The General Henry Knox Museum is proud to announce that local philanthropist Doris Buffett will be the Museum’s 2010 gala honoree. The event will celebrate Buffett’s well-known philanthropic endeavors, both in the midcoast Maine area and across the country, through her Sunshine Lady Foundation. Her philosophy about giving, her childhood growing up with her world-famous investor brother Warren Buffett, and her intention to give away her entire fortune before she dies will all be the subject of an interview with WCSH’s anchor Rob Caldwell, conducted at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 29 on the stage of The Strand Theatre in Rockland, Maine. An intimate Gala dinner and reception will follow at 7:30 p.m. at Camden National Bank’s historic Spear Block location in Rockland.
Doris Buffett says she doesn't believe in a hand out, but rather a hand up. That means she wants to help people and programs that can use the charity to help themselves. So she funds programs to help prisoners get educated and readjusted into society, to rebuild the lives of battered women, to teach college students about philanthropy, to pay the medical expenses of those with birth defects and much more. She also calls herself a "retail philanthropist," meaning she evaluates individual requests.
Since Buffett purchased a summer home in the midcoast area in 2002, her largess has benefited many local organizations, including the Knox Museum. She initiated the Patriot Challenge in 2002, which raised over $200,000 for projects related to collections and building preservation, and since 2006 she has been the primary funder of the Knox Museum’s Summer Teacher Institute. Since its inception in 1996 the Sunshine Lady Foundation has awarded more than $50 million in grants.
Past Gala honorees have included Bob Schieffer in 2009, Cokie Roberts in 2008, Brian Lamb in 2007 and David McCullough in 2006.
A biography of Buffett, entitled Giving It All Away: The Doris Buffett Story, published in May 2010, will be available at the event. Proceeds from both The Strand event and the Gala will benefit the Museum’s education and preservation programs. Tickets for The Strand - $35 general admission, $25 museum members – will go on sale June 14. For more information call (207) 354-0858.
Dates: July 12-16 and July 19-23, 2010
The program of the Center for the Study of Early American History is pleased to announce the fifth Summer Teacher Institute at Montpelier: The General Henry Knox Museum. The focus will be on the founding documents of the nation and the curious period between the end of hostilities (1781~1783) and Washington’s first administration (1789-1797). Known either as the Confederation or the Early Republic, our General Henry Knox was a significant character as the country’s first Secretary of War.
Knox’s appointment to the first cabinet offered him great influence over Washington’s policies towards the Native Americans and is the subject of one seminar. Workshops led by visiting staff from the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Gilder Lehrman Institute will examine primary source documents from their rich collections. Sessions dedicated to classroom implementation on the schedule include strategies for using museums for integrated instruction and the “Choices” curriculum of role playing guides.
Teachers will stretch their legs exploring Maine’s historic sights. Field trips will go to the 1761 Pownalborough Court House, the Colburn House, and as far as Leonard Mills in Bradley, Maine. Technology and history intersect at a videoconference presented by the National Archives and Records Administration on teaching with documents and the significance of preserving and making available government documents. Our view, quite literally, of the Early Republic will be enhanced at the Osher Map Library while learning to teach with these extraordinary artifacts. This workshop is complimented by the exhibit panels “Mapping the Republic” on view at the Museum, provided by the Osher Map Library.
The program extends to our public audience for two evening lectures. Opening the program is Peter Henriques, author of Realistic Vision: A Portrait of George Washington (2006), setting the stage with "A Kind of Inevitable Necessity: George Washington and the Launching of the New United States Government." Later that week, Professor Woody Holton, a National Book Award Finalist for Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution (2007), will discuss his acclaimed new work Abigail Adams (2009).
This program is generously funded by the Sunshine Lady Foundation.
For more information contact: Sophia Mendoza, Education Coordinator, 207-354-0858, center@knoxmuseum.org
The Maine Friends of Music returns to The General Henry Knox Museum for their fifth concert in the Oval Room on July 7, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. The program will feature works by Vivaldi, J. S. Bach, Scarlatti, Telemann, Marcello and Mozart. The graceful Federal Period surroundings of Montpelier’s Oval Room will provide the perfect backdrop for the group’s eighteenth century repertoire.
The Maine Friends of Music began playing annual concerts of baroque music in the early 1990’s. Flutist Linda Brunner of Clarks Cove holds a Master’s degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and a flute teaching position at the University of Maine in Orono. Keyboardist Sean Fleming of Rockland serves as organist at St. Andrew’s Church in Newcastle and has performed in venues all over the state including Bates, Bowdoin and Colby Colleges, as well as the Round Top Center for the Arts. Violist Katharine Gerson DeBolt and bassoonist David DeBolt, Maine summer residents have both enjoyed careers with the Kansas City Philharmonic. David is also on the music faculty at Kent State University.
Admission is $12 for museum members, $15 for non-members, and $8 for students. Please note that like many Federal Period buildings, we regret that Montpelier is not currently handicapped accessible. Reservations are required so please register in advance. For more information please call The General Henry Knox Museum (207) 354-8062 or email info@knoxmuseum.org.
Maps of the United States of America made after 1790 by American map makers embodied a basic conflict in how Americans understood and conceptualized the republic. According to the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the republic comprised “one People” united in their opposition to British tyranny; this federalist concept would underpin the ideology of Manifest Destiny and the republic’s Westward expansion. Yet according to the Constitution, which took effect in 1789, the republic comprised less a union and more a collection of sovereign and autonomous states; this alternative concept would underpin the issue of “states’ rights” and the Civil War (1861-1865).
This exhibition explores these concepts and their political ramifications by means of early American maps found in schools, public offices, and private homes. It then examines the tension between these spatial and political conceptions, revealed in a variety of maps and atlases made by both commercial companies and government agencies: geographical gazetteers and atlases from the early republic. Of course, the conflict persists to this day: even though we understand the United States to be a single entity, as represented by the weather maps of U.S.A. today, we still expect Rand McNally and other publishers to organize their road atlases by individual states.
Drawing from a selection of panels offered in a traveling exhibit by the Osher Map Library at the University of Southern Maine, this exhibit enhances the visitor’s experience and understanding of General Knox’s life and times. The presentation also supports our educational mission in two specific ways. First, local school groups touring the mansion use these examples of early American maps help to interpret social and political themes of the period. The second application is for the participants of the Summer Teacher Institute. The group will take a field trip to the Osher Map Library to understand how to incorporate unique artifacts, such as maps, into a curriculum. Having this exhibit available to the teachers will reinforce this discussion, while also applying the historical information on these particular examples to other seminar topics.
The Maine Community Heritage Project (MCHP), a partnership between the Maine Historical Society and Maine State Library, is an innovative program that promotes collaboration between local schools, historical societies, and public libraries through the exploration and celebration of local history.
In May of 2008, the Thomaston Historical Society, Thomaston Public Library, Georges Valley High School and the General Henry Knox Museum were chosen as one of the beta groups to create a town heritage web site, funded through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. After a year of intense research and writing, the site was unveiled in June of 2009.
To learn more about Thomaston's history and the project, see thomaston.mainememory.net.
The General Henry Knox Museum has been selected to participate in the Museum Assessment Program (MAP) of the American Association of Museums (AAM). Through guided self-study and on-site consultation with a museum professional, participation in MAP will help the Museum better serve the public.
Participant museums choose one of four categories for assessment: collections management, governance, institutional, and public dimension. The General Henry Knox Museum will take part in the public dimension assessment process, which considers the public’s perception, experience and involvement with the museum. The assessment will assist the Museum in effectively communicating with the public and help the museum identify and strengthen collaborations with other organizations around the country. It includes a review of all the ways in which the museum interacts with its audiences, including marketing, public relations, audience developments, and exhibitions.
Administered by AAM through a cooperative agreement with the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), MAP is an entirely self-motivated program; application to and participation in MAP is initiated by each local institution; and those accepted from among the dozens of annual applicants invest considerable human and institutional resources into the assessment. Of America’s estimated 17,500 museums, less than half of one percent participate in MAP each year.
Museums of all types, including art, history, science and technology, children’s, natural history, historic houses, nature centers, botanical gardens, and zoos participate in the program. “Choosing to be part of the MAP program is indicative of the commitment to civic involvement, public service and overall excellence on the part of The General Henry Knox Museum,” said Ford W. Bell, president of AAM. “Studies have shown America’s museums to be among the country’s most trusted and valued institutions. MAP is designed to make them even better.”
Since its creation in 1981, MAP has provided more than 5,000 assessments for 3,500 museums. Museums representing 37 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands have been accepted into the program this year. Further information about MAP is available at www.aam-us.org/museumresources/map/about.cfm. AAM is the only organization representing the nation’s entire museum community and has been dedicated to promoting excellence within the museum field for more than 100 years. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. To learn more about IMLS, visit www.imls.gov.
Teacher from summer institute completes quest.
The sixth grade at Warren Community School, working with the Warren Historical Society, the Knox-Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District, and The General Henry Knox Museum, recently developed and unveiled a community “quest” along the site of Warren’s lock and canal system developed by Henry Knox.
“Questing,” similar to the British pastime of letterboxing, is a process in which classrooms or other community groups design “treasure hunts” within the community. Using a series of clues and/or maps, quest creators direct those who follow the quest along a set path, teaching them about local history and environment along the way. At the end of the path, the “quester” must find a hidden treasure box with a logbook inside. Delia Clark, author of “Questing: A Guide to Creating Community Treasure Hunts” and presenter at the Knox Museum’s summer teacher institute, has developed very successful community questing programs in Vermont, and is hopeful that the concept will blossom in Maine as well.
The Knox Canal Quest, which starts at Payson Park on Route 90 in Warren, is an excellent way to explore a National Register of Historic Places site, while learning more about Knox’s involvement in the economic development of the local community. Those interested in following the quest can pick up the clues at Warren Community School, Lincoln’s Country Market, the Warren Historical Society, the Warren Free Library or on the Knox Museum’s web site, www.knoxmuseum.org.
Last spring, a chair said to have come from the original Montpelier came up for auction at a local auction house. Sadly, the museum had to pass up the opportunity to bid on it – the acquisitions fund held under $100 and the museum was not able to identify a donor to purchase it for the museum in the short amount of time before the auction.
Happily, the museum will not find itself in that position the next time an original Knox piece is on the auction block. This summer, museum friend Mary Alice Foster presented a $50,000 check to Development Committee Co-Chair Molly Kellogg to establish a real acquisitions fund. “I wanted to do something that would make a real difference to the museum,” noted Foster. And indeed, she did: Her generous donation will be used to reclaim Knox and Montpelier items, and is expected to make a huge impact on the development of Montpelier’s collections for years to come.
Anyone interested in donating to the Museum’s collection or the acquisitions fund should contact Ellen Dyer at (207) 354-0180 or archivist@knoxmuseum.org.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Rep. Tom Allen announced Monday that the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federally-funded grant-making agency, is awarding Museums for America grants totaling $365,863 to four Maine museums, including one in Thomaston.
The Peary MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College in Brunswick is receiving $109,238; the Yarmouth Historical Society is receiving $34,671; the Portland Museum of Art is receiving $142,720; and the General Henry Knox Museum in Thomaston is receiving $79,234.
“Maine’s museums are a crucial component of the state’s vibrant cultural life,” said Allen. “They connect us to our rich history and can play an important role in Maine’s public schools. I congratulate each of the recipients of this year’s Museums for America grants and thank them for their contributions to Maine’s communities.”
The General Henry Knox Museum is matching its IMLS grant with $79,666. To promote and support the teaching of history, the museum is establishing both the Center for the Study of Early American History and a collaboration among Midcoast Maine’s historical organizations and educators.
The Peary MacMillan Arctic Museum is matching the IMLS grant with $120,120. The museum is creating an exhibit, “Northward Over the Great Ice,” to commemorate the 100th anniversary of American explorer Robert Peary’s exploration of the North Pole. The exhibit plans call for an artifact-based interpretive exhibit, placing Peary’s work and that of his American and Inuit crews in social and technological context. The grant funds will support the interpretive and outreach components of the exhibition.
The Yarmouth Historical Society, which is providing matching funds of $34,961 to its IMLS grant, is hiring a professional museum educator. The educator will meet with community groups and school representatives to discuss educational needs, develop public presentations, organize volunteers and plan for future programming and exhibits.
The Portland Museum of Art is providing matching funds of $144,518 to its IMLS grant for exterior signage, an exterior way finding system, improved seating and added in-gallery interpretive tools.
Montpelier,
the General Henry Knox Museum, is about to take a significant first
step in implementing a Long-Range Capital Improvements Plan at its
prominent site at the intersection of Routes 1 and 131 south.
A $230,000 anonymous grant will make possible a relocated entrance
to the property, installation of period cannons and two flagpoles;
a paved parking area for 30 vehicles; walking paths, new landscaping,
lighting and educational markers; and restoration of the original
east elevation porch of Montpelier, providing for a visitors' entrance
on the main level of the building. Work will begin soon and is expected
to be completed by July. Engineering and surveying work is by the
Rockport firm of Gartley & Dorsky.
The educational markers will be modeled after those used for Thomaston's
Museum in the Streets, a creation of Patrick Cardon, the museum's
co-vice chairman. He has been a primary contributor to the development
of the long-range plan.
Overseeing the project is Herb Duncan of Rockport, a retired architect
and a member of the Museum's Development Committee. "We want
to build up interest in that big house, where it often looks like
nobody's home," he said.
This work is a prelude to more expansive--and more expensive--work.
The showpiece of the Long-Range Plan will be the reconstruction of
the North Parish Meeting House, to serve as the museum's visitor and
education center. Knox helped pay for the original meeting house,
erected in 1796 and razed in the 1960s. Renny Stackpole, former museum
chairman and trustee and now leading the museum's new Center for the
Study of Early American History, said the rebirth of the meeting house
in a location very close to the original, where Knox himself worshiped,
would honor the town's past as well as provide space for exhibits,
programming, a research library, a gift shop, meeting space and offices.
The exterior of the Meeting House, as viewed from Route 131, will
replicate the old building, and there will be a small contemporary
foyer at the back, close to the parking area. Plans even call for
re-mounting the meeting house's original Paul Revere bell in the rebuilt
steeple. The building's interior will be very different, of course,
and designed for new uses. Phase II of the Long-Range Plan, projected
to take as long as nine years, are gardens, including one designed
(but never built) by the office of Frederick Law Olmsted for the re-created
Montpelier, a Revolutionary War encampment site, an armory; a General's
Store; extensive site-wide landscaping, and a maintenance building.
Trustees hope this spring's project of improving the site's appearance
and access will increase visitor traffic and have a positive impact
generally. "Implementing this first phase is the linchpin for
everything else in the long-range plan," Duncan said. "We
have to build up the interest base." Montpelier opened in 1931,
the result of hard work by townsfolk and the local chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution and the generosity of publishing
magnate Cyrus H.K. Curtis. The building is a reconstruction of the
one built in 1794 by Knox, Revolutionary War hero and the country's
first Secretary of War, at the base of Knox Street on the banks of
the St. George River. Knox Street, in fact, was Knox's driveway. His
local business endeavors, which provided employment for many local
residents, included real estate, farming, brick making, lime quarrying,
shipping and road building. His fame, his wife's wealth and District
of Maine connection (her family owned 570,000 acres, the Waldo Patent),
and his robust, outgoing personality gave him what today might be
called a host-of-the-Midcoast reputation. He died in 1806, at the
age of 56. The original Montpelier deteriorated and was razed in 1871,
making way for the railroad; only one of its original outbuildings
is extant, now the home of the Thomaston Historical Society.
Duncan said the motivation for his recent involvement with Montpelier
was, in fact, the story of the building's history. Long active in
historic restoration in Missouri, he said he had never heard of a
historic building being reconstructed in such a way. "It's such
a wonderfully bizarre story that the current Montpelier is even there.
It's a huge credit to Thomaston that the people thought enough of
their own history to recreate the building. I'd never heard of anything
quite like it," he said.
Before moving to Rockport full time three years ago, Duncan was a
part-time resident. Like many, he said, he drove past Montpelier year
after year, put off by its majesty and the surrounding austerity,
never stopping. That prevailing sentiment is in the introduction to
the long-range plan: "It is impossible to miss Montpelier on
its high hill when a visitor drives north on U.S. Route 1. Unfortunately,
this historic building appears to have no life and no visible activity.
There is no appeal except the classic look of a period exterior to
encourage anyone to stop, visit and to appreciate the full impact
of a very special place."
Numbers bear this out. Visitor numbers at the Farnsworth Art Museum
in Rockland and the Owls Head Transportation Museum, major Midcoast
destinations, far surpass those at Montpelier, The General Henry Knox
Museum. In an effort to help get the word out, the museum has become
a partner at the Gateway Center on Park Drive in Rockland, home of
the Maine Lighthouse Museum and the Maine Discovery Center, which
highlights area attractions. "We know there is huge potential
at Montpelier, and implementing the long-range plan should help us
realize it," Stackpole said. Museum officials have consulted
with Earle G. Shettleworth Jr., director of the Maine Historic Preservation
Commission and also the state's official historian, about their ideas
for the site. "I am excited about the plans to continue the restoration
of The General Henry Knox Museum as well as to make significant improvements
to the grounds," he said.
For decades the Knox Memorial Association and then the state operated
the museum. The Friends of Montpelier took over that function in the
1980s and acquired ownership in 1999. In the last five years, the
positions of museum manager and curator and education director have
been created and filled. Volunteers continue to be the backbone of
the organization, serving as docents, clerks in the gift shop, and
planners and participants in an increasing number of events. In 2002
a tradition of significant giving to the museum was established with
a challenge grant from the Sunshine Lady Foundation led by Doris Buffett
of Camden and Rockport.
Last year, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough's bestseller
"1776," which highlighted Knox's leadership and heroism,
friendship with George Washington, and important national role, was
a boost for the museum. McCullough, a seasonal area resident, presented
a talk at Montpelier in July and then recorded an interview with C-SPAN's
Brian Lamb in the museum's Oval Room, providing national exposure
for the site. The popular historian subsequently inspired Montpelier's
new Center for the Study of Early American History, an endeavor made
possible by financial support from Buffett. The center's first training
institute for Maine teachers of history, in which McCullough will
participate, will be based July 18-28 in a tent on Montpelier's spacious
lawn, highlighting the site's new improvements and the potential represented
in the long-range plan.
Molly Kellogg, the museum's other co-vice chairman, said great strides
have been made in the past several years. "The annual budget
has roughly doubled, the museum is active year-round, with two regular
staff including a professional curator, and it is now a platform for
a high-quality educational program guided by David McCullough. Programming
has increased dramatically, and the grounds are scheduled for a huge
improvement thanks to the anonymous grant." Further, she said
she hopes the work this spring will lead to interest from other donors
who will see the need to support the goals of the long-range plan.
"For the state, and even for the country, Montpelier is a much
needed center for historical awareness, sadly lacking in today's culture.
The museum serves as a reminder of our origins and roots, and the
high ideals that should still govern both our public affairs and private
standards of living and conduct. For the area, and for Thomaston,
an enhanced Montpelier will tie together the historical connections
that created and account for the architectural beauty and achievement
of this coastal region, and its future potential."
For further information about the long-range plan or the museum, contact
Susan Rowling, museum manager, at 354-8062, or Ellen Dyer, curator
and education director, at 354-0180.
The
newly restored Thomaston Cavalry Banner, on display at Montpelier,
the Gen. Henry Knox Museum, since July 2005, is attracting some national
attention.
An article by Ellen Dyer, museum curator and education director, about
the colorful, hand-painted, 32-inch-by-35-inch silk appeared in "Sweet
Land of Liberty," the catalog of the 51st Washington Antiques
Show, held Jan. 5-8 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in the nation's capital.
The event is a benefit for the Charities of the Thrift Shop and attracts
high-end dealers and thousands of shoppers eager both for important
objects and education.
Each year's show has a theme from which a catalog is developed. Catalog
editor Cynthia Redick had learned of the banner from museum trustee
Molly Kellogg, who splits her year between Thomaston and Washington.
"Redick saw the graphic of the banner and thought it fit in nicely
with the liberty theme, and asked me to write an article for the catalog,"
Dyer said.
Subtitled "Images of America in the Arts of the New Republic,"
the catalog's other articles include those about silversmith and patriot
Paul Revere, American schoolgirl art, and objects associated with
George Washington.
The Thomaston Cavalry Banner was presented by the Lady Knox Chapter
of the Daughters of the American Revolution to the Knox Memorial Association
in 1932, shortly after Montpelier opened. The mansion is a replica
of the one that Knox, Revolutionary War hero and the nation's first
secretary of war, had built on the banks of the St. George River in
1794. The provenance of the fragile silk was not documented but the
DAR believed it to be significant.
"With his background and interest in military matters, Henry
Knox had been a firm supporter of militia groups, and through his
efforts militia companies had been organized in the Thomaston area,
including the Thomaston Cavalry," Dyer writes. "The cavalry
marched at his funeral in 1806, and, according to legend, carried
the Thomaston Cavalry color."
or decades the banner was exhibited at Montpelier, inadequately framed
and with its reverse side obscured. It was considered an important
piece of history but something of a mystery. In 1983, dirty, brittle
and sun-damaged, it was retired from public view, awaiting the funding
that would allow proper conservation and expert evaluation. Interest
in the banner was renewed a few years ago and two conflicting theories
about its origin were advanced. One dates it to the 1820s, with the
artist being Maine landscape painter Charles Codman. The other supports
the legend that it indeed may have been carried in the Knox funeral
procession and that it was painted by Codman's teacher, John Ritto
Penniman.
n the article, Dyer carefully examines both theories and cites the
experts. Although part of the banner's mystery remains, Dyer said
her greatest joy is that the graceful artifact has been restored and
is again on display, in accordance with proper museum practices today.
Dyer calls it "one of the most treasured objects in the collection
of the General Henry Knox Museum." Images of Knox and the banner
accompany the article.
yer, who has been with the museum since 2003 and is responsible for
the development of its first collections catalog, attended the antiques
show and a keynote lecture by "Antiques Roadshow" regular
Leigh Keno on "New Discoveries in the Marketplace." In addition,
she spent several hours at the Library of Congress examining a 1796
account book belonging to Henry Knox, and visited the Anderson House,
home of the Society of the Cincinnati (founded by Knox), meeting with
the library director and discussing ways for the two historic sites
to collaborate.
The Henry Knox Museum has limited public hours during the winter but
gears up for tours and educational activity in the spring. For more
information, call Dyer at 354-0180.
The General Henry Knox Museum is proud to announce the publication
of the Museum's first collections catalogue. Entitled Montpelier:
This Spot So Sacred To A Name So Great, the catalogue presents highlights
from the museum's significant collection of Federal Period furnishings.
It was officially unveiled to great acclaimation at gala on July 23,
2004 with 130 people in attendance.
The catalogue project began in the fall of 2002, when Doris Buffett
of the Sunshine Lady Foundation approached the Friends of Montpelier
and initiated the Patriot Challenge, in which her foundation matched
$100,000 raised by the museum for preservation and registration projects.
High on the list of Montpelier's priorities was better documentation
of its collections, and the published catalogue showcases the eighteen
months of research completed by archivist Ellen Dyer, hired for the
project. Objects included in the catalogue range from silver to Society
of the Cincinnati China trade porcelain to furniture to period wallpaper
and building parts. Significant support for the catalogue was also
provided by the MBNA Foundation and a research fellowship from Winterthur
Museum, Garden and Library. The Maine Historical Society, where Knox's
financial papers reside, provided significant assistance.
Collections Catalogue Preview
The full-color catalogue is available through Montpelier's gift
shop.
The Thomaston Cavalry was one of two local militia units started
by the patriot Major General Henry Knox, following his retirement
to the province of Maine after serving as George Washington's chief
of artillery in the American Revolution, and as the nation's first
Secretary of War. Evidence indicates that the cavalry was formally
organized about 1800-1801, and according to local historian Cyrus
Eaton, the cavalry marched in Knox's funeral procession in 1806.
This
thirty inch square painted silk banner, bearing the name of the Thomaston
Cavalry, was donated to Montpelier, the General Henry Knox Museum
by a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in
1932. In accordance with museum practice at the time, the banner was
prepared for display by mounting it to a board and framing it. This
has made the banner a bit of a mystery to those in the present.
There are two distinct schools of thought on who painted this banner
and when: According to David Martucci, past-president of the North
American Vexillological Association, there are several reasons to
believe that the banner was made ca. 1800. The size of the flag, and
its color and design, conform in some detail to that specified by
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1786 (under whose auspices local
militias would have been formed before Maine became a state in 1820).
Furthermore, the shield on the banner has 15 stripes, the number that
would have commonly appeared on a flag of this type between 1792 and
1796—after Kentucky's admission as the fifteenth state of the
union, but before Tennessee's admission as the sixteenth. Finally,
the 1799 Thomaston Town Meeting appropriated $200 for flags for its
militia companies. "You have to understand how unusual this is,"
states Martucci. "The Commonwealth supplied flags to the regular
militia companies at no cost to the towns. At this time, Thomaston
fielded five militia companies, three regular State Militia Companies
and two 'elite' units—the Thomaston Artillery and the Thomaston
Cavalry—which were armed and accoutered solely by local funds."
Although unstated, Martucci believes the appropriation was for the
benefit of the two elite militia units.
Earle Shettleworth, Director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission,
and expert on Portland Maine's celebrated landscape painter Charles
Codman, associates the banner's style of painting with Codman, who
began working in the 1820s.-Codman is certainly on record as having
painted a number of banners for Maine military companies. The Maine
State Museum houses a military banner for the Kennebec Guards, painted
by Codman, that has a similar floral motif and eagle. Even allowing
for an 1820s date, however, the Knox Museum's Thomaston Cavalry Banner
is one of the oldest extant banners for a Maine militia group, probably
rivaled only by a fragment of an 1822 banner at the Maine State Museum
and a 1745 banner at the Smithsonian. It is one of only a handful
of US military banners that survive from such an early date.
Montpelier is hoping to unravel the mystery of the flag's origins
during the 2004-2005 winter season by revealing its hidden side. Most
banners of that period were painted on both sides, and the board on
which this one is mounted may be concealing the Massachusetts Arms,
elements of the Maine seal, an artist's signature, or even a date—any
of which would be clues to its origin. Because of its fragile condition,
the banner has been in deep storage at the Maine State Museum's conservation
lab since the mid 1980s. However, the Henry Knox Museum's recent Patriot
Challenge to raise funds for conservation projects, and a generous
grant from the MBNA Foundation, have provided the means for Spicer
Art Conservation, LLC in Delmar, NY to begin work on stabilizing the
banner, removing the board, and answering some of the questions. More
important than solving this mystery, however, is the fact that an
important relic of Maine's history, so closely associated with one
of the country's founding fathers, will be returning to its community
and to the public after two decades of being hidden away.
MEDIA & PHOTOGRAPHY REQUESTS
All requests for interviews, photography, or filming must be submitted
to:
Susan H. Edmands
Manager of Operations and Volunteersr
Montpelier, The General Henry Knox Museum
PO Box 326
Thomaston, ME 04861
Media calls:
Tel: (207) 354-8062
Fax: (207) 354-3501
Email: info@knoxmuseum.org
