Times Record previews bicentennial talk by Riordan Feb. 8

The Times Record previewed a free Feb. 8 presentation by Liam Riordan, a professor of history at the University of Maine, on the roots of statehood in advance of Maine’s bicentennial in 2020. Riordan will speak at 6:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Brunswick. According to the article, “Bicentennial Beginnings: Setting the Stage for Statehood” will explore four issues that affected the separation of Maine from Massachusetts in 1820 and Maine’s history since: sharp partisan conflict and the “two Maines”; race, slavery and the Maine-Missouri crisis; Wabanaki sovereignty; and the international border between Maine and Canada. The talk is co-sponsored by the Pejepscot Historical Society and the Longfellow Days program, a monthlong event series in Brunswick honoring Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose family had close ties to the origins of Maine statehood. Riordan helped create UMaine’s McGillicuddy Humanities Center in 2010 and was instrumental in bringing Maine National History Day to the UMaine campus, the article states. He currently is organizing a public conference to commemorate the bicentennial May 31–June 1 at UMaine; more information about the conference is online. The Forecaster also mentioned Riordan’s talk in an article about Brunswick’s Longfellow Days.