The New Bridge, Wiscasset ME
The Lincoln County Court House will host the Penobscot Marine Museum photo exhibit, Lincoln County Through Eastern’s Eye during the months of August and September. It is the 3rd stop of this traveling exhibit which has spent time now at the Boothbay Railway Museum and the Sheepscot General Store.
During the height of the postcard craze which swept Europe and North America during the early 20th century, a local entrepreneur saw opportunity and founded the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company in Belfast, Maine. For more than 40 years, EIP capitalized on the niche created by Herman Cassens by producing “real photo” postcards featuring views of small towns and rural byways throughout the eastern United States.
Eastern photographers roamed the countryside throughout the warm months every year, each photographer well-versed in his sales region. Though they remain largely anonymous, their work, consisting of tens of thousands of large format negatives, has been preserved at Penobscot Marine Museum and has become a peerless photographic survey of small town America in the northeast during the first half of the 20th century. The collection is the subject of a documentary film by Wiscasset filmmaker Sumner McKane, The Northeast by Eastern as well as a book, Maine on Glass by Kevin Johnson, Earle Shettleworth and William H. Bunting.
Wiscasset is the county seat of Lincoln County and a perfect place for this exhibit to be on view. The courthouse is open every weekday from 8:00-4:30 and is free and open to the public. PMM photo archivist Kevin Johnson will give an illustrated slideshow during the exhibit’s stay in Wiscasset and share the story of Eastern Illustrating as well as more images of Wiscasset. Date to be determined so stay tuned!
The Lincoln County Courthouse is located at 32 High Street, Wiscasset, Maine 04578
Call for more info: Carrie Kipfer (207) 882-6311