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Car used by Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Co., Penobscot Marine Museum collection

Car used by Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Co., Penobscot Marine Museum collection

A sampling of historic images from Penobscot Marine Museum’s collection of over 140,000 photographs will be available at the Maine 2016 Antique Paper Show on Saturday, June 25, from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm at the First Congregational Church Vestry, 8 Church Street, Searsport.

Penobscot Marine Museum’s collection of historic photographs began with a collection of negatives from a turn-of-the-nineteenth-century postcard company, Eastern Illustrated & Publishing Company of Belfast, Maine. Postcards, which were hugely popular in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, and their glass plate negatives still have a significant presence in the museum’s collection.

The postcard show complements the museum’s 2016 exhibit Wish You Were Here: Communicating Maine. Inspired by the 100th anniversary of “Maine Postcard Day”, this exhibit includes a hundred years of images which have been used to communicate the unique qualities of Maine to the outside world. With photographic postcards, photography, and contemporary art, this exhibit explores the changes which have taken place to the images that have been used to communicate Maine.

In connection with this year’s show, Associate Professor of History and Department Chair at the University of Southern Maine, Libby Bischoff will be conducting her Maine Postcard Project on campus from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. You will be able to write postcards to friends and family using postcards designed by Bischoff featuring historic and contemporary images of Maine. Bischoff was an advisor on our 2015 exhibit, Through Her Lens, and was the writer of our introductory panels about the history of postcards for our current exhibit, Wish You Were Here: Communicating Maine. Libby is also one of the authors of the recently released book, Maine Photography: A History, 1840-2015.

The Maine 2016 Antique Paper Show: Postcards and Paper Collectibles includes thousands of vintage postcards, old maps, historic photographs, sheet music, and paper ephemera. Free appraisals for your paper collectibles will be available from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Admission is $2, and includes $2 off of a Penobscot Marine Museum admission ticket.

For more information call Kevin Johnson at 207-548-2529 ext.210.