Home of the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company's collection of over 30,000 historic images of New England and beyond....taken from 1880 to 1940, the archive is now available for research, acquisition, publishing and exhibition.
Main Street, Rockland
Main Street, Fort Fairfield
"Maine Streets: Selections from the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company"
The Penobscot Marine Museum invites the public to an opening reception, September 18th from 5:30-7:30pm, in celebration of their exciting exhibition "Maine Streets: Selections from the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company", currently on view at the Carver Memorial Art Gallery located on the campus of the Penobscot Marine Museum through September 28th. As part of the Opening Reception festivities there will be a special presentation by distinguished guest Earle G. Shettleworth Jr., Director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.
This exhibition features remarkable scenes of Main Streets in various communities throughout the state of Maine. Taken between 1910 and 1940, by the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company of Belfast, these images reveal fascinating glimpses into the architecture, businesses, people, modes of transportation, and way of life in Maine during the first half of the 20th century. Though we are only a generation or two removed from the scenes depicted, the photos document an era of great change. For example, numerous images show automobiles sharing the road (often unpaved, dirt roads) with horses-drawn carriages. Telephone lines and electric wires begin slicing through the images as well as diverse forms of signs and advertising. These images, and the photographic archives at the Penobscot Marine Museum, offer a window into the Main Streets of our past and shed a light on development, change, and preservation (themes still prevalent today) in many of our communities around the state.
The Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company of Belfast, Maine was a postcard manufacturing firm active from 1909 -1947. Founded by Herman Cassens of Rockland, Maine, the firm was, at one point, the largest manufacturer of photo postcards in the United States.
The visual legacy of that company, more than 30,000 original glass plate negatives, now resides in the photographic archives of the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine. The addition of the Eastern Illustrating plates to an already important collection of photography at the museum has created one of the finest image archives in New England. The museum has begun processing these images, digitizing them, and making them available through an on-line database.
The special "Maine Streets" exhibit will move to the University of Maine's Raymond H. Fogler Library for the month of October.
The Penobscot Marine Museum is located at 5 Church Street (Just off Route 1) in Searsport. For more information regarding the exhibition or opening please call Pam Delehey at 207.548.2529
