CALENDAR of EVENTS 2007

Create Outfits for "Paper" Dolls Workshop

Dear Homeshcool Parents and Students; 

The Wilson Museum is constructing life-size “paper” dolls for an exhibit this summer. Our “paper” dolls will be made from plywood, both boys and girls will be represented. Some will have their faces cut out so that children can stand behind and have their pictures taken. We would like these dolls to have several outfits (historical, cultural, and contemporary) for visitors to dress them in. This is where we need your help.

We invite you to a workshop to help create outfits for these dolls at Emerson Hall on Saturday, May 5, 2007 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Museum will provide lunch and all artistic supplies. Please bring your ideas for attire appropriate for museum paper dolls. Susie Fay and Deborah Belyea will be on hand to help guide the process, and parents are encouraged to participate. In order to have the appropriate amount of food and supplies we ask that you call 326-9247 to register by April 27th.

We had so much fun!  Please visit the Museum and dress a life-size doll with one of our outfits.

Teachers' Day

Have you visited the Wilson Museum? We would like to invite you and your family to visit the Museum on Sunday, May 27th so you can see for yourself the wide variety of artifacts and subject areas we can cover.  Admission is free.

Are you studying early Native American ways of life? Prehistoric man and tools? Geology, rocks and fossils? Colonial or Victorian inventions, tools, life style? We have exhibits on all of these topics and can arrange a tour based on your area of interest or a generalized overview. We could even arrange a walking tour of historic Castine sites. Let us know where your interests lie.

School visits begin after May 27th. Talk with a staff member on Teacher Day, May 27th, or give us a call at 326-9247. Ask us about our field trip travel scholarships, available on a limited basis. We do require scheduling in advance so that we can give you the best tour possible. We always look forward to school groups and hope to hear from you.   

Enrichment through Paper Dolls

Paper doll collecting as a child has led to a life-long interest for collector Mary Seeley.  On June 9th at 3 p.m., Mary will share her love of and learning through paper dolls in a presentation at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street in Castine. 

Paper dolls are a wonderful source of history, culture, literature, costume, art, marketing, and nostalgia.  They can be looked at from many perspectives. As an art object, handmade and early printed paper dolls reveal not onlly an artist's particular style, but the style and fashions of an era.  Fashions from around the world can inform about culture, customs and lifestyles in foreign lands.  In our own country, paper dolls have followed the trends of pop culture, cartoons and celebrities since the advent of motion pictures; while more serious history is rounded out in the sets of Presidential dolls, soldier dolls, and the like.

Along with being an avid paper doll colector, Mary Webster Seeley is a graduate of Eastern Maine General Hospital (now EMMC) School of Nursing.  She is the daughter of Ashley Webster who was born and raised in Castine.  Mary has spent parts of nearly every summer of her life in Castine and dearly loves the town.

Identifying Rocks & Minerals Workshops

If you've ever come across an interesting stone on the beach or in your own backyard and wondered what it was, you should register for this series of workshops with Professor Roger Hooke, every Thursday from 4-6 p.m., June 14th through July 5th at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine.

Rocks are classified by mineral and chemical composition, by the texture of the constituent particles and by the processes that formed them.  In week one of this four-part series of hands-on workshops, Professor Hooke will focus on common rock forming minerals.  Following workshops will each focus on one of the three major classifications of rocks: sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic.  Using microscopes and hand lenses, attendees will examine the Museum's collections, as well as rocks gathered in the field, on an up-close and personal basis.

 Members' Reception

We hope you will join us for the

members' reception

sunday, june 24, 2007 at 3 p.m

to view the special summer exhibits on paper dolls.

 WILSON museum
120 Perkins Street, castine, Maine

Performing at the Members' Reception will be classical guitarist Jesse Reed.  Jesse has studied music for more than ten years, classical guitar for over six years, and has performed annually in the Castine Young Musicians Concerts.  In 2006 he played for the Ellsworth Antique Show Preview Party at Woodlawn and this year he participated for the first time in the Kneisel Hall Maine Young Musicians Program.

With delightful guitar music in the background, this was a fun gathering of Museum membership.  Prize "paper" doll cookies created and hand decorated by Edith Platt were awarded as each of the nine cakes was cut.

Eastern State Normal School Alumni Reunion 

Eastern State Normal School Alumni will hold their annual reunion, hosted by the Wilson Museum, in the Harborview Room at Maine Maritime Academy on June 30, 2007 beginning at 10:30 a.m.  Echoes of Story: Stories of ECHOES will be the title of a talk by guest speaker Dr. Esther Rauch.  Reservations required 326-9247.

Eastern State Normal School began in Castine in 1867 as a training school for teachers.  Seventy-five years later members of the class of 1942 were the last to call themselves ESNS graduates.  The school buildings became part of the Maine Maritime Academy complex, while the Wilson Museum has become caretaker to a collection of memorabilia from the School's many years of history.  The alumni have been holding reunions since 1875.

Dr. Esther Nettles Rauch, a Maine educator for over 25 years, has taught at Maine Maritime Academy, University of Maine, and was Vice President of the Bangor Theological Seminary.  Included in the many honors received during her career was an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Husson College in 1998.  Amid their travels, Dr. Rauch and her husband reside in Glenburn, Maine.

Good food, old friends and an enthusiastic speaker made for a very pleasant meeting! 

 Fireside Cooking

As you punch in the seconds on the microwave oven in your twenty-first century kitchen, have you ever wondered how our ancestors cooked in large open fireplaces and what kinds of foods they prepared?  The kitchen of the John Perkins House will be the venue for such wonder when Joyce Tarr and her two daughters demonstrate fireside cooking: July 8th, 11th & 15th and August 8th, 12th & 15th, from 2-5 p.m.  This historic home is located at 120 Perkins Street in Castine and is part of the Wilson Museum complex.  Guided tours are $5 per person; visitors will enjoy some tasty morsels from the day's fare.

Ellenore and Grace Tarr are 13th generation descendants of early settlers of this area.  The girls and their mother have been cooking on the hearth at the John Perkins House for the last three summers. 

Donuts are always a favorite with staff and visitors.

Along with our regular ladies of the kitchen, we had a guest helper one day this summer. 

Ellacappella in Concert

The Wilson Museum will host a concert by Ellacappella on Sunday, July 15 at 3 p.m. in the Museum building at 120 Perkins Street, Castine.

Ellacappella, women singing a cappella, is made up of eleven women from the Blue Hill peninsula who sing for the love of singing.  A cappella means "without instrumental accompaniment" and Ellacappella will raise its collective voice in an eclectic program of music ranging from 1930s', 40s' and 50s' pieces to contemporary, jazz and pop music.

Founded in 2003, Ellacappella has performed at a wide variety of venues in downeast and mid-coast Maine.  Members of the group include: Bundy Boit (second alto), Jessica Booth (second soprano), Marilyn Brossmer (second alto), Lisa Chase (first soprano), Nancy Hatfield (second alto), Karen Milliken (first soprano), Bonnie Myers (first alto), Joyce Newkirk (second soprano, director), Sherry Pfister (second soprano), Lucie Semler (first alto) and Pricscilla Wiggin (first soprano).

Letters from Sea: The Life and Letters of Solon J. Hanson 

Lucy Jane Webster and Meg Ann Noah will give a talk about and sign their new book Letters Home from Sea: The Life and Letters of Solon J. Hanson, on Saturday, July 21, 2007 at 3 p.m. at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street in Castine.

     By the age of 19, Solon Hanson of Castine, Maine, had worked as a cook, crew, and mate on sailing ships, had become a cod fisherman, survived one of New Orleans' worst huricanes, been called as witness to a murder trial, and was close to his goal of becoming a sea captain.
     Unlike most sailors of the time, he diligently wrote home about his adventures.  His letters were rediscovered over a century later, and provide a rare glimpse into the daily life of 1850s Maine cod fishermen.  These letters offer a brilliant firsthand account of life and death at sea.

Webster and Noah have annotated Solon's letters to provide a document that is an enjoyable read for the general public as well as an historic reference for scholars.

Lucy Jane Webster was brought up on the tales her grandfather told during summer visits in Castine.  Now a visual artist and mother of three in Ohio, she still spends parts of every summer in Castine.  Her daughter, Meg Ann Noah is a scientist/systems engineer and graduate student.  She and her husband live in New Hampshire with two children, two dogs, two rabbits, two robots and two computers each.

Traveling the World through Myth and Story

For centuries people gathered around a captivating storyteller much the way we now gather around the television set.  On Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 3 p.m. the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street in Castine, Maine will be the gathering place as Johanna Sweet weaves tales of myth and legend from around the world with artifacts from the Museum's collections to rekindle a storytelling tradition as ancient as man.

Johanna Sweet is a teacher in Massachusetts during the school year and lives in Castine during the summer. 

Gold Leaf Water Gilding Demonstration 

Picture frames will be the topic of a two-part event at the Wilson Museum on Saturday, July 28, 2007.  Gold leaf artist Michele Caron and Conservator Peter Bennett will give a demonstration of traditional water gilding with gold leaf from 10 a.m. to noon - registration required.  In the afternoon, from 1 to 3 p.m. the duo will conduct a frame survey, no registration required.

The morning session will include a discussion with examples of the differences between water gilding and oil gilding, and the benefits and limitations of each application.  The water gilding process will be demonstrated on a prepared frame with traditional gilding materials.

For the picture frame survey in the afternoon, Caron & Bennett will provide examples of certain period frames, but attendees are encouraged to bring a single frame for approximate dating, type of materials used, condition, etc.

Michele A. Caron is an American and European trained gilder and framer with 29 years experience.  She has owned and operated her own framing and gilding business for the last 19 years in southern Maine, choosing to dedicate her energies to the fine tradition of gold leaf gilding.

Peter T. Bennett has over 40 years of experience in the fields of fine art and architecture.  As an Objects Conservator and Condition Consultant to museums, private collections and art dealers, Mr. Bennett has had the opportunity to work on objects ranging from pre-Columbian antiquities to modern furniture and all nature of objects in between.

Fishing, Farming & Fun in the Summertime: Way Back When

The Wilson Museum and the Bagaduce Watershed Association (BWA) will offer an evening of reminiscing about summertime life along the Bagaduce River to be held at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine, Sunday, July 29, 2007 at 7 p.m.  Community members who have lived in the Bagaduce watershed (Brooksville, Castine, Blue Hill, Sedgwick, and Penobscot) for one or more generations will share stories about fishing, farming and the fun they or their parents, uncles, aunts or grandparents had during summers way back when.

The public is invited to come and share or hear some favorite summertime memories about messing about in boats, making hay while the sun shined, relaxing at a favorite swimming hole, instigating summer pastimes and adventures, or any other stories - facts, legends, or whoppers - from the past.  People are encouraged to bring old photos as well.

Refreshments will be served, and admission is free.  The Bagaduce Watershed Association will help with carpooling for those who can use a ride or would like to save gas.  This is the third program in the "Way Back When" series, which keeps returning by popular demand.  For more information contact: Wilson Museum 326-9247 or BWA 326-0966.

Overshot Weaving

During the month of August the Wilson Museum will have a special program featuring a Castine heirloom - an early 1800s overshot coverlet from the John Perkins family.  This coverlet, given to the Museum in the 1970s, has been reproduced by weaver Carole Larson of Penobscot, Maine.  The reproduction coverlet and the well-worn original will be on display as well as a working loom where Carole will demonstrate overshot weaving using the Perkins pattern in such contemporary pieces as table mats and runners on Sundays and Wednesdays, 2-5 p.m. at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine, Maine.

Overshot coverlets have a tabby (plain) weave, usually of cotton or linen.  Heavier, colored weft yarn provides the design as it skips over several threads at a time to form a raised block of color.  Overshots were typically woven in two colors - the tabby weave in white and the pattern in a contrasting color, most often indigo blue.  The patterns cause one side of the coverlet to be lighter than the other, hence, a summer and winter pattern.  Demonstrations of spinning and indigo dying will also take place at the Museum in August.

Carole Larson began weaving in 1967 and was immediately drawn to Colonial overshot weaving.  Over the years, she has been a production weaver, cooperative weaver/retailer, and, with her husband, artist David Larson, currently owns Larson Studio and Gallery in Penobscot, Maine.

It was fascinating to watch Carole at the loom.  She made some placemats, runners and pillows which we have for sale.

Preserving the Past: Heritage Scrapbooking 

What do you think of when you hear the word "scrapbooking?"  Maybe you think of a chubby-cheeked cherub's birthday photos colorfully cropped and pasted with buttons & bows?  That, however, is not the only kind of scrapbooking there is.  Did you know that "scraps" and scrapbooking originated in Victorian times?  Debbie Morehouse will explain how we can preserve our family photos, from Great Grandpa John to Baby Jane, using archival and scrapbooking techniques at 3 p.m. on Thursday, August 2, 2007 at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine, Maine.  This is the first talk in the Museum's Preserving the Past series to be held on Thursday afternoons in August.

Today, scrapbooking can be as simple as a photo album or as elaborate and embellished as your imagination can conceive.  The scrapbooking industry offers products that will stand the test of time: acid free and archival.  This is ideal for those old photos that everyone has stored in a shoebox in the attic.  Get pointers on how to properly house and display them, while still affording Great Aunt Sarah the respect and dignity she deserves.  Products will be available for purchase the afternoon of the talk.

Debbie is the owner of Legacy Crafts, a scrapbooking and genealogy business.  She has combined her love of genealogy (with over 30 years of research experience) and her love of historic photos to create a unique business catering to the needs of those who wish to preserve their heritage.  A former Education Coordinator at the Penobscot Marine Museum, Debbie is currently the Administrative Assistant at the Wilson Museum.

The Secret Life of Lobsters

Consider the humble lobster: an unsightly creature from the sea that tastes great with melted butter.  But it turns out that this aesthetically-challenged crustacean is so much more - a charming lover, a belligerent fighter, and a snoopy socializer with a nose that lets it track prey and paramour alike with the skill of a bloodhound.  And, perhaps most importantly, these astonishing animals are a sustainable resource that has provided a livelihood for generations of Maine fishermen.

Trevor Corson, author of the book The Secret Life of Lobsters and the new book The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, will take the public on a lively sea-sprayed voyage inside a world where fishermen and scientists have joined forces to uncover the mysteries and preserve the future of lobsters at 3 p.m. on Saturday, August 4, 2007 at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine.  This presentation is co-sponsored by the Bagaduce Watershed Association.

Corson worked for two years as a sternman aboard a lobster boat out of Little Cranbury Isle, Maine, where he witnessed firsthand the lives and work of a crusty band of lifelong lobstermen and the unconventional methods of a new breed of ecologists.  Trevor Corson is now a journalist and former editor who lives in Washington, DC.

From his video presentation to an anatomy lesson using live lobsters, Trevor taught us a great deal about our favorite Maine "bug."  

Indigo Dyeing

The Wilson Museum will be seeing blue on August 8, 2007 at 3 p.m. when Kathleen Smith demonstrates indigo dyeing as it was done at home in early rural America.  Using an indigo vat into which materials are repeatedly dipped to build up rich shades of blue, several kinds of woolen thread similar to period handspun will be dyed before your eyes outside on the grounds near the Perkins House or inside the Museum if the weather is inclement.

Kathleen Smith is the owner of Textile Reproductions, a family operated business located in West Chesterfield, Massachusetts.  With over 25 years of knowledge and experience using plant based dyes and historically accurate materials, Textile Reproductions supplies raw goods and finished textile work to museums, historical re-enactors, the movie industry, and hobbyists.

As one of the oldest houses in Castine, dating back to the 1700s, the John Perkins House was most assuredly the scene of textile production.  In addition to and concurrently with the indigo dyeing demonstration, there will be a spinning demonstration.  To honor these "homely" occupations, Phebe Perkins' overshot coverlet has been analyzed and the pattern drafted by Ronald King of Penobscot.  Carole Larson, also of Penobscot, will demonstrate the weaving of this pattern on a loom every Sunday and Wednesday in August in the Museum Building.

Kathleen and her husband set up shop out on the Museum's porch. It was fascinating to watch the yarn emerge from the pot a green color and change before our eyes to blue! 

 Preserving the Past: Diaries & Journals

A personal diary, not originally meant for the public, can tell so much more about a time and place than the writer may have ever intended.  Paula Dunfee, a transciber of diaries, will talk about what she has learned from the Hawes diary collection in this second lecture in the Museum's Preserving the Past series on Thursday, August 9th at 3 p.m. at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine, Maine.

Born in Castine in 1808, Abigail Almira Hawes, an early historian, teacher, poet, and benefactress kept an impressive sequence of diaries from 1862 to her death in 1890.  Her writing reveals literary knowledge, investment strategies of the times and, with her sister, the teaching of mathematics, astronomy and navigation skills to hundreds of young Castine students.  Many of those young men became sailors and ship captains.  The subjects covered in these diaries run the gamut from Civil War events to food, clothing, entertainment, books shared, illnesses and their treatments.  Paula will share techniques of transcribing as well as interesting tidbits from the diaries.

Paula Dunfee has a Master's Degree in English from the University of Maine and is a retired teacher.  She resides in Castine and works as transcriber and docent at the Wilson Museum. 

Preserving the Past: Documenting Cemeteries 

As project coordinator for the Wilson Museum's Castine Town Cemetery documentation project, Brian Adams will share what he has learned regarding cemetery documentation on Thursday, August 16th at 3 p.m. at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine, Maine.  This is the 3rd in the Museum's Preserving the Past lecture series.

While cemeteries are great resources to historians and genealogists, the information they contain is not always as straightforward as a researcher might like.  Brian will recount some of the challenges of documenting a cemetery and of making that information available in as comprehensive and accessible manner as possible.  Discussion topics will include paper records, databases, and photography of gravestones as well as the best techniques for deciphering hard-to-read stones, and some basic concepts regarding the preservation of gravestones.  The Museum's survey results to date can be viewed at www.wilsonmuseum.org/cemdata.

Brian Adams recently attended the Association for Gravestone Studies 30th Anniversary Conference in New Hampshire.  He lives in Sedgwick and is the Technology Manager and Collections Manager at the Wilson Museum.

Field Music of the American Civil War 

The sounds of Civil War fife music will echo through the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street in Castine on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 3 p.m., as Elise Pusey "illustrates" her talk on the importance and purpose of music during the Civil War.  This is the third presentation in the Museum's Preserving the Past series.

Ms. Pusey will describe how music affected the soldiers and what life was like for a fifer or drummer during the War.  She will play selections popular with the Northern and Southern armies, including marching songs and songs typically sung around the campfire at night.

A recent graduate of the Liberty School in Blue Hill, Elise has been passionate about history, particularly the Civil War era, since she was a very young child.  This led her to enlist as fifer, a field musician, in the Fife and Drum Corps of the Twentieth Maine, Company B, Civil War reenactment group based at Fort Knox in Prospect.  She will be attending Potters Field Ministry Training School in Montana this fall. 

New England's Early Quilts & Quilters

Our romantic notion of quilts as symbols of frugality and recycling will be shattered as Lynne Bassett, textile consultant, takes us through the history of New England quilting, at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine on August 30, 2007 at 7 p.m.

Whole-cloth wool quilts were the first type of quilt to be made in New England.  The quilting pattern, highlighted by the gloss of elegant fabrics such as silk or glazed worsted (calamanco), created the visual interest.  These quilts were often lined with carded wool and backed with locally produced wool material.  Pieced calico quilts did not gain popularity until the rise of the Industrial Revolution; but, as printed cottons became less expensive, pieced quilts fell out of favor with the wealthy, and it was then that quilts took on their reputation as artifacts of frugality and/or poverty. 

Lynne Zacek Bassett is an independent scholar and museum consultant specializing in New England's historic costumes and textiles.  She received a master's degree from the University of Connecticut in Design and Resource Management and served as Curator of Textiles and Fine Arts at Old Sturbridge Village.  Working as independent consultant and guest curator, Lynne has been involved with several museum projects and exhibits.  She is an editor, author and a frequent contributor to PieceWork magazine.  Her lectures for historical societies and institutions including Colonial Williamsburge, the Smithsonian Institution and the Winterthur Museum have covered a range of topics in the field of early costume, quilts and other bed covers.

Appliqué

The basic idea of appliqué seems easy - cut a shape out of one fabric and sew that shape onto another fabric - but successfully transferring a vision of an object, flower or landscape onto fabric requires a technique and sometimes a few tricks.  Castine quilter Charleen Wiseman will demonstrate the needle-turn blind stitch technique on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 3 p.m. at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine, Maine.

A quilter for over 25 years, not only has Charleen won numerous quilting awards in Florida and in Maine, but she is a teacher whose students have won awards as well.

Penobscot Culture & Contemporary Issues

Barry Dana, former Penobscot Nation Chief, will give a presentation on Penobscot culture and contemporary issues at the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine on September 15, 2007 at 2 p.m. followed by drumming and dancing with members of the Keepers of the Penobscot Drum and a basketmaking demonstration by Caron Shay.

The Penobscot people once lived throughout the entire state of Maine.  Today, their reservation is a series of small islands in the Penobscot River.  Indian Island is the only one large enough to inhabit.  That's where Barry Dana grew up ~ only thirty miles downstream from Lincoln Pulp and Paper.  His presentation will begin with a segment from HOMELAND, a documentary telling the story of five remarkable Native American activists dedicated to protecting Indian lands against disastrous environmental hazards, preserving their sovereignty and ensuring the cultural survival of their peoples.

As a repository of artifacts documenting man from the earliest times in foreign lands to more contemporary history in our own region, the Wilson Museum is proud to co-sponsor this event with the Bagaduce Watershed Association, an organization dedicated to ensuring the social, economic and environmental health of the Bagaduce Watershed.

This was a grand event - from Barry Dana's thoughtful presentation, to Caron Shay's expert basketmaking, to the drumming and to the dancing that even those on the sidelines enjoyed.

Curiosities & Commodities: Egyptian Mummies Downeast 

Paper made from Egyptian mummy wrappings in Maine?  Recent research and discoveries have shown that this "legend" is true.  Curiosities and Commodities: Egyptian Mummies Downeast will be the title of an illustrated talk by S. J. Wolfe at the Maine Old Cemetery Association's (MOCA's) Annual Meeting, Saturday, September 29, 2007 hosted by the Wilson Museum, 120 Perkins Street, Castine, Maine.

The MOCA meeting begins at 9 a.m. with introductions, the featured speaker, a short business meeting, and will break after lunch, when attendees may visit local cemeteries.  The meeting is open to the public and reservations are required for lunch - call 326-9247.

S. J. Wolfe is Senior Cataloguer and Serials Specialist at the American Antiquarian Society.  She has had a lifelong interest in ancient Egypt (beginning around age 4), and is presently collaborating with Robert Singerman on several projects including mummy history and a bibliography of the paper industry in America before 1900.  S. J. and her husband Dr. David Rawson live in Worcester, Massachusetts.  David is the photographer, driver, computer magician and one of the driving forces behind the entire mummy project.

Even though Castine's microburst kept us from holding this event at the Wilson Museum, we were able to move it to the Verona Town Hall.

Thank you to all who made it possible! 

Back to Top WILSON MUSEUM Open: May 27 – September 30 Tuesday – Sunday, 2 – 5 pm John Perkins House Blacksmith Shop Hearse House July – August, Wednesday & Sunday, 2 – 5 pm Group visits can be arranged by appointment. (207) 326-9247   info@wilsonmuseum.org Admission is free, except for the John Perkins House, where there are guided tours.