“Lovell, Maine: The Postcard View”

Early view of Main Street in Lovell Village

LOVELL – The Lovell Historical Society and the Charlotte Hobbs Memorial Library are sponsoring an afternoon presentation of early Lovell paintings.

Kevin Johnson, photo archivist at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine, will present “Lovell, Maine: The Postcard View; Selections from Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company” on Sunday, November 3, at 4 p.m. at the Charlotte Hobbs Memorial Library. The slideshow and lecture consist of the history of the postcard company, followed by a look at some of Lovell’s earliest images.

Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company was founded in Belfast, Maine, in 1909 by Rudolph Herman Cassens. Cassen’s goal was to photograph small towns and rural areas from Maine to California, creating “real photo” postcards that would be valuable for tourism promotion. Cassens did not fulfill his dream of photographing the entire country, but his company produced over 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.

The images are fascinating on many levels. They take the viewer back to a time when the roads were still unpaved, horse-drawn carriages outnumbered cars and elm trees lined the streets. The collection is now part of the Penobscot Marine Museum archives and continues to grow as more negatives that have “escaped” from the collection are found and acquired.

Her photo archive of more than 130,000,000 images is available on the museum’s website at PenobscotMaineMuseum.org. Most postcards are also part of the Lovell Historical Society’s image collection, which can be found at lovellhistoricalsociety@org.

The presentation begins on Sunday, November 3, at 4 p.m. in the King Community Room of the Charlotte Hobbs Memorial Library. Participation is free and refreshments will be provided.