Historic Photography Exhibit & Other Events at Blue Hill Public Library

Blue Hill, Maine - Blue Hill Public Library will kick off a year of focus on local history with a historic photograph exhibit by the Penobscot Marine Museum, Hancock County Through Eastern's Eye, during the month of January. The Museum’s photo archivist Kevin Johnson will present a talk about the exhibit on Thursday, January 15th at 7:00pm.

A century ago the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company sent crews with box cameras into tiny northeastern towns telling them to ask local citizens what they should photograph, what was important to them about their town.  Because of this, the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company photos are both aesthetically beautiful and historically important.

“This exhibit definitely helps to keep our past present,” says Kevin Johnson.   “People love to see
what has changed, or not, over time.  And seeing photographs of their town in a travelling exhibit sparks a pride of place and an interest in local history.” An online exhibit on the museum’s website www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org includes many additional Hancock County images.

The Eastern collection is the largest single photographic collection in Maine, consisting of nearly 50,000 images of Maine, New England and upstate New York. Most of the photos are on glass-plate negatives. The exhibit was funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts and is part of four county exhibits the Penobscot Marine Museum will produce.

The exhibit will be available for viewing during library hours starting January 5th. For more information, call the library at 374-5515, or go to www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org.

Other events that are taken place at Blue Hill Public Library over the next week or so are the following.

Start the New Year With a Clean Slate

At the Blue Hill Library

Library patrons who have overdue books and/or library fines on their consciences can start off the New Year with a clean slate. The Blue Hill Public Library will be offering “Fine Amnesty Week” from Monday January 5th to Saturday January 10th. During that time, patrons who bring back overdue items will not have to pay fines on those items.  In addition, for outstanding overdue fines during that week, the Library staff will negotiate—they say, “Come in and make us an offer.” For more information, call the Library at 374-5515.

Blue Hill Library Film: Little Big Man

 The Friends of the Blue Hill Public Library Film Series continues Thursday, January 8th at 7:00 PM with Little Big Man (1970), directed by Arthur Penn and starring Dustin Hoffman, Martin Balsam, Fay Dunaway, and Chief Dan George. The film is about the life of a 121 year old man played by Hoffman who recounts his Wild West adventures to a historian. Hoffman’s character is white but was adopted by Native Americans and so had perspectives on both Native and European Americans.


All films are shown free of charge on the Library’s “pretty big” screen in the Howard Room. The series occurs on the second Thursday of the month. For more information, call the Library (374-5515) or Michael Donahue, 374-5248 or Donahue.mg@gmail.com.