ORONO, Maine— Is your family name in the town report? Did it appear there in 1898? What did this mean? Do you still think of the annual reports prepared by towns in Maine as dull bureaucratic documents detailing arcane activities of municipal governments, of little interest to anyone except local residents? This view will be challenged in a program sponsored by the Friends of Fogler Library entitled Town Reports: Rich Texts, Vital Resources, held in the Special Collections Reading Room
of Fogler Library on Monday, November 15, at 3:00 p.m.
Librarians Mel Johnson and Richard Hollinger will demonstrate that town reports are unique and valuable resources for local history and genealogy, and are essential sources for research on regional and state history as well, containing information about social history often available nowhere else.
The program will also feature Maine Town Reports Online, where digitized historical reports from a number of Maine towns can be viewed. This site is a collaborative project between Fogler Library, the Maine State Library and several municipalities and historical societies. This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information contact Gretchen Gfeller at gretchen.gfeller@umit.maine.edu or call 581-1696.
Individuals, towns and organizations that would like to add their town’s reports to this site should contact Sharon Quinn Fitzgerald at Fogler Library (voice: 581-1667, email: sharonquinn.fitzgerald@umit.maine.edu).
For more information on this event, contact:
Gretchen Gfeller, Web and Public Relations
University of Maine, Raymond H. Fogler Library
5729 Raymond H. Fogler Library, Orono, ME 04469-5729
207-581-1696
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