UM offers historic images

ORONO – In our fast-paced world filled with technology, few of us need to be convinced that the past 100 years have brought significant changes to Maine and the Northeast. But it may be hard to find evidence more compelling than a collection of glass plate negatives owned by the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport.

Part of this collection has been chosen for a traveling exhibit, “Maine Streets: Selections from the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Co.,” on display during October at the University of Maine’s Raymond H. Fogler Library.

A presentation at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, in the library’s Special Collections Department will feature collection archivist Kevin Johnson and Kent Ryden, director of the American and New England studies program at the University of Southern Maine.

In March 2007, Penobscot Marine Museum acquired a collection of some 37,000 historic glass plate negatives.

The earliest plates date from 1909, when a young entrepreneur named R. Herman Cassens started a postcard company, the Eastern Maine Illustrating and Publishing Co. in Belfast.

Cassens had a dream of photographing the transcontinental trail from Maine to California. He and his small crew of photographers began traveling through rural New England and New York, focusing their lens on locally known landmarks and street scenes.

The Eastern photographers probably had no idea of the history they were preserving with their “scenic views” of each town.

Although his dream of photographing all 48 states was never realized, Cassens’ company managed to make tens of thousands of glass plate negatives of New England and upstate New York between 1909 and 1947.

Johnson selected about 30 images to create a traveling exhibit of framed prints.

He has been connected with the collection since attending a Rockport College-Maine Photography workshop in 2003. His role in working with the materials gradually increased until a flood in the building, where the negatives were stored, prompted the school to donate the collection to the Penobscot Marine Museum – and Johnson was “donated” along with the negatives.

Johnson’s familiarity with the images recently allowed him to spot negatives that had been stolen from the collection.

The Maine Historic Preservation Commission notified Johnson and allowed him to preview plates that were about to go up for auction.

Johnson could see immediately that they had been taken from the archiving project, still packed in archival boxes and envelopes. This allowed for the recovery of 300 plates, many them images of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. One of these Bar Harbor photographs will be added to the exhibit to premiere in Orono.

The presentation will offer different, but complementary insights. Johnson will talk about how and why a Belfast postcard company created the images. Ryden will consider how we can “read” these images in order to better understand how photos and other sources helped people construct Maine’s real and imagined sense of place.

Carol Toner of the Maine Studies program and one of the event co-sponsors, said the photos “raise many questions, like all good historic sources. For example, do these photos represent ‘authentic’ Maine, or do they commodify the state? Are we seeing what the photographer intended us to see?”

“The library is pleased to have the opportunity to host these speakers and to bring this exhibit to UM and its surrounding communities,” said Gretchen Gfeller, Web and public relations specialist at Fogler Library. “These photographs are fascinating on many levels. They provide a unique glimpse of another time, leaving the viewer with a sense of the continuity of place through history.”

Visitors will find framed prints throughout the building, and a printed guide available at all public service desks.

Both the presentation and the exhibit are free and open to the public, sponsored by the Penobscot Marine Museum, the Maine Studies program and Fogler Library.