Maine Central Institute teacher Leigh Hallett is participating in a program that competes for federal grants to enhance the teaching of history in our schools.

For two years, the Pittsfield history teacher has been meeting with University of Southern Maine professors “on the subject of teaching history through biography,” she explained.

As one of about 25 teachers in the program, Hallett “is researching and writing a biography of a little-known person … to contribute to the public record in general and, more particularly, to use in the classroom and provide for others to use.”

Eighteen months ago, Hallett read in a Bangor Daily News column about Sarah Curtis, “who lived in Hampden during the 19th century and owned her own dry-goods store during the Civil War.”

Hallett explained that the “financial records from her shop are in the library of the Harvard Business School.” However, Hallett has been unable to locate any real personal information about Curtis.

“These are the bare facts of Sarah Curtis’ life,” Hallett wrote of the daughter of Jacob and Caty Swan Curtis who was born in 1813, in Hampden, and who died in 1880.

Unmarried, she had five brothers who survived to adulthood: Jacob, Bowery, Isaac, Ephraim and Zacheus.

Her uncle John Curtis was the spruce gum magnate who made a fortune selling his product nationwide, and Sarah Curtis lived much of her adult life with brother Jacob Jr. and his family.

She owned multiple properties in Hampden, including the dry-goods store, and her family was active in the area business community. Her family home, which still exists, is known as the “damsite house,” Hallett wrote.

To help complete her biography of Sarah Curtis, Hallett would appreciate hearing from anyone who has personal information he or she would be willing to share with her about this interesting businesswoman.

You can write Hallett at MCI, 125 S. Main Street, Pittsfield 04967 or call her at school, 487-3355, ext. 194.

Trip organizer Nancy Ziegenbein of Bangor called to report that openings are still available for anyone who would like to join members of the Wellesley College alumnae in eastern Maine on their coach trip to view “Americans in Paris, 1860-1900” on exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

The coach departs at 7 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, from the Park and Ride lot on Odlin Road in Bangor and arrangements can be made for boarding during the trip along Interstate 95 south.

The cost is $119 and includes transportation, museum admission for a recorded tour and dinner in Portland.

Proceeds benefit Wellesley College, and all sales are final.

For more information and reservations, call Ziegenbein, 947-7965, fax 947-7766, or write her at 41 Linden St., Bangor 04401.

Peter Daigle of Lafayette Hotels in Bangor, representatives of Eastern Maine Medical Center CancerCare of Maine, and everyone associated with the 24th Run for Hope remind you to get in your registration form and entry fee to participate in this family-oriented, 5K Walk & Run on a USA Track & Field Road Running Technical Council certified course.

The Run for Hope begins with registration from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and the race at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 10, at Best Western White House Inn, 155 Littlefield Ave. in Bangor.

The preregistration fee is $12 for individuals or $15 on race day, and $35 for families.

Awards will be given to the first male and female in the open category; age-group categories from 10-and-under to 70-and-older, and to the oldest and youngest finishers as well as the family with the most participating members.

Refreshments and door prizes also will be available.

For an application, write Run for Hope, 155 Littlefield Ave., Bangor 04401; e-mail pdaigle@adelphia.net; visit www.runforhope.org or call 862-8000 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Remember that all the money raised is staying here to help those being treated at CancerCare of Maine.

George Payzant, commander of Ephriam H. Johnson American Legion Post #9 in Machias, wrote a Flag Retirement Ceremony postponed from June begins at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at Washington County Fairgrounds on Route 1 in Whitneyville.

Everyone, especially schoolchildren, is encouraged “to attend this very impressive ceremony to show the proper way to dispose of the American Flag.”

Flags to be disposed of can be left at Post #9, 16 Court St., or brought to the fairgrounds that day.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.