Spring Celebration to Honor Our Volunteers, Sunday, April 25th
Join us at Harrington House on Sunday afternoon, April 25, from 2-3:30 pm to celebrate the work of our volunteers. Whether you currently volunteer or are thinking about it, come hear live music, enjoy refreshments and learn about all the ways in which you can volunteer at Harrington House and Pettengill Farm. We hope to see you there!
Grammy Award Winner Paul Sullivan to Perform at Spring Serenade, Saturday, March 20th
Grammy award-winning composer and pianist, Paul Sullivan, performs in Freeport on Saturday, March 20th, at the Spring Serenade to benefit the Freeport Historical Society. Sullivan, known for his work as a soloist, as part of a jazz trio, and with the Paul Winter Consort, creates a relaxed and intimate experience for his audience with engaging and sometime quirky observations about music and life. His 13 CDs have sold over 300 thousand copies and have won 3 Indie Awards. He received a Grammy Award for his work on the Paul Winter Consort CD, Silver Solstice.
Grammy award-winning composer and pianist, Paul Sullivan
Sullivan has played concert tours worldwide and has performed with legendary orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy and the Boston Pops under both Arthur Fiedler and Keith Lockhardt. As a jazz player, he has worked in some of New York’s most prestigious clubs, including Sweet Basil and The Village Vanguard, playing with jazz masters like Benny Goodman, Tommy Flanagan, Red Mitchell, Lou Donaldson, and others.
The Spring Serenade includes a silent auction featuring a distinctive array of items and experiences, including the opportunity to discuss and solve your woodworking project with renowned craftsman Tom Moser or an overnight stay in a historic James Place Innafter a lovely afternoon on the isle-dotted Harraseeket River with Sail Freeport and a gourmet meal at Azure Café. The Silent Auction will be presided over by historic figures from Freeport’s past—Arctic explorer, Donald MacMillan, Industrial Revolution era entrepreneur, E.B.Mallett, and John “Colby Jack” Coombs, who pitched for Philadelphia Athletics, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Detroit Tigers.
The evening also includes hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. Spring Serenade takes place from 6:00 p.m. – 9:15 p.m. at the Freeport Community Services building, 53 Depot Street in Freeport. Tickets ($50 each) are available by calling 207-865-3170. FMI: www.freeporthistoricalsociety.org .
NY Times
“Sullivan plays with brilliance and clarity”…
Paul Winter Consort
“Adjectives don’t come good enough for Paul Sullivan… He’s an exquisite musician and just one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.”
Greetings from the Heart Exhibit opens on Feb 4th
And Illustrated Presentation on February 21st
A “sweetheart” of an exhibit, Greetings from the Heart, opens to the public on Thursday, February 4th from 4:30pm- 6:30pm at Freeport Historical Society’s Harrington House, 45 Main Street.
Featured are an array of turn-of-the-century through 1940’s Valentines, greeting cards and general postcards from the FHS archives and from private collections. Pop-ups, hand-made, and other styles of cards are all represented.
Beverages will be available.
In honor of Valentine’s Day and the Freeport Historical Society’s collection of historic valentines, join us for a discussion of love, affection, and desire as it played out on these nice (and often not-so-nice) “tokens” of history.
On Sunday, February 21st at 2:00pm, Michelle A. Morgan, a PhD candidate in Visual and Material Culture at Yale, will be presenting excerpts from her Masters Thesis in an illustrated program entitled “Your Face is Like a Book”: Reading the Images on Historic Postcards & Valentines.
During the last decades of the nineteenth century and the earliest years of the twentieth century, visual images proliferated at a never-before-seen pace. Some of the most widely circulated and mass-produced images appeared on greeting cards and, at the turn of the century, on postcards. How do we “read” these images one hundred years (and more) after the fact? What can the images on historic greeting cards and postcards tell us about the people who used and commented on these images? Ms. Morgan will offer her take on how the images of the past constructed the social relationships of the time, suggesting that the motifs of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era were uniquely situated within their historic moment, but were likewise not so different from contemporary sentiments.
$5.00 suggested donation
FMI Please call 865-3170
Yours, Mine, Ours—Our Town and Our Stories
Opening Exhibit and 2010 Membership Campaign Launch
- Cycling on the Harbor, Paul Cunningham 1994
On January 21st from 4:30p-6:30p Freeport Historical Society, 45 Main Street, is hosting the opening of a photo exhibit, “Yours, Mine, Ours—Our Town and Our Stories,” with work produced over the past twenty years by professional photojournalist and lifelong Freeporter, Paul Cunningham.
Black & White and color work will be on display through the end of March, 2010. The exhibit coincides with the launch of the FHS 2010 Membership Campaign.
Paul’s keen eye and technical mastery has resulted in a body of work that puts us in touch with moments ranging from the most celebratory to the most devastating. Paul’s photography captures the evolving story of Freeport. Cunningham’s family has lived in Freeport for over 200 years.
Concurrent with the exhibit opening is the launch of the 2010 Membership Campaign. The public is invited to the exhibit opening which will include introductory remarks by the photographer. Light beverages will be served.
Summer Exhibit to include loaned toys and baseball memorabilia from the public
We are currently in the process of developing an exciting summer exhibit and series of public programs, Freeport Amusements and Entertainments, and are seeking the loan from Freeporters (and others) of vintage and antique toys and baseball-related items and ephemera.
We’d like to supplement the late 19th and early 20th century children’s toys from our Collection with additional items from the public. This allows us to tell a bigger story in terms of how children spent their leisure time. We are interested in outdoor or indoor games, dolls and their accessories, and other childhood amusements. The exhibit will also feature the story of Freeport town baseball, and baseball in general. We’d welcome the opportunity to borrow photographs, balls, gloves, uniforms, and anything related to Freeport baseball or the town team, which was active in the 1950s. Autographs and memorabilia from visits of baseball legends would make great additions to the exhibit.
Please dig around in your attic, cellar and places between and let us know what you have. Your item could make a great contribution to the story of Freeport’s love of baseball.
The Opening Reception for the exhibit will be Thursday, May 27th, 4:30-6:30pm at Harrington House. Regular exhibit hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm. For more information please call 207-865-3170.
Our Handsome New Railing
A handsome iron hand rail now graces the front entrance to historic Harrington House, 45 Main Street. Pictured are father and son, Brent and Braden Kingsbury, Titan Welding. We would like to give a special thanks to Edward Bonney and the Freeport Rotary and the American Legion Auxiliary Unit # 83 for their donation towards the new railing.
Sounds of the Holidays: A Concert of Magical Music from Pine Tree Academy Bell Ringers
A most special seasonal concert, sponsored by Freeport Historical Society, will take place at First Parish Congregational Church at 40 Main Street, Freeport, at 2pm on Sunday, December 13th. The Pine Tree Academy Bell Ringers from Freeport, Maine, play five octaves (61 bells) of English handbells and five octaves (61 chimes) of choir chimes. This group of 11 young musicians are students at Pine Tree Academy representing grades 7 through 12.
In past years the Bell Ringers have performed throughout the United States, Canada, Bermuda, and Iceland, as well as many countries in South America and Europe. The group has played in a variety of venues such as the Maine State Capitol and Governor’s Mansion, the steps of the United States Capitol and the rotunda of the U.S. Senate, Radio City Music Hall, television, radio, shopping malls, schools, churches, service clubs, prisons, nursing homes, and hospitals. The group has also performed for the President of Paraguay, members of the government, cabinet, and their families on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the founding of the capitol city of Asuncion.
In addition to producing two full-length recordings, the Pine Tree Academy Bell Ringers was one of 10 Maine artists featured on the WCSH TV (Channel 6) first Christmas in Maine album. Their latest recording can be obtained through Pine Tree Academy (865-4747). CD’s will be available for sale at the concert.
Enjoy the seasonal and magical sounds of this talented group as they perform Christmas music, including traditional carols, sacred, classical and original handbell music in a concert of about 1 hour 15 minutes. After the concert, seasonal warm beverages will be available and the audience is invited to try their hand at bell ringing!
A $5.00 suggested donation will support Freeport Historical Society, The Pine Tree Academy Bell Ringers, and the First Parish Congregational Church.
FMI: Freeport Historical Society 865-3170
Holidays at Harrington House
Join us at 45 Main Street on Saturday, December 5th and Sunday December 6th and be transported back to a traditional Victorian Christmas celebration in the form of a seasonal theatrical vignette. The Harrington children invite visitors to decorate their newly-cut tree, sing, and join them as they eagerly await word of their sea captain father’s arrival. Directed by Beth Muldoon, and cast with local actors, this approximate 20-minute presentation begins at 1:00pm both days and repeats on the half-hour and hour. The last show each day starts at 3:30pm.
Hot cider and sweets will be available. A $5.00 donation for adults is suggested (no charge for children.) Harrington House Holidays is part of Freeport’s Sparkle Weekend. FMI: info@freeporthistoricalsociety.org or 207.865.3170
Meeting of the Membership & Pre-Holiday Gathering
Freeport Historical Society Trustees invite all FHS Members to a meeting of the membership and pre-Holiday gathering. Members will be asked to vote on amendments to the FHS by-laws as outlined and proposed at the Annual Meeting which took place on May 28, 2009. Copies of the proposed amendments were provided at that meeting, and have been mailed to all current member and are available at the Historical Society offices at 45 Main Street.
The formal meeting begins at 5:00 pm on December 3, 2009. Seasonal refresments, sweets and a brief Holiday Program will follow featuring the talented cast of Harrington House Holidays. Thank you for your RSVP 865-3170
Lessons of The Tam O’Shanter Final Program-Sunday November 29th, 2 pm
The Gate House at the Hampton Inn on Lower Main Street Rt. 1 in Freeport
Join us for the final program in our year-long series, Lessons from the Tam O’Shanter. This illustrated lecture with staged readings will focus on the merchant vessel, Tam O’Shanter, and her twenty-five year history.
Much exciting new research will illuminate Freeport’s long and successful maritime past and this presentation will explore how shipbuilders, owners, and Masters were affected by the emergence of steam-powered vessels. Historian, Alan M. Hall presents this fascinating program. Suggested donation: $5.00
