Charles Allen’s Kennebec in Photos: 1898-1907

Maine State Historian, Earle Shettleworth

Wednesday, May 9, 7:00pm
Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick

Earle Shettleworth

Join Maine State Historian, Earle Shettleworth presenting a guided river tour from the past- Charles Allen’s Kennebec in Photos: 1898-1907. This is the final program in Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s 21st annual winter speaker series. The event takes place at 7pm in the Morrill Meeting Room of Curtis Memorial Library on Wednesday, May 9. From 1874 until his death in 1911, Charles E. Allen collected material for his “History of Dresden, Maine”, which was published in 1931. As part of Allen’s research, he assembled an album of more than 90 professionally taken photographs of the Kennebec River region made between 1898 and 1907, many of which illustrate historic buildings and sites. This lecture is comprised of a selection of these engaging images that capture views of towns along the Kennebec more than a century ago. The album is in the collection of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission in Augusta. A native of Portland, Maine, Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., attended Deering High School, Colby College, and Boston University and was the recipient of honorary doctorates from Bowdoin College and the Maine College of Art.  At the age of thirteen, Shettleworth became interested in historic preservation through the destruction of Portland’s Union Station in 1961.  A year later he joined the Sills Committee which founded Greater Portland Landmarks in 1964.  In 1971 he was appointed by Governor Curtis to serve on the first board of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, for which he became architectural historian in 1973 and director in 1976.  He retired from that position in 2015.  Shettleworth has lectured and written extensively on Maine history and architecture, his most recent publication being Maine Photography:  A History, 1840-2001 which he co-authored in 2015. Mr. Shettleworth has served as State Historian since 2004. All Speaker Series events are free, open to the public and supported by Patagonia, Inc. in Freeport. FOMB also organizes summer outings including walks and paddle tours. Visit www.fomb.org to see speaker biographies, full event schedules, become a member, and learn more about how you can help protect beautiful Merrymeeting Bay. For more information contact FOMB at 207-666-3372 or edfomb@comcast.net.