Vassalboro Historical Society
Where Vassalboro's past and present meet.
Vassalboro Historical Society
Where Vassalboro's past and present meet.
updated 06/15/2022
VASSALBORO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
327 MAIN STREET
EAST VASSALBORO, ME
MAILING ADDRESS:
P.O. BOX 13
NORTH VASSALBORO, ME 04962
TELEPHONE: 207-923-3505
EMAIL: VHSPRESIDENT@GMAIL.COM
SUMMER SCHEDULE
MONDAY & TUESDAY
9am-1pm
OPEN HOUSE
2nd & 4th SUNDAYS
1pm-4pm
PROGRAMS
3rd SUNDAYS
3pm-5pm
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT VHS
In addition to our new display, we continue to work on making the museum as organized as possible.d
Juliana Lyon is back volunteering and handles our accession inn like she has been doing it for the last 30 years or so (which she has). We are so fortunate to have her continued support.
Ben Gidney, Stewart Carson, and Jeremy Cloutier have been doing the more physical labor. Ben donated and installed a picture hanger system which allows us to use the upper part of our office walls to hang portraits. Ben and Jeremy added spacers and curtain rods to our closets. This enables us to protect our clothing collection without having the curtains touching the fabric. Stewart has put together half of our new shelving units, which will give us more room for our 3D items. We will empty our older shelves to clean and to space items out for better air flow.
Volunteers Dawn Cates, Simone Antworth, Judy Goodrich, and new volunteers Steve and Sharon (Hopkins) Farrington have all worked hard to get the museum ready for our summer season. Russell Smith continues to handle any research requests that come in. The library is definitely his domain! David Theriault has taken over responsibility for draining the furnace /boiler. David also takes care of our clocks and victrolas.
We are happy to welcome John Melrose to the board as our treasurer. He’ has several years of experience including serving on various budget committees for our town.
Several of our group traveled to Litchfield for the Central Maine Heritage Council, a group of local historical societies which meets every six months, rotating locations. We are so fortunate in Vassalboro to have the buildings that we have!
Like everyone, heating expenses hit us hard this year and over half of our budget went to it, even though we are rarely open in the winter and our thermostat remained set on 50. We will be doing some fundraisers to help defray the cost.
If you are looking for something to do and our open flag is out, please do stop by. We’d love to chat about any and all things Vassalboro.
NEW DISPLAY
All Things Textile
The Society had Lynne Bassett, the Textile Conservator back for a second visit. She helped us identify our
children’s and men’s clothing. She also instructed our volunteers on how to display dresses using our dress forms, batting, file folders, muslin, straight pins, and tulle. An impressive process and our volunteer Judy Goodrich did a great job !
Our display also shows jewelry, purses, shoes, men’s articles, children’s clothing, quilts, hooked rugs, samplers, and more!
Stop by for a visit!
OAK GROVE SCHOOL FOUNDATION GRANT
Textile Conservation Priorities Project
The Textile Conservation Priorities Project is underway. Textile Conservation Specialist, Lynne Bassett spent two full days at the museum assessing, identifying fabrics, determining the age, and teaching our volunteers. A few volunteers learned four conservation stitches which will enable us to correctly repair damaged items. We pulled items from their acid free boxes and Lynne identified which should remain boxed and which should be hung. The articles that are hung were separated by age, making it easier to find the right item for any displays that we create.
Lynne also recommended that we find more hanging space so our fur storage can be separated from our clothing collection. She was impressed with the scope of our collection and was very pleased to see several dresses from the 1800s.
Later in the month, Lynne will return for two more days. In the meantime we will be collecting flat, wooden hangers which we will wrap in batting and cover in muslin. We will be emptying more boxes to ensure that she sees the majority of our collection.
What a great opportunity we were given through a grant from the Oak Grove School Foundation. Thank you to the Foundation and to our volunteers: Judy Goodrich; Dawn Cates; Maurine Macomber; David Theriault; Terry Curtis; and Holly Widener.
VASSALBORO’S OLDEST RESIDENT
The Vassalboro Historical Society is pleased to present honorary ownership of the Boston Post cane to Mrs T. Lois Bulger. The tradition of the cane began in 1909, when the Boston Post distributed 431 of the canes to towns throughout New England with instructions that each should be presented to the oldest living citizen of the town.
The cane is made from Gabon ebony from the Congo. Each cane took approximately one year to make. The cane’s head is finished with a 14-carat gold top and is elaborately sculpted. Vassalboro’s cane was missing for many years, until purchased in 1988 from an antique dealer in California and given to the Historical Society by Betty Taylor, one of the Society’s founders. The honorary ownership of the cane was given to Louise Charlotte Seehagen Eastman in September, 2016. Mrs. Eastman passed away at 101 years of age in January, 2020.
Our new recipient, Thelma Lois Wood was born on April 24,1922, to parents Eva and Norman Wood in Oakland, Maine. Always known as Lois, she attended Oakland schools, where she met her future husband, Harold Bulger. She continued her education and completed a Special Secretarial Course at Thomas Business College. Harold and Lois were married on December 24, 1940 in Oakland.
Mr. and Mrs. Bulger moved to Vassalboro where they raised their four children, Mayella, Gregory, Linda, and Elizabeth. They also opened their own business, and ran Pine Tree Stables, Home of Fine Horses for 30 years. In 1982 the Bulgers opened Pine Tree Stables Antiques and Collectibles. Mrs. Bulger continues to run the antique business which now includes Ebay sales. Mrs. Bulger also worked for the Adjudication Division of the Veteran’s Administration at Togus as a Claims Examiner for 34 years.
Mrs. Bulger was a member of Adams Memorial Church until it closed. She taught Sunday School and was a member of the Womens’ Fellowship. She loves reading mysteries, gardening, and quilting. Her family has grown and she is the proud Grammie to ten grandchildren, thirteen Great grandchildren, and Great-Great Grammie to four.
Mrs. Bulger received a walking stick carved by Raymond Breton of Vassalboro and a certificate in recognition of her status as Vassalboro’s Oldest Resident.
T. Lois Bulger
About Us
Our Mission
Founded in 1963, the Vassalboro Historical Society’s purpose has been to:
“…bring together people interested in history, particularly the history of the Town of Vassalboro…”
“…discover, collect, preserve and make available to the public any material…which may…establish or illustrate the history of that area…”
“…disseminate historical information and…arouse interest in such matters…”
“…co-operate with other historical societies in preserving and making available material of any sort, particularly things of more than local interest.”
Get Involved
The Society is a volunteer run, member based organization . We rely on our members , directors, and officers to handle day to day tasks as well as to be on hand for programs (set-up, clean-up, and refreshments), display set-up and change, fundraising, membership, etc. With reasonable membership costs, we hope that we can bring the Vassalboro Community together while preserving its past.
Thank You
Whether you help through monetary donations, volunteering your time, or spreading our mission through word-of-mouth, thank you. We couldn't accomplish our goals without the help of supporters like you.