2008 INTERN PROPOSAL

PROGRAM PURPOSE

To provide curatorial services to the Union Historical Society and to provide curatorial experience to an undergraduate or graduate student majoring in history or museum studies by engaging the student in a summer intern program.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The intern will work both independently and with the curatorial staff of Union Historical Society to:

catalog and store items belonging to the Society (artifacts, documents, photographs etc.) according to professional standards.
create theme displays using historical materials owned by the Society.
answer general inquiries from the public at the Society's headquarters at public events hosted by the Society.
assist in the planning and implementation of programs and public events hosted by the Society.

The program proposes that the intern will work for 40 hours weekly, Tuesday- Saturday. The time period will be agreed upon.

UNION HISTORICAL SOCIETY PROVIDES

Housing and meals in a home in Union.
An honorarium of $100 per week, and $200 as a food allowance
All archival supplies and storage materials needed.
All display materials needed.
Mentoring by curatorial staff.
Encouragement, support and a warm welcome.

STUDENT INTERN PROVIDES

Personal transportation
Self-starting motivation and good work ethic.
Eagerness to learn
Readiness to share prior experiences and knowledge.

CONDITIONS

A non-smoking intern is preferred. Smoking is not permitted in the Society's buildings nor in the home.
There is a pet in the home.
The intern may stay at the residence during the Sunday-Monday ''weekends'' or may leave, as desired.
Union Historical Society members will include the intern in community events, family activities, and local recreational opportunities, to the extent desired by the intern.
Union Historical Society members will introduce the intern to the local area and to local museums and places of historical interest, to the extent desired by the intern.
Opportunities will be afforded for the intern to meet and work with the intern who will be working at Union's Matthews Museum of Maine Heritage.

PROGRAM BENEFITS

To Union Historical Society

identification and cataloging of historical materials, photographs and artifacts owned by the Society.
professional labeling, packaging and storage of such items in the Society's Archival Storage Room.
assistance in responding to inquiries from the public during open hours at the Robbins House, Union Historical Society's headquarters.
assistance in designing and creating displays of Union Historical Society materials.
assistance in planning and putting on a multi-organization community event with a strong historical component (Union's Founders Day).

To Student Intern

vocational experience in electronic and paper cataloging.
vocational experience in storage of historical materials.
vocational experience in general curatorial duties involving interactions with the public.
vocational experience in design and creation of historical theme displays.
vocational experience in planning and organization a community historical event.
a pleasant summer break in a delightful rural Maine community.

ABOUT UNION HISTORICAL SOCIETY

THE MISSION OF THE UNION HISTORICAL SOCIETY is to promote interest in and knowledge about history in general and the history of Union, Maine, in particular, through public programs and through preservation and display of documents, artifacts, archives, buildings and published materials.

Founded in 1974, the Society is a private non-profit corporation with an all-volunteer board of directors consisting of president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, assistant treasurer, curator and six trustees, who are assisted by members of the following standing committees: finance, membership, program, publicity, hospitality, newsletter, Robbins House, Town House, library liaison, Matthews Museum liaison, Chamber of Commerce representative, and web site manager.

Union Historical Society owns and maintains three properties:

The Robbins House on Union Common. This 1840 building is the Society's headquarters. Part of the building is rented to the Vose Library, Union's public library.
The Old Town House. Also dating from 1840, this is the town's original public meetinghouse and is listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.
Cobb's Ledge. Open space in the center of town which served as a military lookout from the Revolutionary War to World War II.

Union Historical Society has approximately 180 active members, business and individual. The Society maintains a high level of activity and visibility in the community, offering programs of historical interest at 7:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month from March through December. These free programs, with a speaker on a topic of historical interest, attract an audience of 40 to 60 persons. The Society is a prime mover in the organization of the town's annual Founders Day which is held on the Saturday nearest to July 19. On that occasion the Society offers some or all of the following activities: information and sales booth on the Common; open house at the Robbins House; tours of local homes of historical interest; narrated bus tours of the sites where the homes of the first settlers were located; narrated canoe tours of early historic sites; strawberry shortcake served to visitors; showing of a silent movie with live piano accompaniment at the Old Town House.

The Curator opens the Robbins House to the public on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, when the curatorial staff is available to field enquiries from the general public. During those hours the curatorial staff also work on accessioning, sorting and cataloging items in the Society's collection.

ABOUT THE TOWN OF UNION

Situated at the junction of Routes 17, 131 and 235 about 15 miles inland from Rockland, Union is a rural community located in a countryside of rolling fields and woods, well watered with lakes and rivers. Present population is about 2,300. Farming (dairy, vegetable and blueberry) and service businesses form the basis of the economy. Many residents commute to work in the coastal towns or in the state capital of Augusta. The town is centered around Union Common, reputed to be the oldest public common in Maine.

The town was first settled in 1774. Its early history was recorded by John Langdon Sibley, a native son of Union and librarian of Harvard University, who published "Sibley's History of Union" in 1851. Using this and other material, in 1940 Ben Ames Williams wrote "Come Spring", a historical novel about the town's founding, based on the lives of members of the Philip Robbins family. This book has proved to be of enduring attraction and of great use to Union Historical Society's mission of promoting interest in and knowledge about history in general and Union history in particular.

Other historical entities in town are:

The Mathews Museum of Maine Heritage, an excellent collection of 18th and 19th century farm equipment, tools and kitchen utensils. The museum includes a fully furnished one-room schoolhouse used from 1864 to 1954, and collection of Moxie memorabilia.
Union School Museum, located in the Thompson Community Center, holds a small collection of memorabilia from Union schools.
Ebenezer Alden House, a privately owned 1797 residence built by one of the master carpenters who constructed Montpelier, the Thomaston mansion of Revolutionary War General Henry Knox. On the National Register of Historic Buildings.

Union has a wealth of pre-1840 structures - homes, barns and outbuildings - many of which are maintained to a high standard of historical accuracy.

MATERIALS (WILL BE SENT TO APPLICANTS)

Come Spring Heritage Trail brochure
Old Town House brochure
A Walk thru Union History brochure
Matthews Museum brochure
2008Union Historical Society program brochure
2008 Founders day program

RESOURCES

Society's web site: www.midcoast.com/comespring
Rockland-Thomaston Chamber of Commerce: www.therealmaine.com
Camden-Lincolnville Chamber of Commerce: www.camdenme.org
Sibley's History of Union, Maine by John Langdon Sibley
Come Spring by Ben Ames Williams
Horse and Buggy Days by Edwards Matthews (out of print)
Bridges to the Past by David Shaub and Ruth Shaw
200 Years in Union by Union Historical Society

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