Kennebec Historical Society

09/04/2026

Come visit KHS at the Windsor Fair!!!

We will be there until 3:30 pm.

08/24/2026

The Kennebec Historical Society’s September Presentation: Maine’s Military Might

The Kennebec Arsenal in Augusta and its strategic importance to the Army in the 19th century comprise a key facet of a Kennebec Historical Society lecture planned for September 16 at South Parish Congregational Church in Augusta.

The presentation is taking place in conjunction with the society’s annual meeting and potluck supper. Speaker Arend T. Thibodeau, of Harmony, using a slideshow, also will emphasize the strategic importance of military significance of Aroostook County and Casco Bay, the other Maine fortifications, warship construction at Bath Iron Works, the role that Brunswick Naval Air Station and other Maine locations played in the six-year Battle of the Atlantic during World War II, and the buildup of nuclear weapons in Maine during the long-running Cold War.

Arendt has been a professional photographer and registered Maine guide since 1999. His latest book is Maine’s Military Might: Memories of Military Infrastructure in the Pine Tree State (2025). He also has written The Aroostook Arms Race: Cold War in the Crown of Maine (2024), and Casco Bay, 1939-1945 (estimated publication in November 2026), and other historical works.

The presentation, free to the public (with donations gladly accepted), will take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 16, at the South Parish Congregational Church located at 9 Church Street in Augusta. The program will be preceded at 5:30 p.m. by a potluck supper and at 6 p.m. by the society’s annual meeting and election of directors. For details about the potluck supper, please contact Anne Cough, either by email at [email protected] or by phone at 582-2823. Any questions about the presentation should be directed to KHS Executive Director Scott Wood at 207-622-7718.

08/24/2026

Here is the video from the “Like Father, Like Sons – The Burbank Family in the Revolutionary”

08/14/2026

The Kennebec Historical Society August 2026 Program:
“Like Father, Like Sons – The Burbank Family in the Revolutionary”

Throughout history, people have often been caught up in the momentous events of their era, and so it was for members of the Burbank family of Scarborough in what was then the Province of Maine. Upon hearing of the outbreak of fighting between colonists and British regulars at Lexington and Concord in 1775, Silas Burbank immediately joined a militia group heading for Boston. In something unheard of in later wars, he was joined by his two young sons, thirteen-year-old David as a drummer and eleven-year-old Eleazer as a fifer.

These family members remained in George Washington’s army for five years. This illustrated program tells the amazing story of the Burbank’s service in the American Revolution, beginning with the siege of Boston and continuing to the battle of Saratoga, the winter spent at Valley Forge, and much more. We learn of Eleazer’s being captured by the British and his father dining with General Washington. Silas also playing a role in the traitor Benedict Arnold’s defection. Stunning 18th century Revolutionary War art is included.

KHS presenter, Linda Snow McLoon, is a published author who has deep roots in Scarborough but grew up in Maine’s Belgrade Lakes Region. She served as Executive Director of the Portland Harbor Museum and has served on the boards of the Belgrade Historical Society and the Scarborough Historical Society. She currently volunteers at the Maine Historical Society and the South Portland Historical Society, and as a local history historian, she presents illustrated lectures on topics of Maine history.

The presentation, free to the public (donations are gladly accepted), is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 19, at Augusta City Center, located at 16 Cony Street in Augusta. For more information, call Scott Wood, KHS Executive Director, at 207-622-7718.

08/13/2026

07/21/2026

07/21/2026

The Kennebec Historical Society July Presentation: “Jane Tucker, Maine’s Gilded Age Spy”

In 1894, Maine-native Jane Tucker was a stenographer scrabbling to get by when she took a job as a gilded age spy. Her target: Madeleine Pollard, former mistress of Congressman W.C.P. Breckinridge, whom she had sued for breach of promise when he failed to marry her as pledged. The trial was a national sensation, and while Pollard took center stage, Tucker, alias Agnes Parker, worked quietly behind the scenes, befriending Pollard and in their heart-to-heart conversations, stealing her secrets. Tucker was so successful that no one discovered her secret task or her real identity for over 100 years. In this illustrated talk, we’ll see how a scrappy stenographer used shorthand, underwear, and a whisk as tools for a clever spy, and how her amazing exploits were subsequently hidden by history.

KHS presenter, Dr. Elizabeth DeWolfe is Professor Emerita of History at the University of New England where she taught for thirty years. She is the award-winning author of Shaking The Faith: Mary M. Dyer's Anti-Shaker Campaign and The Murder of Mary Bean, about the short life and sad death of a textile mill operative. Her recent book Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of a Gilded Age Spy, features the previously unknown work of Wiscasset native Jane Armstrong Tucker. DeWolfe makes her home in southern Maine with her husband, Scott, rare books dealer at DeWolfe & Wood Books, and Floyd, a feral cat turned couch potato.

The Kennebec Historical Society presentation is free to the public (donations are gladly accepted) and will take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 29, at Augusta City Center, located at 16 Cony Street in Augusta. If you have questions about the program, call Scott Wood, Executive Director, at 207-622-7718.

07/08/2026

The Kennebec Historical Society Presents: “All But Forgotten”

The Kennebec Historical Society will host a compelling presentation exploring early Maine filmmaking and the legacy of two key figures in silent film history. Titled All But Forgotten, the program revisits Everett Foster’s 1978 documentary of the same name, which examines Augusta’s silent film era between 1919 and 1921.

Foster’s 30-minute film highlights Holman Day as a writer and filmmaker, including his work with Edgar Jones. However, new discoveries since the documentary’s release—including four additional Jones films—have reshaped historians’ understanding of Jones’s significant role in early cinema.

At the time of production, Foster relied heavily on limited source material, including a 1942 University of Maine thesis on Day’s filmmaking career and a collection of photographs later identified as belonging to Elsie Keenan, wife of local actor William Peavey. As a result, the film presents a narrative that emphasizes Day’s contributions while placing Jones in the background—an interpretation that modern research now challenges.

KHS presenter Ed Lorusso brings extensive expertise in silent film restoration. Since retiring, Lorusso has restored numerous films, with six projects licensed by Turner Classic Movies, including The Enchanted Cottage (1924), which aired nationally in September. His work has been screened at theaters and silent film festivals across the country. Lorusso is also the author of The Silent Films of Marion Davies and is currently collaborating with Boston-based documentary filmmaker Peter Flynn on a new project featuring Edgar Jones, Holman Day, Augusta filmmaking, and the Colonial Theater.

The Kennebec Historical Society presentation is free to the public (donations are gladly accepted) and will take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 15, at Augusta City Center, located at 16 Cony Street in Augusta. If you have questions about the program, call Scott Wood, Executive Director, at 207-622-7718.

06/02/2026

Did you miss the KHS Book Sale? Well, stop in today, June 2 or Thursday, June 4, and pick up some summer reading! Lots of great books left!

06/02/2026

The Kennebec Historical Society’s June Presentation: “Transformational: Ken Curtis, Maine’s Reform Governor”

Ken Curtis became governor of Maine 60 years ago this November, and his legacy is now perhaps more important than ever. Transformational: Ken Curtis, Maine’s Reform Governor, by veteran Maine author and journalist Douglas Rooks is the first biography in a half century, offering a comprehensive look at the achievements and trials of the first Maine governor to serve two four-year terms, from 1967-1975, during a time of political upheaval and social change.

The June presentation to the Kennebec Historical Society will focus on his young family’s arrival at the Blaine House, his bipartisan work with the Legislature and his formative years in Leeds and Augusta. Curtis graduated from Cony High School in 1949, played on the varsity football team and was president of Chizzle Wizzle.

In politics, he was a liberal Democrat who worked throughout his tenure with a majority Republican Legislature, nonetheless reshaping the whole of state government, enacting a state income tax, founding the University of Maine System, including UMA, as well as overseeing top-to-bottom reforms of public education. Curtis’s warmth and candor made him a favorite of press and public, and his openness and humility won him a hearing even from those not inclined to embrace his vision of the state’s future.

Transformational is Rooks’s fifth book; his 2023 KHS appearance launched Calm Command: U.S. Chief Justice Melville Fuller, 1888-1910. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

The society’s June presentation is free to the public (donations are gladly accepted) and is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, at the Augusta City Center, located at 16 Cony Street in Augusta. For details, call Scott Wood, Executive Director, at 207-622-7718.



PHOTO INFORMATION

1) inauguration day at the Blaine House

2) Rooks author photo and

3) Ken’s Cony High School Coniad yearbook page