1841 PARADE TRADE BANNERS OF THE MCMA FIND A NEW HOME IN PORTLAND MAINE

The question of the 1841 Banners staying as a complete collection in Portland was answered by Maine Historical Society and a consortium of supporting museums, Thursday Aug.26,2010.The MHS team won the bids on all seventeen and when the whole collection was tallied at $109,000 plus 10%, a starting bid of $120,000 was put to the floor for the opportunity to bid on the complete package of seventeen banners and there were no bidders to be found, so the MHS team will now be the care takers of the historic trade banners of the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association. There was a lot of smiling faces and applause after the final hammer.Congratulations to the MHS team on their hard work in a short timetable to be able to pull together to keep the collection here in Maine at a bargain price.Lot #2115-Pump&Blockmakers , Mast & Sparmakers,Ropemakers,Riggers and Sailmakers-"WE LAY the FOUNDATIONS of COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES" received the highest bid-$27,000

The H.H.Boody painting-hammer price of $34,000, unknown buyer.

LOT 2013 - ADDITIONAL NOTES DISCOVERED AFTER THE PRINTING OF THE CATALOG REGARDING THE DUNCAN MCFARLANE PAINTING Consigned by the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association - Research from the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine, indicates that the H.H. Boody was built in 1846 in Brunswick, Maine by Master Carpenter Samuel Dunning; 665 tons, 143í9î reg. length. There were several part owners of the H.H. Boody including Joseph Badger and Clement Skofield. Skofield was the shipís First Captian, followed by his brother Thomas. The H.H. Boody was built for trans-Atlantic trade and carried both passengers and cargo. The H.H. Boody had the same owners until 1861 when it went aground in Ireland. It was later condemned and sold. The ship was named after H. H. Boody who was a professor at Bowdoin College, Bowdoin, Maine. Of additional interest is the fact that the Maine Charitable Mechanic Associations member list indicates a Henry H. Boody as being a member as of July 11, 1816 whose trade was a Cordwainer and it was Henry H. Boody who actually donated this painting to the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association. Perhaps this member of the Association was a father, brother, etc. of Professor H.H. Boody.

MCMA AUGUST NEWS AND EVENTS

MCMA member Sally Trice’s daughter Dr.Laura Trice talks about her book at the MCMA library lunchtime book talk.

Thursday,Aug.5,2010-NOON

Bring your lunch, drinks & desserts provided FMI Call 773-8396

DR. LAURA TRICE

author of

The Wholesome Junk Food Cookbook:

More Than 100 Healthy Recipes for Everyday Snacking

Growing up in Portland, Maine, Laura spent much of her early years in the kitchen helping her mother, an avid cook devoted to preparing healthy, homecooked meals. Her mother's influence rubbed off, and when Trice went to work as a medic on the set of a television show, she'd bring her own healthy cookies and snacks for the rest of the crew. Their overwhelming response convinced her she could go into business selling what everyone wanted: healthy snacks made with all-natural ingredients that were just as delicious as any store bought confection. “If you're going to eat 'junk food' treats, this is what you should be eating,” says Dr. Dean Ornish, founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, “Slowly, mindfully, and with great pleasure.” Now Laura's brand of Wholesome Junk Food is available in stores nationwide.

For more information about Laura Trice, M.D., her cookbook, or her line of healthy snacks, visit www.lauraswholesomejunkfood.com

First Friday, August 5th our visiting artist will be Member Madeline Young-”Painting and Mixed Media” and will be on display during the month of August.

The 17 MCMA parade trade Banners of 1841, have left the Library and are now up for Auction and hope to generate some value for the future of the MCMA. They are being handled by James Julia of Fairfield Maine and can be viewed on his web site

Antique & Fine Arts Session 2 -Thursday,August 26,2010 at the Samoset Resort, Rockland ME.

Off-Season, Off-Shore

[Yet Another] Trap Day on Cliff Island

MCMA members Roger Berle & Lesley MacVane have taken their show on the road to Cundy Harbor and will be giving a talk there at 7:00pm August 21-a link to the gallery below

www.harborworksgallery.org

M.C.M.A. Quarterly meeting July 8th,2010

M.C.M.A.

NOTICE OF THE QUARTERLY MEETING

The regular Quarterly Meeting of the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association will be held on Thursday, July 8th, 2010 at 9:00 am in the library. The regular order of business, balloting, and any other matters of interest will take place.

If you have a friend, neighbor, or relative who might enjoy belonging to our organization, you can obtain an application at the library or you may request one from the library by calling 773-8396, during library hours-Tues.,Wed.,Thurs.,10:00 am to 3:00 pm and First friday of the month-5:00 to 8:00 pm.

The next meetings are October 7th, 2010 and January 6th, 20011

Thank you

George L. Smyth

Secretary

First friday artist July 2,2010 will be Barbara Holt, exhibiting watercolors and mixed media.

There is a rumor that MCMA members Lesley MacVane and Roger Berle are taking their exhibit -"Potraits & Essays of Cliff Island " on the road ?

Lunch Time Booktalk in the MCMA library,June 17,2010

JUNE 17 th lunchtime Booktalk with author Jeannine Lauber in the MCMA library at noon, bring your lunch, dessert and drinks provided.

Chosen Faith, Chosen Land

It was a Sunday service at Chosen Land, the Shaker community near Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester, that sparked broadcast journalist Jeannine Lauber’s interest in the history of the Shakers and their modern role in Maine. In the preface of her new book, Chosen Faith, Chosen Land: The Untold Story of America’s 21^st Century Shakers, she describes the feeling of change that she felt when attending that first service: even “the outside world looked slightly different through the antique panes of glass on the double-hung windows.” Raised as a Catholic, Lauber became a member of the Friends of Shakers, attending the church while not a Shaker herself. She became so close to the four Shakers who lived in the community at Chosen Land that one asked Lauber if she could do something to help stop the myths that she felt Ken Burns’ documentary Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God was perpetuating: “It’s full of mistakes and gives people the impression that there are no Shakers left, that our faith is dead.” Lauber’s consequent work in creating her own documentary Chosen Faith, Chosen Land convinced her that far from being dead, Shakerism had strong connections to “Postmodern” Christianity.

The MHC was one of Lauber’s early funders, and she has told us how critical the early grants were. In 2002, the MHC provided a $500 planning grant for Lauber to contact Shaker scholars and experts about their participation in a documentary film on the life and work of “Mother” Ann Lee, who founded the Shaker faith in 1774. In 2003, the MHC gave another grant, this time for $3,000, to support pre-production of the one-hour film. The MHC was proud to help fund this creative historical analysis.

Chosen Faith, Chosen Land, based on the 1816 Testimonies (Shaker journals from the 1830s to 1850s) and interviews with the four Shakers at Sabbathday Lake, is to be released in the fall of 2010. The film was different from other documentaries, Lauber said, through its examination of Shaker history through the eyes of its founder, Mother Ann Lee, and the voices telling that story were the voices of Shakers themselves.

Lauber, an Emmy-award-winning broadcast journalist who has worked as an anchor and an investigative reporter (winning an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2000), spent 15 years learning about the Shakers at Sabbathday Lake, an unprecedented opportunity to join in their lives. In her new book, Chosen Faith, Chosen Land, she shares a modern perspective of what it means to be a Shaker and live in a Shaker community, debunks common misconceptions, and explores how Shaker faith relates to today’s Christianity.

For more information on the book Chosen Faith, Chosen Land, to purchase it, or simply to peek inside, go to www.chosenfaithchosenland.com.

Trap Day:"Git'er Done" The Romance of the Lobstering Life?

Lesley MacVane & Roger Berle present Portraits and Essays of Cliff Island, Portland's most remote neighborhood in the MCMA library during the month of June.

Gone are the days of tediously and endlessly building and patching wooden lobster traps, knitting new “heads” for them, and dunking traps in a tank full of semi-toxic preservative. Today, the traps are all manufactured, vinyl coated steel. When purchased, they are essentially ready for their identification tags, their trawl lines and colorful buoys, and, eventually, to be baited and set asea. Each trap is a substantial investment; but now the balance tips from labor-intensive to capital-costly. The start-up cost can seem, or be, prohibitive. Even if passing that barrier, to succeed at this business requires a multiplicity of on-the-water skills, an understanding of the ocean and its bottom, considerable biological awareness, dogged persistence and courage, a handle on the unwritten rules of territories and protocol, and a thick skin. None of these show up in a promotional video clip of a sunny, blue-sky August day with a handsome lobster boat cutting neatly through a modest chop and a rugged-looking captain espying his next buoy. The vision of a Maine Lobsterman - or Lobsterwoman – has long since been projected around the globe as a most romantic way of life.

But winter, part of the lobstering off- season for most, is still a most critical component of succeeding at this business. You cannot expect to catch lobsters if all your gear, especially your boat, is not in shape and ready to go when the “bugs” strike in late June or early July. When Maine is cold, icy, gray, or wet, the work must be done. Outdoors, in a plastic shed, or even in your living room, you’ve got to “git ‘er done” or summer will surprise you and before you know it the word will go out over the VHF network that the lobsters are movin’ – and you’re not…

Bill O’Reilly is part of a traditional sea-faring and fishing family, the youngest sibling of his own generation. There have been many before him, but there is only one following his course to date. His is an endangered way of life. While there still appear to be plenty of lobsters on the bottom, the cost/revenue equation is out of balance; bait, fuel, and gear costs continually escalate while demand for the product is down significantly over the past couple of years. Summer’s soft-shell shedders do not keep or ship well and the poor economy has been very damaging to everyone in the system.

Over the years, Bill has converted a tiny fish house into a nice, cozy home at water’s edge, has bought a seaworthy vessel, made a living. He has survived rough waters, both on Casco Bay and on the shore. But he has been fortunate in that his family has owned a piece of shorefront Cliff Island for a good long while. Buying waterfront on the Maine Coast costs a bundle and real estate taxes are extremely high – driven by the demand for second-home property on the shore.

Nonetheless, Bill has found a way to survive......Lesley MacVane & Roger Berle

MCMA Library Events in May

First Friday Art Walk May 7th will feature Annie Finch reading from her poetry from 5-8pm.

Julie Langella's "CAT POWERS" exhibit of cats in chalk and photo will continue during May in the library.

Thursday May 13th Noon Time Book Talk, Nancy Pizzo Boucher will give a reading with discussion from her book "Getting My Night Vision". She will share her personal and poignant notes, essays and poetry about raising a child with a mental disorder. Bring your lunch, refreshments will be available.

MCMA member Ken Thompson, historian and local author has donated four of his books to the Mechanics' library.

- Portland Headlight and Fort Williams

- Civil War Commodores and Admirals

- Deceive to Win-The Maine-New Hampshire Border Controversy

- Civil War Maine Hall of Fame

APRIL EVENTS UPDATE,PORTLAND LIBRARY OPENING,MONDAY LECTURE AND POETRY READING

Thursday April 15th(tax day) the Portland Public library will be holding their grand opening after all of the rework that has been going on inside. I think people will be pleased with the exhibit of the MCMA inside the Portland room that will be on display for around 6 months, Librarian and archiver Abraham Schechter has done a wonderful job putting this display together and I hope you take the time to see it and the great improvements in the building. The watering girl will have a much deserved spot to greet people in the entrance from Market Square. Monday, April 19, the last lecture of the spring will be Portland photographer Doug Bruns. Photo journal stories and photo documentary from Portland and around the world. Doug will tell us"how to get a good photo and what does it take to get a good picture". It should be very interesting and different from past travel lectures. April is National poetry month and the library is fortunate to have Portland's Poet Laureate Steve Luttrell give a reading from his latest book"Home Movies". On Thursday April 22nd at noon, refreshments will be served ,bring your own lunch.