Three men stand in the Elm Street entrance of Carleton, Pascal & Co. grocers in 1888. Submitted photo
Every October, the Camden Public Library at 55 Main St. celebrates Discover History Month. The library is home to the Walsh History Center, where material of historical significance to the residents of Camden and Rockport is preserved.
This year, Ken Gross, the history center’s director, has curated a collection of vintage photos and maps to exhibit in the library’s Picker Room, organized around a history of Camden published in 1883 and 1884, according to a news release from Julia Pierce, library programs director.
This little-known history, the work of preacher Nathan C. Fletcher, was published serially in the Rockland Opinion as “The Annals of Camden.”
The display will complement the “Annals of Camden” and help tell the story of what life was like in Camden in the 1880s. It is scheduled to be on view Monday, Oct. 3, through Sunday, Oct. 30.
Fletcher was a Universalist minister who preached all over the midcoast for three decades in the early 1800s. He became a businessman in 1854, starting in the lime industry and settling into being a pharmacist for the remainder of his career. He also served in the state legislature and on the Governor’s Council.
To illustrate the history, Gross will present a slideshow at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4. The talk, “Nathan C. Fletcher’s Camden of 1884,” will specifically focus on Fletcher’s eyewitness account of Camden.
The program will be available to a live audience at the library and simultaneously broadcast on Zoom. To attend in person, RSVP to jpierce@librarycamden.org; live attendance at the talk will be limited, to account for coronavirus restrictions.
To attend via Zoom, visit the “What’s Happening” adult events calendar at librarycamden.org to register for a link.
Gross says, “We have a transcription of N.C. Fletcher’s ‘Annals of Camden,’ a history published in the newspaper from 1883 to 1884. N.C. Fletcher knew everyone in town, took himself on a tour of all of the industries, invited himself in, and described them from the inside. We will match photos from the 1880s with his descriptions, and give a tour of Camden, guided by … Fletcher.”
The library’s “Discover History Month” series is sponsored by The Smiling Cow. More information about other programs in the series can be found at librarycamden.org.
For more information, call Pierce at 207-236-3440.
Camden’s Bayview Street in 1882. Submitted photo
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