Another grant!

The Seashore Trolley Museum Library Committee has received a small grant from the Maine Historical Records Advisory Board, affiliated with Maine State State Archives. Our project will be to preserve a collection of electric railway tourist brochures and pamphlets. This collection consists of more than 80 paper booklets, brochures, and timetables devoted to advertising trolley, steamboat, train, and automobile tourist excursions in Maine and around New England between 1895 and 1930. Many of the booklets are regional (i.e. trolley trips in and around Portland), but some are souvenir booklets for individual destinations, such as Underwood Spring and the Cape Porpoise Casino. All of them, except for the time tables, are illustrated with black-and-white photographs, maps, local information, and business directories and advertisements. These documents contain a wealth of primary source material in the subject areas of local history, transportation, local geography, tourism, and leisure activities.

Library volunteers are busy on another ongoing project: cataloging, describing, and preserving the loose photograph collection. Here's a finding aid for the collection so far:

Finished!

The Trolley Parks of Maine online exhibit was completed in February 2012. Watch for a print edition in the fall!

Almost finished

We are very nearly finished with our online exhibit for the Maine Memory Network. We ended up with 13 trolley parks and, oh my, that was plenty! Chris' selection of photographs was our starting point. After that came research, research, research! What an amazing and educational experience that was. Did you know that, back in the day, you could watch two pure white horses dive from a 50-foot platform into a pool of water? Did you know that there was a musical group called the Powder Puff Girls and their show featured the Baby Vamp Review? So many odd and interesting tidbits we came across. The turn of the century in Maine was really a different world! And yet, perhaps not so different.

Just this weekend, we worked on building our exhibit in MMN's ExhibitBuilder. A wonderful online application; I would encourage any historical society or community group to take on an MMN exhibit or album. Not only is the software easy to use, but the support from MMN staff is outstanding.

Chris has gone back to graduate school and he is missed. We are very grateful for the work he did with us over the summer. Further thanks go to Randy Leclair and Doreen Rogan for writing and editing some of the exhibit's text. Thanks also to Diana Vera for clerical and archival support. And huge thanks, as always, to the members of the STM Library Committee, especially Ed Ramsdell and O.R. Cummings.

Amber

A Field Guide to Trolley Cars

Our first photo album, A Field Guide to Trolley Cars, is up at the Maine Memory Network. It's a short slideshow of the various different types of cars, including passenger, freight, and utility cars. All of the photos are of Maine cars and several of them are currently living at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport.

Progress continues on the Virtual Trolley Tour of Maine

October already! A busy summer and fall here at the Seashore Trolley Museum Library. Our intrepid intern Chris has gone off to graduate school in archival studies. He did a great job this summer selecting destinations and scanning photographs. Thank you, Chris! We miss you!

Our total number of destinations is now fourteen - and we're having to leave some out! Can't find any photographs of The Pines in Norridgewock, just a reference on a map. Current destinations are:

York Beach and St. Aspinquid Park, York
Cape Porpoise Casino, Cape Porpoise
Riverton Park, Portland
Willard Beach, Portland
Cape Cottage Theater and Casino, Cape Elizabeth
Underwood Casino, Falmouth
Lake Grove, Auburn
Merrymeeting Park, Brunswick
New Meadows Inn, West Bath
Casco Castle, Freeport
Tacoma Inn, Litchfield
Lake Cobbosseecontee Island Park, Manchester
Lakewood Park, Madison
Oakland Park, Rockport

The greatest challenge is selecting the tastiest pictures and keeping that selection down to one or two. Or maybe three. OK, possibly four. See what I mean? Above, the Rockland, Thomaston, & Camden Street Railway's open car #9 disembarking at the trolley stop at Oakland Park. These lucky day tourists will spend the day picnicking and watching the latest motion picture.

Amber

Scanning and Discoveries

Photo selection and scanning has been completed! It took a bit longer than expected, but the best things usually do. As photo selection for the trolley tour wrapped up, I discovered postcards for a place called Lake Cobbosseecontee. Unknown to myself, Amber, and other trolley enthusiasts, Lake Cobbosseecontee had its own theater and recreation area, all accessible by trolley (go figure). This brings the destination list to twelve total, something I am pleased with.

On a side note, I am beginning to notice a trend that a number of destinations share: fire. Destinations like Casco Castle in Freeport, the Cape Porpoise Casino on Cape Porpoise, the Gay White Way in York, all met an untimely end by being razed. Maybe creepy, maybe interesting, but something worth noting for sure.

Next step: cataloging!