The Scarborough Public Library and Scarborough Historical Society join to bring a series of programs to our community in celebration of Maine’s Bicentennial of Statehood. The following program is free to attend and is made possible through the financial partnership of the Scarborough Public Library, the Scarborough Historical Society, and the Maine Humanities Council.
Due to limited seating, please register by calling 883-4723, option 4 or emailing [email protected].
Past and Present: Perspectives on Maine Statehood
Dr. Liam Riordan, Ph.D.
Sunday, March 1 at 2:00 pm
Dr. Liam Riordan will open our Bicentennial Series with the presentation Past and Present: Perspectives on Maine Statehood. This illustrated presentation explores the long statehood process in Maine that culminated in 1820 with formal separation from Massachusetts. That struggle engaged a range of challenging public issues that are still recognizable in contemporary Maine politics and culture.
The talk focuses on four themes that bridge 200 years in telling ways: the “two Maines” and sharp partisan conflict, the explosive pace of slavery vis-a-vis the Maine-Missouri Compromise, Wabanaki sovereignty, and the uncertain location of the international border to at least 1842.
Dr. Riordan is an early American historian specializing in the broad Revolutionary era (ca. 1760-1830) and has been a faculty member at the University of Maine since 1997. He has led community discussions across Maine about the statehood process and organized a public scholarly conference to commemorate the bicentennial of the state of Maine held May 31-June 1, 2019 at the University of Maine.
This presentation was recorded and is available on YouTube