BANGOR – Sally Bates says the Bangor Historical Society “needs to tell people we are here. We will be blowing our own horn.” And the first note is going to be a new name: The Bangor Museum and Center for History.

Not just the home of Joshua Chamberlain’s sword, or the organizer of tours and exhibitor of artifacts – though all those things are important – the society now intends to serve more actively and widely.

“From the Canadian border to the coast of Maine,” is how the strategic plan puts it.

Members and others attending the Feb. 28 annual meeting at Bangor Public Library were enthusiastic about plans for more programming and even an additional location in the downtown area – and none more so than a new officer who was unable to be there.

Vice President Jean Deighan, who was out of state that afternoon, is so passionate about the future of the organization that she left remarks to be read by her husband, Glen Porter.

“I am besotted by this organization,” Deighan wrote.

She recalled a conversation she had last year with Marlo Bradford, who had decided it was time to do something about the society’s financial problems. Even with more members, the group was needing to use more of the endowment funds to meet expenses.

Deighan started enumerating some of the society’s treasures, on display each year at the Thomas A. Hill House on Union Street. Objects include the sword of Joshua Chamberlain, who led the famous charge at Gettysburg.

“But for that valiant charge, we would not be one great nation today, but two or maybe three lesser ones,” Deighan wrote.

Bradford had responded, “Listen, Jean, those things are just the tip of the iceberg. We have a rich little museum in every way but cash.”

In recent months, more people have joined the board, meeting frequently and working on a strategic plan that will focus on: collection and conservation, exhibitions, education, marketing, finance and development, and organizational resources and assets.

An excerpt from a vision statement for the year 2007 reads: “Bangor Museum and Center for History is widely recognized as a cultural organization on the move. Our public image has soared on many fronts. We are renowned for making history accessible, relevant and fun. Our community appreciates and takes pride in BMCH’s rebirth as a welcoming, inclusive, interesting and dynamic cultural organization.”

No location has been selected for expansion, nor a target set for the planned capital campaign, but the major exhibit for the year will be “Ruffians and Ruffles, Patriots and Parasols,” beginning June 1. A downtown architectural tour this summer will include among its sponsors WBRC Architects/Engineers, marking its centennial, and Bangor Savings Bank, 150 years old.

New officers elected Feb. 28, besides Deighan, are: president, Beth Bohnet; past president, Catherine Lebowitz; president-elect, Joyce Henckler; secretary and clerk, Mary Schultheis; treasurer, Linda Lawrence.

As one whose family came to the area in the 1950s, Deighan considers herself a newcomer, but one of those with “a fire in our belly for history.”

“We are those who can simply close our eyes and let our imagination transport us to the time that Bangor was the seventh-largest port in the United States,” she wrote. “Bangor was a truly vibrant international city then, and you could walk across the river to Brewer going from deck [to deck] on the rafted ships.”

She spoke of Hannibal Hamlin and Daniel Webster, of Thoreau and Sarah Molasses, of lumber barons and immigrants, and of feeling “almost an overwhelming need to reconnect our citizenry with our glorious roots.”

Deighan concluded, “As we take our vision forward, we hope you will join this exciting effort with your time, talent and treasure. Help us move on to a glorious future, as we lean on our laurels from the past.”

Membership in the Bangor Museum and Center for History is $25 for an individual; $50, family; $100-199, guardian; $200-499, fellow; $500-999, champion; $1,000-1,999, founder; $2,000 and up, Penobscot Patriot.

For information, call 942-5766; write BMCH, 159 Union St., Bangor 04401; or check the Web site at www.bairnet.org/organizations/bangorhist. The museum at the Thomas A. Hill House is open April 1-December.