Dawn Thistle, Special Collections Librarian

A new year, a new calendar — or…

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If you never got around to using an old 1988 or have a favorite 1960 calendar, they are finally functional again! How do I know this?  One of my favorite perpetual calendars tells me so.  Calendars can come in pretty handy when working with historic materials. For example, many newspapers published weekly editions and often referred only to the weekday an event occurred (so and so arrived Wednesday or such and such will be held on Monday) and today we must scurry to find a now ancient calendar to determine what date they were talking about.  Of course, a quick Google search …

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Family History – now’s the time!

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Thanksgiving Day is also National Family History Day.  It’s a natural pairing: that time of year when we gather together for family, food, and fun also marks the perfect opportunity to gather family information. “Why didn’t I ask questions when I had the chance?” That’s the #1 rhetorical question we get here in the Archives.  Whether trying to fill gaps in a family tree or hoping to recall or confirm stories from long ago, folks are always wishing they had taken the time to ask questions and record information once upon a time. National Family History Day was actually declared …

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Do you recognize any of these faces?

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Woman, unknown year, Gardiner, Maine. October is American Archives Month, so it couldn’t be more exciting or appropriate that we finally completed renovations of our Community Archives Room and moved back in last week!  We’re still shuffling some things around, settling into the space, and waiting for some furnishings – so, stay tuned for more! In the meantime, some things never change.  As thorough as we try to be with documenting and recording information about historic items and photographs, mysteries will always exist. We have many unidentified portrait photographs in our collection and most offer very few clues as to …

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Historic Photo Mystery – Solved in the Archives!

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Of all the wonderful reference questions we field in the Community Archives Room, some of the most engaging involve identifying photographs and their subjects, relative to Gardiner history.  Often people bring in photos of family members or local buildings and want to know just where or when or why a photo may have been taken.  We have wonderful historic maps and directories, as well as many already-identified photos that help with picking out clues to solve the mystery.  And, inevitably, every “solve” brings out new and enlightening details of our richly historic town. Recently, a  mystery came our way electronically. …

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Things are Shaping up in the Archives…

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Slowly, but steadily, progress has been made on the renovations of the Community Archives Room! We are still a few weeks away from moving out of the reading room and back downstairs, but here are a few hints at what the big picture will look like — and soon! From top to bottom… New Sprinkler Heads Fresh Ceiling Tiles & Efficient, Non-Damaging LED Lights Dimmer Controls for the LEDs     An HVAC System to Control Temperature, Humidity, and Dust Our Beautiful 1881 Gardiner Bricks – Cleaned and Ready for Another Century! Freshly Painted (and Water-Resistant) Walls – with Clean …

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Big Changes!

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Although they’ve been a long time in the making, some big changes at the Gardiner Public Library are finally NEWS! At last, we are moving forward with renovations of the Community Archives Room.  The first and biggest sign you may have already noticed is the Archives is now commandeering, if you will, the Hazzard Reading Room on the main floor.  In late April, we rolled every last item up from the basement and set up shop in the reading room.  The quarters are a little compact, but things seem to be running smoothly. Moved in! — Our Community Archives Room …

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