On July 11th, we lost a dear friend and contributor to the Portland Public Library, William Barnes Jordan Jr., who passed away at the age of 88. Bill was passionately curious about the history of Maine and Portland, and taught courses on that topic at two separate colleges for almost two decades.
Researchers in the Portland Room- among numerous other Maine history resource libraries, make regular use of Bill’s historic writing, including his History of Cape Elizabeth (seen below)
Bill also created an index of articles from several Portland newspaper runs, spanning the years of 1785 to 1835, known in the library by its nickname, the “Jordan Index”. A published copy of the index can also be found in the Portland Room, along with the handwritten reference cards he made and used during the creation of the Index. This is a tremendous source, resulting from his assiduous labors.
Below you’ll find a link to the Portland Press Herald article about William’s life and many good works. http://www.pressherald.com/2015/07/12/historian-jordan-remembered-for-research-teaching.
(Contributed by Marc LeBourdais, PPL Technical Services, and Abraham A. Schechter, PPL Archivist.)
posted: , by Abraham