Maine Edge interviews Riordan ahead of Maine Statehood and Bicentennial Conference
The Maine Edge spoke with Liam Riordan, history professor at the University of Maine, about the Maine Statehood and Bicentennial Conference being held at UMaine May 30–June 1. The conference, which is one of several events across the state to mark Maine’s 200th birthday in 2020, will feature a series of events, panels, presentations and concerts celebrating the unique history of Maine, its peoples, culture, politics, art and music. Riordan, one of the primary conference organizers, spoke about putting together the event. “The fun part is thinking about the themes to explore and what individuals to contact as potential presenters. It was a huge boost that Pulitzer Prize-winning historians Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Alan Taylor agreed to be our keynote speakers very early in the process,” he said. UMaine also will host the Maine History Festival 2:30–4:30 p.m. May 31 at the Collins Center for the Arts. Something most people don’t know about Maine’s journey to and through statehood, according to Riordan, is that it was a tough decision and took a long time. “Today it seems natural that Maine would be its own state, but the process began in the 1780s and it took six popular votes from 1792 to 1819 (and then a big national controversy with the forced pairing of Maine statehood to Missouri) for it to actually occur,” he said. “I think it’s helpful to think about the Maine independence process as somewhat parallel to Brexit today.”