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Over 130 years of preservation and study of
Kennebec County history (1891-Present)
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KHS will be closed starting the week of
December 23 through January 1 and
reopen on Thursday, January 2.
Happy Holidays!!!
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KHS January Facebook Live Program:
“Through the Eyes of Maine”
The book Through the Eyes of Maine is a work 166 years in the making.
In the northernmost corner of what was fast becoming a fractured nation,
diarist Hilton W. True, of Gardiner, began keeping a journal in 1857. When
civil strife began to divide our nation in late 1859, he recorded it. In his entry
of December 2, he noted the execution of John Brown, the most polarizing figure of the Antebellum Era. Following this cataclysmic event, civil war
became inevitable.
Beginning with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, True wrote about the events that helped define the first 18 months of the American Civil War, concluding with an account of the Battle of Antietam, in which his family suffered a deep personal loss.
Discovered in 2018 by historian Ross Farmer, the Kennebec Historical
Society’s online lecturer for January, this account features details on key
battles and important figures who helped shape the most contentious period in our nation’s history. Farmer, based on True’s recollections, offers a
21st-century discernment of this primary source.
The illustrated book offers a summary of events that led to disunion and war between the states. Throughout the journal, familiar names such as Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee, along with lesser-known figures such as Galusha Grow and Alexander Shaler, flow together with accounts of battles. It also
delves into topics such as transportation, communication, music, patriotic
fervor, national symbols, the press, and the meaning of life and death.
Through the Eyes of Maine concludes with an overview of Maine’s contributions to the cause of Union and a biographical sketch of True.
Farmer is a retired history teacher in the Belle Vernon Area School District
near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The book, his first published work, is available
on Amazon.com in paperback and hardback editions.
Farmer’s presentation about his book can be watched on Facebook Live at
6:30 p.m. on January 15, 2025. It also will be archived on the society’s Facebook page for those who want to watch it later. Please note that this presentation was originally scheduled for February 21, 2024. For more information, call Scott Wood, the society’s executive director, at 622-7718.
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KHS February Facebook Live Program:
“Civil War Veterans in Maine”
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1910 Reunion of the 5th Maine
Maine sent more men per capita to fight for the Union than any other state, which meant that Civil War veterans here had an outsized influence in the postwar period. This talk will explore the ways veterans made sense of the
most profound experience of their lives by exploring their activities, such as reunions and parades, and the places they created to celebrate, to remember,
and to teach. From campgrounds to Grand Army of the Republic Halls to regimental association summer retreats to memorial libraries to civic statues to the soldier's home at Togus, Maine's Union veterans made a lasting physical impact upon the state's culture. And they participated in national debates about the public memory of the war's causes, outcomes, and meaning. This talk will also explore in broad strokes these themes with examples drawn from across
the state. While Maine also claimed several high-profile veterans, such as
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Oliver Otis Howard, this presentation will focus on the rank-and-file and their activities and legacy.
KHS presenter, C. Ian Stevenson, is the Interim Director of the Preservation Studies Program at Boston University. He holds a PhD in American & New England Studies and an MA in Preservation Studies from Boston University.
Ian is working on a book manuscript titled The Summer Homes of the Survivors: Buildings and Landscapes of the Civil War Vacation, 1878-1918, under contract with the University of Virginia Press.
He lives on Peaks Island, Maine, in Casco Bay.
Stevenson’s presentation can be watched on Facebook Live at 6:30 p.m. on February 19, 2025. It also will be archived on the society’s Facebook page for those who want to watch it later. For more information, call Scott Wood, the society’s executive director, at 622-7718.
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Discovering, preserving, and disseminating
Kennebec County history
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KHS is located in Maine's Capital City ... in
historic Kennebec Valley at
Henry Weld Fuller, Jr. House
107 Winthrop Street
Augusta, ME
Click the "donate" button below to join KHS or make a donation. Please be sure to explain what the amount is for in the "Add special instructions to seller" section.
Thank you!
READING ROOM
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
10am-3pm
Tuesday through Thursday
APPOINTMENTS PREFERRED
If unable to visit during our open hours, please call for an appointment.
Phone:
(207)
622-7718
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 5582
Augusta, Maine 04332-5582
Those unable to visit us may send questions to our email:
kennhis1891@gmail.com
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