A House for Elizabeth Moody?

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Don Taylor

Transcription by Don Taylor – 13 April 2020

Warrant
Joshua Libby
May 1825
Recorded

——————

To Joshua Libby One of Constable of town of Scarborough

Greeting

You are hereby required in the name of the State of main[sic] to summon and notify the inhabitants of said town qualified to vote in town affairs to assemble at the meeting house in first Parish on Monday twenty third of May at five O’clock in afternoon to out on the following Articles to wit

1st To  ??ause a Moderator to regulate said meeting

2d To see if the town will Erect Elizabeth Moody & her two daughters a house for them to live in

3d To ?? Any vote or votes relative to the Above

given under our hand this sixteen day May @ 1825

Benjamin Milliken  } Selectmen of
Moss Libby            } Scarborough

———Back ———

Pursuant to the within warrant I have summoned and notified the within named persons to appear at the time and place and for the purpose within mentioned.

Josha Libby – Constable

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SUSPENDED: Celebrating Maine’s Bicentennial – Part 2

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Don Taylor

The Scarborough Public Library, in line with recommendations from the Federal and Maine Centers for Disease Control to practice social distancing, has suspended scheduled programs and events until further notice. 

See the Scarborough Public Library website for more information.

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 askSPL@scarboroughlibrary.org.

Mapping Maine With the Osher Map Library

Photo of Dr. Matthew Edney, Ph.D.

Dr. Matthew Edney, Ph.D.

Dr. Matthew Edney, Ph.D.

Sunday, March 22 at 2:00 pm

Dr. Matthew Edney is the curator of the Osher Map Library’s Maine Bicentennial Exhibition, Mapping Maine: The Land and Its Peoples, 1677-1842. Using digital images of the exhibit and additional items from the OML collection, Dr. Edney will provide an overview of this special installation. Digital maps of Scarborough’s marshes – an important part of Scarborough’s early and present history – will also be included.

Dr. Edney has been a professor of geography at the University of Southern Maine since 2007 and is the Osher Professor in the History of Cartography with responsibility for courses in map history. He is also a “faculty scholar” in the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education. Since 2005 he has also directed the History of Cartography Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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VHS Tapes Converted to DVDs

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Don Taylor

Friday Forum – Scarborough Historical Society DVDs 

Scarborough Historical Society DVDs.

“Parts 1 and 2” refer to how many DVD Discs were converted from VHS to DVD by the Community Services Staff.

These DVDs are in a 3-ring binder above the standard file cabinets and are available for watching at the Museum.

  1. Jim Scamman – Harold & Mary Johns (Parts 1& 2)
  2. Ribe, Denmark – Fred Thomas – October 1994
  3. Frank Hodgdon – Genesis: A Brief History of Piper Shore (Parts 1 & 2)
  4. Bob Lindquist – Preserving the Past and Museum walkthrough
  5. Mark Matteau and Jim Scamman=-Fleritage Sunday 9/29/1996
  6. Mark Matteau and Heather Richards – Heritage Sunday (Parts 1 & 2)
  7. West Scarborough United Methodist Church =- Renovations and Repairs (1988,1989 and 1990). Fairs held (1990,1991, and 1992). Frank Hodgdon – Genesis: A Brief History of Piper Shore (Parts 1 & 2)
  8. At Governor William King Masonic Lodge, First Annual Governor William King Day 2/9/1996 ((Parts 1& 2)
  9. SHS Information Piece – 06.02
  10. SHS – School Visits on 5/18/99. The group was double-sized and overwhelmed the staff. (Parts 1 & 2)
  11. SHS – 3rd-grade classes of Mrs. O’Brien and Mrs. Kelly visited on 5/11/1999. (Parts 1 & 2)
  12. Mrs. Dora Shaw’s 100th Birthday – November 9, 1986
  13. Scarborough My Home Town – 3/97
  14. SHS School Visits in 1999 (45 minutes)
  15. Harold Snow- Snow’s Canning Factory 2/6/2
  16. SHS – School Visits -1999 (45 minutes)
  17. SHS – School Visits, Last Days – 5/27/1999
  18. SHS – School Visits – 5/24/1999 3rd, 4th and 5th grades (Parts 1 & 2)
  19. SHS – Open House – 1997
  20. SHS – 3rd grade – 4/29/1999
  21. SHS – 3rd grade – 5/25/1999 – (Parts 1 & 2)
  22. SHS – 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades – 5/14/1999 – (Parts 1 & 2)
  23. SHS Tour; Critique following – 4/29/1999

Scarborough Community Television Productions

  1. Vernacular Architecture with Eric Cantor – (Parts 1 & 2)
  2. Friends of the Scarborough Marsh – 5/25/2002 – (Parts 1 & 2)
  3. Friday Forum -1995
  4. Friday Forum 1995 (Parts 1 & 6)
  5. SHS – Ground Breaking -11/6/1995 – Also, Friday Forum: Dunstan History – Sgt. Greene Grave Site.
  6. Friday Forum – 5/26/1995 – (Parts 1 & 2)
  7. SCTV – Friday Forum – 1/30/98
  8. Community Dialog – PSA
  9. Friday Forum -4/26/1996-House Tour –

Maine History

  1. Jordan’s Meat – the movie – 29 minutes
  2. Rockport Town -1891 to 1991 – 40 minutes
  3. Maine’s Golden School Days – 1890 to 1930
  4. The Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk, Maine – 30 minutes film of the exhibit related to the 1947 fires
  5. Friday Forum – 4/26/1996 – House Tour – (Parts 1 & 2) – repeat copies

Home the Story of Maine

  1. Home the story of Maine – The Nation’s Playground
  2. Home the story of Maine – Power Lines
  3. Home the story of Maine – The Study of Maine: A Place Apart (26 minutes)
  4. Home the story of Maine-A Part of the Main (26minutes)
  5. Home the story of Maine – The Love for the Land
  6. Home the story of Maine – They Came by Sea
  7. Home the story of Maine -Trails, Rails, and Roads

New England History

  1. On the Home Front: World War 2 – New Hampshire
  2. Making History: Fortress of Louisbourg
  3. Jefferson – Ken Burns Films- (Parts 1 to 4) First Part has a 30-minute begging of some flood!

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Celebrating Maine’s Bicentennial – Part 1

Posted on February 16, 2020 by Don Taylor

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 askSPL@scarboroughlibrary.org.

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.

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February Presentation: African Americans in Maine Prior to 1800

Posted on January 11, 2020 by Don Taylor

February 2, 2020 – 2:00 p.m. 

Scarborough Public Library, 48 Gorham RD, Scarborough, ME O4074

After a short business meeting, Vana Carmona will present “African Americans in Maine Before 1800” to the historical society.

About the Presentation

Photo of the entrance into the Eastern Cemetery, Portland, ME taken by Vana Carmona.

Photo by Vana Carmona.

The Eastern Cemetery is the final resting place of Portland’s founding fathers.  We know them for their contributions to the area’s political, social, cultural, and often military fabric.  But most do not know their “other” lives:  the lives in which they enslaved African Americans or were complicit in their enslavement.  Six years ago, Vana Carmona discovered inadvertently that her ancestors were among them.  This inspired her to launch The Prince Project, her study of slavery in Maine during the period before 1800.  As a docent for Spirits Alive, which overseas stone conservation and education in the Cemetery, she has used her knowledge to organize a tour of these very people.  She uses gravestones as a basis for discussing the individuals as well as the history of slavery in Maine.  She also provides insights on those African Americans buried in the two sections of the burial ground set aside to segregate them.  Her presentation is a virtual tour of Eastern Cemetery and covers these topics.

About Vana Carmona

A descendant of several early notable Maine families, Vana left the State after high school to indulge her wanderlust.  Her journey took her abroad and on to Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she graduated with a BA in Italian and international studies.  Vana went on to work for the Italian press for several years.  Then, she had a “temporary” stay in Northern California that lasted 30 years.  During that time, she raised her two daughters, rode her horses, developed her business, and eventually returned to college for an advanced degree.  She holds a Masters in Medieval History from California State University Sacramento (CSUS).  Ten years ago, she returned to her hometown of Portland, bringing her Los Angeles husband with her.  They settled on Munjoy Hill, the area she most loved as a child.  Immediately she became involved in several local historic venues:  Maine Historical, Portland Observatory, and Eastern Cemetery.  During the last six years, she has pursued a major research project seeking out information on African Americans who were in Maine before 1800. They are all part of The Prince Project, her database of over 1600 free and enslaved people living here through the post-Revolutionary period. In her tours of Eastern Cemetery, Vana uses this work to help educate people about the history of slavery in Maine, a topic she believes needs greater attention.

The meeting is free and open to the public. (Donations are always welcome.)

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