WAYNE — Kevin Johnson, photo archivist for the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, will present Wayne, Maine: The Postcard View; Selections from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company” at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 14, at the Cary Memorial Library, 17 Old Winthrop Road.

The slide show and talk will include the story of the postcard company, as well as historical views of Wayne and neighboring towns, according to a news release from the Wayne Historical Society.

The Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. was founded in 1909 in Belfast, by Rudolph Herman Cassens. Cassens’ goal was to photograph small towns and rural areas from Maine to California, producing real photo postcards that would be valued for promoting tourism.

His company produced more than 50,000 glass plate negatives of New England and Upstate New York between 1909 and 1947. The collection is full of historic businesses, family homes and local landmarks, according to the release.

The images are fascinating on many levels. They take viewers back in time to when the roads were still dirt, horse-drawn carriages outnumbered cars, coastlines were undeveloped, and elms lined the streets according to the release.

The collection is now part of the archives of the Penobscot Marine Museum and continues to grow as more negatives that escaped from the collection are located and acquired. The Museum Photo Archive offers more than 100,0000 thousand images on the museum’s website PenobscotMarineMuseum.org.

Johnson’s talk will be preceded by the annual Wayne Historical Society’s business meeting at 2:30 p.m., followed by the presentation at 3 p.m. The library is handicapped accessible and all are  invited to attend this free program.

For more information, call 685-3612 or visit cary-memorial.lib.me.us.


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