The Portland Room is much more than a destination to research this region’s history, personal genealogies, rare books and archives, maps, or Portland newspapers. This unique set of resources is increasingly a destination for students and classroom groups of all ages to discover and be inspired.
Recently, we’ve been able to help the students and instructors from the Local Sprouts Cooperative, who made several visits to the Portland Room to study local history. The crew produced a story about the Ingraham House, and incorporated their findings- and one of their Portland Room adventures with maps, Capt. William Moulton Ingraham, and The Great Fire of 1866 into their latest Portland TV Show (video below), which is a set of short (often hilarious) films. The section called “Carriage House,” begins at the 22:50 mark. We all had a great time, and our Local Sprouts neighbors will surely be back to the Library for more !
[vimeo 16595865]
Preservation of library materials extends the availability of our books, documents, and maps. Conservation work is part of daily life in the Portland Room, where the Library’s special collections and archives are based. In the past 4 years, we have restored an average of 100 items per year- right in the Portland Room- library materials which could not be handled before, due to their physical condition. Now these items are accessible to you, our patrons! As well, we are often called upon to answer questions about book and paper conservation- so bring your questions, too.
Among our projects has been a restoration of the art and artisanry books which had been in the old Portland Public Library (the Baxter Building). These books are in the Portland Room, and nearly all repaired!
Here (below) is a glimpse of how a book is rebound and recased, using archival materials and practices:
a book which has separated from its case, due to embrittlement, will require a rebinding of signatures (the pages) and a new case (the cover)
a careful process of realigning signatures and rebinding them, followed by creating new endpapers, and applying cotton mesh and headband ribbons
the new case under construction, with conservation-grade bookcloth to match the original- and a new spine-backing (at the center)
the old case is at left; the new case gets a “dry fit,” to make perfectly sure it meets the requirements of the newly-rebound textblock
now to the press, with wooden rods placed in the exterior hinges of the new case
et voilà! the restored book in its new case, with the original gold-tooled titling and spine labels grafted onto the book as the finishing touches.
The current exhibit inside the Portland Room is about the Maine Charitable Mechanics Association, which has been gathering in this city since 1815. Their basis was the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association, championed in Boston by Paul Revere.
The Maine Charitable was founded by industrialists and those involved in manufacturing and crafts, the MCMA evolved into a general cultural resource- with a popular library- that opens membership to any interested person. Their best-known symbol is Mechanics Hall, which stands at the corner of Congress Street and Casco Street in downtown Portland.
The exhibit in the Portland Room offers a brief and visual narrative of the roots of the MCMA, Mechanics Hall, and some of its illustrious members. Artifacts for this special exhibit are from Portland Public Library collections- and additional materials have been lent to us by the MCMA, along with reproductions from the Boston Athenaeum. Come visit! The show will be up through the summer and autumn.
Mechanics Hall, built in 1857. In the wake of the Great Fire of 1866, Mechanics Hall served as a temporary city hall for Portland.
Installation of the current exhibit in the Portland Room. The framed broadside is from 1859.
The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association began in 1762. Paul Revere had been a president of the Association.
Among the members of the Maine Charitable were carriage-makers, metalsmiths, bookbinders, manufacturers such as E.T. Burrowes (which had been on Free Street), and architects such as Francis Fassett (designer of the old Portland Public Library’s Baxter Building), and John Calvin Stevens (who taught free drawing classes at Mechanics Hall).
More reminders of MCMA members, lighthouses, and tools.
A special loan for this exhibit is a 1920s Remington typewriter from craftsman Tom Furrier, owner of Cambridge Typewriter (Arlington, Mass.)
