AUGUSTA — The Kennebec Historical Society’s September public presentation “Maine in World War I” will begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19, at the South Parish Congregational Church, 9 Church St. Speakers will be Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. and Jason C. Libby.

The program will be preceded by a 4:30 p.m. potluck supper and a 6 p.m. annual meeting and election of officers and directors of the society.

With the same patriotic fervor as Maine’s response to a call for troops in the Civil War, more than 35,000 men and women across the state joined the Armed Forces in 1917-18 to fight in aid of America’s European allies against the Germans as well as to redress German destruction of American vessels in the North Atlantic. Mainers also provided vital support to the U.S. and the Allies through war-related industries, like shipbuilding, munitions, textiles and agriculture, while purchasing more than $100 million in war bonds and donating bandages, books and other comforts of home to the troops.

This illustrated lecture will present many newly discovered historic photographs, including real photo post cards of the period, to tell the story of recruitment, bond drives, shipbuilding, war-related industries, and knitting socks for the soldiers.

A native of Portland, Shettleworth attended Deering High School, Colby College and Boston University, and was the recipient of honorary doctorates from Bowdoin College and the Maine College of Art. At the age of 13, Shettleworth became interested in historic preservation through the destruction of Portland’s Union Station in 1961. In 1971 he was appointed by Gov. Kenneth M. Curtis to serve on the first board of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, for which he became architectural historian in 1973 and director in 1976. He retired from that position in 2015. Shettleworth has lectured and written extensively on Maine history and architecture and served as state historian since 2004.

Libby grew up in Augusta and is a graduate of the University of Maine with a bachelor degree in history and political science and a graduate degree in education. Returning to Maine from New York after several years in higher education administration, he served as executive director of a historic preservation nonprofit. He currently works for the Department of Education and also as an adjunct instructor at Central Maine Community College. Libby serves as chairman of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and volunteers for a number of organizations including the Boy Scouts of America. He is the author of several historical books including “Maine in World War I,” which he has co-written with Shettleworth.

For more information, call 622-7718.

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