Winter Lecture Series
Each winter, we sponsor a series of public talks exploring how people and events helped shape New England into what it is today. Our 15th season of providing enriching experiences to our community from notable experts on various historic topics starts in January!
- January 25 - Jonathan Peter Monro, a retired landscape architect, will describe the recent work of The Stewards of Western Cemetery to rehabilitate the heavily damaged, long neglected cemetery on the Western Prom. Jonathan is a co-founder and current secretary of the Stewards. He will describe the historic cemetery's national significance, technical gravestone repair efforts under way, the current capital campaign, and plans for improving this neighborhood treasure's infrastructure.
- February 22 - David Perkins, a tour guide and board member of the Neal Dow House in Portland, will lead a talk about Neal Dow and his involvement in Portland's Rum Riot of 1855. He will delve into the temperance movement that started in Portland in 1851, touching on prohibition and the Maine Law written by Neal Dow. David will work his way through the events that led to the Rum Riot of June 2nd, 1851, the details of the riot and the aftermath, and the committee appointed to investigate those transactions.
- March 29 - Matthew Jude Barker is a local expert who will discuss topics from his most recent work, “The Blue and the Green, The Portland, Maine Irish During the Civil War Era, 1845-1870.” He will bring to life an amazingly transformative era in Portland history, discussing events such as the Great Hunger, immigration, Neal Dow and prohibition, bootlegging and crime, the "Rum Riot,” the Know-Nothings and nativists, Irish occupations, abolition, the railroad, the Panic of 1857, the war years, the Fenians, the Great Fire of July 4, 1866, and the dedication of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, among many other topics.
When: Last Saturday of the month at 1:30pm
Where: 7th Floor Event Room, Glickman Library, Bedford Street, USM Portland Campus
Note: USM Parking Garage charges by the hour. There is no free parking at USM. FMI USM Parking Services
We rely on donations and event ticket sales to fund our conservation efforts. Your donations are so appreciated. Some of you remember the lecture tip jar we keep on our welcome table next to the cookies! We also have a PayPal virtual tip jar: Donate to Spirits Alive today. Thank you!
Lecture Archives
We have been presenting public lectures that educate us on the history of our city, state, and country since 2008. Here is a listing of those who have participated as well as their lecture subject matter.
- 2024 Lecture Series
- 2023 Lecture Series
- 2022 Lecture Series
- 2021 Lecture Series
- 2020 Lecture Series
- 2019 Lecture Series
- 2018 Lecture Series
- 2017 Lecture Series
- 2016 Lecture Series
- 2015 Lecture Series
- 2014 Lecture Series
- 2011 Lecture Series
- Kim MacIsaac of Fifth Maine Regiment Museum - The Forest City Regiment: Death, Mourning and Loss
- Tom Desjardin, PhD, Chief Historian, Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands - Civil War Heroes and Heroines Buried in Evergreen Cemetery
- Margaret Creighton, Professor at Bates College - Dead Men’s Pockets: Gettysburg Bodies and Other Stories
- 2010 Lecture Series
- Salem State College professor Emerson Woods Baker II - Native Americans of Casco Bay
- Author Jim Nelson - Privateering on Casco Bay
- Maine State Historian Earle Shettleworth - The Development of Munjoy Hill
- 2008 Lecture Series
- Joy Giguere - Death & Commemoration on the Frontier: An Analysis of Early Gravestones in Cumberland County, Maine, 1720 to 1820
- David Watters, Director of the Center for New England Culture and professor of English at the University of New Hampshire - Stranger, Stop and Cast an Eye: A Cultural History of New England Burying Grounds
- Earle Shettleworth, Director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission -The Day Portland Burned: July 4, 1866