- March 23, 2023
Bath Daily Times exhibition
To celebrate reaching our $10,000 goal for our Bath Daily Times microfilm digitization project, we have a small exhibit on the publication in the case outside the History Room on the second floor. Come learn about the project and see some highlighted collection items! Stay tuned for updates and the first batch ...
Read more… - March 16, 2023
Help us celebrate National Poetry Month with a self-guided poetry walk inside the library! We have chosen 10 poems from the History Room collections and have posted them all around the inside of the library. The poems range from published works, unpublished poems in archival collections, and just-for-fun poems published local newspapers.
To join us ...
Read more… - March 25, 2022
Did you know that Champions, Corporate Leaders, and Major Benefactors of Patten Free Library can request personalized research conducted by the Archivist & Special Collections Librarian? For this year of Now You’re Cooking‘s business sponsorship they requested a building history of the Bank Block (49 Front Street) and we were thrilled to dive into the ...
Read more… - November 8, 2021
by Jack Martin, Reference Librarian
Ever wondered just what it is we keep in all those boxes? The answer is a lot more interesting than you probably imagined.
Truthfully the History Room’s collections cover a lot of ground— most of it related to genealogy & local notables of ages past. There are a few pieces though that ...
Read more… - October 18, 2021
In his article for Pacific Northwest Quarterly, “Machine of Manifest Destiny: The USS Massachusetts, 1845-1863,” Michael “Tug” Buse uses the diary of Theodore Brooks Trevett as a stand-in for a lost logbook of the USS Massachussets (1845). The diary chronicles Trevett’s time as a clerk aboard the Navy vessel on a voyage to the Oregon ...
Read more… - September 27, 2021
How to Use NewspaperArchive’s Free Resources
Have you ever noticed that search results from NewspaperArchive.com appear in Google searches, but you can’t access them without a subscription? It’s frustrating to researchers—but it’s also a useful feature! Our newest How-To Guide explains…
How to use NewspaperArchive as an index for physical newspaper collections.
How to read plain-text versions of ...
Read more… - August 13, 2021
John Hayden (1808-1892)—jeweler, mariner, one-time mayor of Bath, grandfather of Emma Eames and John Sedgwick Hyde—was said to be a writer of “considerable historical matter,” according to his obituary in the August 20th, 1892 issue of the Bath Enterprise. Some of his works are cited in Parker McCobb Reed’s History of Bath and Environs.
Though the ...
Read more… - June 24, 2021
During his education as a librarian and archivist, reference librarian Jack Martin researched the existence of Queer history (or LGBTQIA+ history) in archives and collecting institutions like the History Room. We like to share items from our collections that relate to current events and national observances, but we found ourselves coming up short for Pride ...
Read more… - April 20, 2021
Irene Drago, local author and a trustee of Sagadahoc Preservation Inc., asked us to share this message about the third and final virtual tour offered by SPI this spring.
Dear Supporters of SPI,
Sagadahoc Preservation Inc. is delighted to offer Tour #3 of Opening Doors in Historic Bath for a $10 donation. We’re able to extend this offer ...
Read more… - March 25, 2021
March is Women’s History Month! We shared items and collections from the History Room that illuminate women’s history in our communities in each issue of the library’s email newsletter (sign up here). See each week’s story below!
Old Ladies’ Home
The Old Ladies’ Home collection (MC 009), includes information about how the charitable institution was founded in ...
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