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The Portland Room, located on the 3rd level of the
Main Library, was designed to house the
Library's special collections. The materials represent the
Portland Public Library's rich heritage and longstanding
commitment to excellence.
Special collections
materials must be used onsite. The Portland Room is available for
use by all library patrons seeking a quiet area to study.
The collections include
rare books (the earliest was printed in 1540), Maine newspapers,
maps, photographs, broadsides, and other ephemera. In the 19th and
early 20th centuries, Portland was an important printing and
publishing center, a fact well-illustrated by the Portland Room's
impressive collections of works printed by Portland's famous Anthoensen
Press and Thomas B. Mosher Press, both of
which enjoyed international reputations for fine printing.
The Portland Room also offers
the Maine News Index and Jordan Index of Maine newspaper abstracts dating back to the
1780s. Portland Room
staff are available for research assistance at 871-1700 x747 or portlandroom@portland.lib.me.us.
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Portland
Room
Special Collections |
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Maine Collection
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Children's Collection | Willis Collection
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Mosher
Collection
Southworth-Anthoensen Collection | Baxter
Collection | Maine News Index
search the catalog
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| Maine
Collection |
The Maine
Collection is the largest special collection housed in the
Portland Room. It contains both current and early materials
related to Maine by subject, author, or publisher. Items of
special interest include town histories, vital records,
newspapers, Portland city directories from 1823 to present,
works on Maine art and artists, Maine music, and books
produced by a variety of small presses. The collection also
includes strong holdings of Maine biographies, as well as literary works
by such famous Mainers as poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Edwin Arlington Robinson; and
authors Stephen King, Monica Wood, Cathy Pelletier, and others.
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| Children's
Special Collection |
This collection
contains over 500 classic children's books, most of which
were published in the 19th- and early 20th-centuries. These
books provide an overview of the subject matter and many are
beautifully illustrated by notable artists Arthur
Rackman, N.C. Wyeth, C.E. Brook, Kate Greenaway, and others.
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| William
Willis Collection |
The William
Willis Collection is considered one of the great personal libraries of 19th-century New England. William Willis (1794-1870) was an
attorney, historian, and mayor of Portland. He wrote what
continues to be an important history of Portland. This
extraordinary collection contains over 4,100 works on
history, religion, literature, and other subjects, the
earliest of which was published in 1620. Important items
include political pamphlets, religious tracts, periodicals,
and almanacs. Of special note is Willis' personal
four-volume diary covering the period 1844-1870. This
unpublished treasure is a valuable primary source of
information about 19th-century Portland.
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| Thomas Bird Mosher
Collection |
Know
as the "Pirate of Portland," Thomas Bird Mosher
(1852-1923) simultaneously enjoyed a notorious reputation
for his disregard of copyright conventions and a
distinguished reputation for the design and fine quality of
the literary works he produced. The Mosher collection
contains more than 500 works produced by the Mosher Press.
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| Anthoensen
Collection |
The Anthoensen
Press had its foundation in the Southworth Press which was
established in 1875 to print tracts for mariners who came to
Portland when the city was a major port. In later years, the
Press became the Southworth Anthoensen Press, and finally
the Anthoensen Press when Fred Anthoensen (1882-1969), who
had gone to work at Southworth in 1905, became sole owner.
The press had an international reputation
for fine printing and served the printing needs of learned institutions
such as Harvard, Yale, Bowdoin, the Boston Athenaeum,
Peabody Museum, and the Massachusetts Historical Society.
When the Press ceased operations in 1987, its office
collection was donated to the Portland Room, forming the core of
Southworth-Anthoensen materials now housed here.
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| James
P. Baxter Collection |
This
collection consists largely of historical works that were
either written or edited by James Phinney Baxter
(1831-1921), a noted Portland businessman, historian, civic
leader, and benefactor of this library. Once part of
Baxter's personal library, these more than 100 books are handsomely bound
in leather and are interesting for the numerous maps,
portraits, engravings, and letters he interleaved and bound
in them.
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Maine
News Index |
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the Maine News Index is actually part of the Maine
Collection, it deserves special note. This extraordinary database of
Maine newspaper and magazine abstracts has been maintained by
the library staff from 1945 to the present. Abstracts
are available in a card file in the Portland Room.
The Maine
News Index Online
is now available
including the more recent abstracts from the following
periodicals:
- Biz (1995-1997)
- Casco Bay Weekly
(1992-2002)
- Down East (1993-present)
- Evening Express
(misc.)
- Island Journal
(1984-present)
- Maine Sunday
Telegram (1993-2004)
- Maine Times (1993-2002)
- Mainebiz (1998-present)
- Portland Evening
Express (misc.)
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- Portland Monthly
(1988-present)
- Portland Phoenix
(1999
-present)
- Portland Press
Herald (1993-2004)
- Portland Sunday
Telegram (misc.)
- Profile (1992-1995)
- Salt (1974-present)
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The Maine News
Index is complemented by the Jordan Index which
contains abstracts from Maine newspapers covering 1784-1845.
Many recent Maine newspaper articles now also appear in
full-text in the Maine
Newsstand database available through Maine's Virtual
Library.
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Search
for Portland Room items in our catalog
We are very grateful for a
recently completed Maine State Library Maine Infonet grant
which now allows you to search for over 17,500 additional
Portland Room items in our online catalog.
To locate Portland Room
materials online:
- search our catalog
by author, title, or keyword
- click on the
button at the top or bottom of your results screen
- select
Portland Room
from the WHERE
item is located
drop down list
Search
for Maine photographs, documents and archives through the
Maine Memory Network
The
Maine Memory Network, a project of the Maine Historical
Society, is a statewide digital museum that provides
unprecedented access to over 10,000 historical items from
over 160 museums, historical societies, libraries, and other
organizations from every corner of Maine.
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