Specialist in antiquities to speak on ‘Curiosities’

What an intriguing title for a talk – and what a beautiful location for a fall meeting.

“Curiosities and Commodities: Egyptian Mummies Downeast” will be the keynote at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, when the Maine Old Cemetery Association meets at the Wilson Museum, 107 Perkins St., Castine.

The speaker will be S.J. Wolfe, senior cataloguer and serials specialist at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. She has been interested in ancient Egypt since age 4.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. at a cost of $3. MOCA President Emily Quint will welcome participants at 9:15 a.m., and there will be an overview of Castine at 9:30 a.m.

Cemetery visits will be offered 1-3 p.m., and the Wilson Museum will be open as well.

You may bring a bag lunch. If you’d like the box lunch of sandwich, drink and dessert for $10, call 326-9247 today, Sept. 24.

Membership in MOCA is $5 a year, $20 for five years, or $100 for a life membership, sent to MOCA, P.O. Box 641, Augusta, ME 04332-0641.

MOCA has a Web site at www.rootsweb.com/~memoca/moca.htm

Awhile back, we mentioned that the “Marble Records: A Project of the Maine Old Cemetery Association,” 13 volumes of order slips for cemetery stones from Skowhegan Monumental Works, are available at:

. Bangor Public Library, Bangor Room.

. Maine State Library, Augusta. This set is bound in 26 volumes rather than 13, as records were copied only on one side of the paper.

. Skowhegan Free Library.

The originals are held by the Maine Historical Society in Portland.

The index compiled by Carolyn Tibbetts Ballantine, including name of the deceased, name of cemetery and any other names associated with each order, is now available for purchase.

The cost of the index is $45 for Maine Old Cemetery Association members, $50 for non-members. Send check to MOCA, P.O. Box 278 North Anson, ME 04958.

Now that school has started again, keep in mind that some libraries have changed their hours accordingly.

During the school year, Bangor Public Library is open 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The library is handicapped-accessible.

To reach the Bangor Room on the third floor, enter through the children’s department on the right-hand side of the building and take the elevator.

Learn about what the library has of interest to genealogists by visiting the Special Collections page on the Web site at www.bpl.lib.me.us/spcoll/

When visiting the University of Maine’s Fogler Library to use census records and vital records – on microfilm on the first floor – or Canadian resources on the third floor, you may find evenings and weekends the best time to find a parking spot on the Orono campus. Check library hours by calling the recording at 581-1664.

Special Collections – known as the Maine Room when I was a student at UM – is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Friday; 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday (when classes are in session); and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.

I usually call the recording at 581-1664 to make sure the library is open before driving up to Orono. The semester structure is quite different from when I was in school.

For information on Fogler, visit www.libraryumaine.edu/

And as I say so often, the card catalog for the Maine State Library in Augusta, Bangor Public Library and all of the University of Maine campus libraries is URSUS, at http://130.111.64.3/

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or familyti@bangordailynews.net.