hartung promotional needle case and some family memorabilia. Nat Wilson gave two small notebooks of East Boothbay sailmaker Granville Seavey and a few sheets of sailmaker Selig's stationery. Philip Haselton gave books Rockhaven, On Gilbert Head, and York Deeds, 1730-32. Mary Race gave a copy of the published 1887 Boothbay valuation. Edith Dodge gave an enamel pin of the 1960s 20/20 ski club and a D. H. Moody pharmacy bottle. Moody was on Commercial Street in the 1880s.

Elizabeth Kiehn gave two Boothbay Medicinal Spring bottles and a basket. Elizabeth Bowman gave a souvenir pitcher with a Spruce Point scene. Jeannie Godfrey donated a copy of a 1768 map. We purchased a history of Maine sardine canneries by John Gilman, Paul Bennett's book on sardine carriers, and Snow Squall, the Last American Clipper by Nick Dean. John Rousmaniere donated a copy of his newest book, After The Storm.

Linc Sample lent us binders of Sample's shipyard photos and information, compiled by Robert Rice. Sally Sample Johnson lent a "coffin" containing the christening bottle she swung and smashed at a 1942 Sample's minesweeper launching and a painting by Benjamin Stephenson of a rescue tug (click to see a photo of ATR-8) built at the yard and launched in 1944. She also gave some shipyard documents. Evelyn Blake donated a slide projector and accessories which we will use for the annual meeting's slide show!

Joanna Merrell gave us a large amount of genealogy material on the Barter and Winslow families. Raymond Swett donated a collection on prehistoric and historic artifacts, including parts of ceramic containers, projectile points, and bone tools. Mildred Webster gave us a baseball score book from the late 1920s local games on Fort Island. Terry Lewis gave us some Doc Rockwell memorabilia. Irving Haggett donated a family history of the Haggetts. Jean Durfee brought in some photos.

Peter Benoit donated a coin from the wreck found by William Phipps in 1687. Richard Plunkett donated early 1900s advertising pamphlets, Lewis and Bryer books, Harris & McClearn Apollo Chocolates box from the early 1900s, and local early postcards. Jim Hunt gave us documents on rescue tugs ATR-7 (painting)) and ATR-8, built at Sample's.

Bill Welsh donated Welsh family history and photos compiled onto a CD. We may be getting more of these in the future from other families, so Bill's is the first of what may end up an important collection area. Marion Dash gave Lincoln Arts Festival scrapbooks, minutes, and programs from 1980 to 1997. The Harbor library gave us a scrapbook of the Alumni Community Band. Ed Reed has given us info on the Yacht Club one-designs.

Sarah Giles donated a 1947-1953 account book from Hodgdon Brothers shipyard. And she gave a World War II scrapbook as well as photos and postcards of East Boothbay views. Alton Swett brought in some historical notes and clippings compiled by his father Chester Swett.

We appreciate all the gifts that have come our way. All our donors do the hard work of disposing of things in a thoughtful way.

Many people donate photos or images which we borrow and scan. Some of those donors in the past few months have been Teaver Farnham, Mildred Fuller Carter, Jeannie Godfrey, and Bill Barlow.

Other people give us information—Lester Barter constantly helps identifying photos; Win Russell came in and helped with 1920s stereopticon East Boothbay views that featured his family; Dot Rice Booth has identified early East Boothbay photos.

Bill Barlow, Andy and Meagan Hamblett, Cathy Sherrill and John Anderson, Ed Malcom, and Jeannie Godfrey allowed Barbara to prowl through their houses and take photos during renovations to document some of the building features.

Barbara taped Boothbay Harbor's Elliot and Lib Barlow talking about their farming and development on the Meadow. She also taped Sherwood Leighton of Boothbay Harbor recalling his arrival in the Harbor and work at Sample's during World War II. Gloria Knapp loaned a 1976 video made about her uncle, boatbuilder Malcolm Brewer of Boothbay and Camden. All these people have measurably helped us document our local history.

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               OFFICERS: May 2001-May 2002  

                President: Faith Meyer
                Vice President: Margaret Voight
                Secretary: Bea Walker
                Treasurer: Sarah Giles

                Director: Barbara Rumsey
                Assistant: Pat Waldman

               BOARD OF TRUSTEES              

                Larry Brown • Roger Duncan  • Sarah Giles • John Heyl  • Jim Hunt • Faith Meyer
                 Harry Pinkham • Richard Rohrer  • Barbara Rumsey • Natalie Scott • Jim Stevens
                 Alden Stickney  • Margaret Voight • Bea Walker  • John G. Wilson

            Newsletter Editor:  Barbara Rumsey