October is libraryThe Camden Public Library will once again host a series of speakers for its popular Discover History Month, during October 2013. The speakers will cover a range of historical topics, with a focus on how our history affects our lives and culture on the midcoast today. The series will kick off on Tuesday, October 1, at 7:00 pm with a talk by historian and Civil War expert Blaikie Hines of Thomaston. Hines will come to the library in the garb of a Maine U.S. Christian Commission Delegate of 1861, and portray how the citizens on the home front during the Civil War responded to the horrors and reality of wounded patients in primitive army hospitals, and prisoners of war at a time when there was no Red Cross, Salvation Army, Goodwill, or any other disaster relief organization.
Local historian Hank Lunn will give a presentation on Camden’s experience in the War of 1812, on Tuesday, October 8, based on diaries and historical records. All of the History Month programs begin at 7:00 pm in the library’s Picker Room. Author Robin Lloyd will give a talk on his fascinating new historical novel, Rough Passage to London: A Sea Captain’s Tale, on Thursday, October 10. The book is based on the career of his real-life ancestor Captain Elisha Ely Morgan, who plied the New York-Liverpool-London trade during the packet era. Books will be available at the talk, provided by Sherman’s Books of Camden.
On Tuesday, October 15, historian and author George Daughan will follow up on his very successful history of the War of 1812 with The Shining Sea: David Porter and the Epic Voyage of the U.S.S. Essex During the War of 1812. In the book , Daughan tells the swashbuckling true tale of a lone American commander and his monomaniacal quest to rout the British from the South Pacific during the War of 1812. A thrilling narrative of risk and ruin on the high seas, The Shining Sea brings to life one of the war’s most charismatic figures, and one of its greatest tragedies.
The final speaker of the month will be Stephen Haynes, director of the Maine Granite Industry Museum on Mt. Desert, on Thursday, October 24. He will speak about the granite industry in the quarries of Knox County, including notable quarries in St. George, South Thomaston, Tenants Harbor, Vinalhaven, Hurricane Island, and Muscle Ridge Plantation.
Discover History Month is presented thanks in part to support by the Camden National Bank.
Blaikie Hines is a well-known fine arts conservator who specializes in 19th century paintings and frames. He is also a Civil War collector, living historian, and author. Hines grew up in a family steeped in the history of the American Civil War. His first book was “Civil War Volunteer Sons of Connecticut” followed by “The Battle of First Bull Run: An Illustrated Atlas and Battlefield Guide.” Hines makes his home in Thomaston, Maine with his wife, Judith.
Hines’s talk on October 1 is entitled “Maine and Disaster Relief in the American Civil War, 1861-1865.” He says, “Men from all of the towns of Knox County were present when the first great land battle of the Civil War was fought on July 21, 1861 at Manassas, Virginia, 30 miles west of Washington, DC. The hardship and suffering following that great combat left the country completely unprepared and unorganized in how to deal with the enormity and the catastrophe of war. There was no Red Cross, Salvation Army, Goodwill, or any other disaster relief organization except for ordinary men and women who came to help from every American village, town, and city. From the YMCA of New York and of Philadelphia was born the U.S. Christian Commission, created to address the physical, intellectual, and spiritual needs of the Union soldier. Its volunteers or ‘delegates’ were unarmed and unpaid. Their sole purpose was to deliver aid and to relieve suffering.”
