Special Collections: Guide to the Barbara Dunn Hichner Papers

Collection title: Barbara Dunn Hitchner Papers
Collection number: MS 248
Dates of collection: 1790-1977
Size of collection: 29 boxes

Biography

Barbara Dunn Hitchner was born 4 March 1898 in Orono, Maine and was a graduate of the University of Maine, Class of 1920. She was the daughter of Chief Justice Charles J. Dunn and Isabel Ring Dunn and was married to E. Reeve Hitchner, a professor of bacteriology who headed the Department of Bacteriology and for whom Hitchner Hall is named. She was dedicated to her research of the history of Maine and the genealogy of many of the early families of the Penobscot Valley. She died 27 November 1993.

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains 20 boxes of materials organized in the following general categories: general historical background, personal materials, working notes, genealogy, Orono history, other historical categories, and notebooks. Orono history includes information on history, property and vital statistics, businesses, schools, churches, clubs, transportation, photographs, and original manuscripts. Other historical categories include lumber, railroads, military, Indians, and Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire materials.

The material in this collection appears to have been gathered at two distinct times. Materials that were saved in approximately twenty notebooks and carefully labeled were materials that were gathered in the 1960's and which had their own internal order. For that reason they were kept separate from the other materials and labeled as such. Notebooks include military, early towns in Maine and Massachusetts, Orono fire and police departments, churches, schools, lumbering, and genealogy.

Materials in the collection generally include newspaper clippings, original records and copies of original records, and notes from various sources. Genealogies also include Barbara Dunn Hitchner correspondence.

Note:

We wish to thank Mr. And Mrs. Arthur Jacobsen for their efforts in channeling the Barbara Dunn Hitchner Papers to the Special Collections Department, and for providing the means to make them ready for the use of those doing research. We also want to acknowledge the efforts of Mary Louise Hough who organized the papers and prepared the Inventory for their use.

Contents of Boxes

BOX 1686

Workbooks and References

Working notes are collected in blue books and notebooks. Also included are reference materials, including bibliographies and finding lists from archival collections

Bluebooks / notebooks

Miscellaneous resources

Genealogical resources

References

BOX 1687

Historical Background / Personal

Notes, articles, and newspaper clippings gathered under the following headings:

-Agriculture and livestock -Almanac -Amusements -Apprentices -Bicentennial -Blue Laws -Christmas -Clocks (Time-keeping) -Clothing -Crime -Daguerreotypes -Death -Dialect -Emigrations -England -Fishing -Fourth of July

-Great Northern Paper Company:      Organizational Chart.   Rev. 1968 -Health -Holidays -Homes and Furnishings -Illumination -Immigrants -Immigrants’ Names -Maine History -Marriage -Money -Pounds (Animal) -Poverty -Social Life: England -Social Life: Massachusetts Bay -Weather -White, Percia C. History Notes -Women

This box also includes a file of the following articles by Barbara Dunn Hitchner:

History of Our Town’s Name (rough draft). Written for the Youth Fellowship, 1954

History of Orono (untitled)

Maine’s First Railroad

A Day of Memorials

The Revolution of the Penobscot

A Brief History of Education in Orono

History of the National Guard and the Maine National Guard

A Brief History of Local Railroads

Early Schools in Orono

Early Years on the Stillwater River

Indians in the Revolutionary War

The Universalist Church of Orono, Maine

Revolution in Maine (untitled)

The Churches of Orono

Thomas Jefferson

Something About our Town Homes

Houses

British Forces Took Possession of Bangor During War of 1812

History of the Public Library of Orono

The Gold Rush

Historical Background of Orono

Antique Quilts and Coverlets

BOX 1688

Genealogy A-C

The following files contain a broad range of materials including original documents, copies of original documents, letters with members of the families, and notes from a broad variety of sources. The [*] asterisk indicates further material on the family may be found in the Notebook boxes. In addition to the following files is one titled “collective genealogy”. This includes notes and obituaries on individual and an article titled “Genealogy: One Sheet of Notes Each on Sixty Individuals.”

Abbott Allen, Anson Allen, Dr. William H. Atwell Averill, Moses Babcock Banks, Horace and Jacob Baxter, Dr. Elihu Beal Bennoch (2 files) Brainard Bradstreet                               [*] Brewer, Josiah Brown, Benjamin

Brown, Israel Buffam                                        [*] Burpee Bussell Butler, F.P. Cain, Barnard Chadwick Chase, Joseph Colburn, Jeremiah (3 files)         [*] Costigan Creighton Crombie Crosby, William C. Crowell Cunningham

 BOX 1689

Genealogy D-H

Dall Davis-Lot Dean, John Delanty Dracut Drummond Dudley Durgin Dyer Eaton Eayres (2 files)                         [*] Edes, Peter (Newspaper) Eddy, Jonathan Emery Engle, William Foster, Cony                             (a) Freese                                       [*] Frost, Nathan & Benjamin Fuller, Frederick Henry Gee Gilbert, Thomas                        (b)

Gilman, B.P. (Lumberman) Givens Goddard, John Godfrey Gould / Whitney Grant, Jason Greenough, John Hamblin, Levi Hamilton, Robert Hamlin, George Hammett, Maj. William Graves, Perez Harvey Heald Hichborn                                   [*] Hitchner Hill Hinkley, Noah Holland, Gee Holt Huddleston

These files include: an 1872 leather-bound notebook in code dedicated by Cony Foster to his son and an 1890 lumbering agreement

BOX 1690

Genealogy I-R

Inman, Joseph Jameson, Daniel & Betsy Jellison Joy, Hiram Kelly Kinney LaChance, Antoine Lewis Libby Longfellow Lord Lovejoy, Rev. Joseph Lunt, William Lyon, John McCrystle, Pat McKenney, Joseph McPheters McRuer, Daniel Madden, Owen Mayo, Gideon Mayo, John Mansfield, Edward Marsh                                     [*] Michaels Mosher Nason, Noah Nelson, Phillip

Nichols Noyes Oliver Orcutt Ordway                                 [*] Orcutt Owen Page Paine, Martha Park, Fred & James Parker Parsons, Budd         (Penobscot Boom) Perkins, John Perley, Dr. Daniel Perry, Deac. John Elijah Parson & Sherlock Plummer Powell Powers, Henry Ramsdell, William Raymond Read, John Read, David                           [*] Read Family Reeve Ring

 BOX 1691

Genealogy S-Z

Skelton Skinner, Dr. Elisha Sleeper Snow Southard Spencer                                   [*] Stockman Stratton Sutton Trip Tourtellote                              [*] Trafton Treat Van Meter, Henry Veazie, Samuel

Wadsworth Washburn Watson Weare Webster (3 files)                    [*] Weeks Weston, Nathan Weymouth Wheeler, Samuel White Whitham Whitney Wilson Williams, Joshua Woodbridge

 

BOX 1692

Orono:  General History

Amusements

Crime

Early History

Early Officers Duties

Boom: 1832-1837

Orono Calling Cards

Cemeteries: Lots and Gravestones

Cemeteries: Misc.

Doctors and Diseases

Early Settlements of Maine

Floods General History: Misc. Notes

Georgetown: First Settlers

Gold Rush

Orono Highway Tax

Journal Excerpts – Unidentified

Paupers

Pioneers: Misc. Notes

Police

Politics Nineteenth Century:

This includes correspondence with the Bangor Anti-Slavery Association, Whig Party papers, 1850, and a map of a Congress Land Claims committee with handwritten descriptions of the men who sat in particular spots.

Politics Twentieth Century

Public Library

Republican Registration Lists: 1960 and 1964

Skinner, Asahel, Letters Maine to Ohio (copies)

Skitikuk (Janie Michaels Reminiscences)

Taxes and Bonds

“This is Your Town”, a play about Orono

Town Government

Town Hall: This includes the minute book of the 1872 Committee on the Town Hall Minutes.

Town Records: This includes selectmen reports and report on the state election for 1846, an agreement with the overseer of the poor for 1857, a list of polls abated 1843, financial records, and more.

Town Records: Copies and Transcripts

Twentieth Century

Transition Period

1922 Misc. Newspaper Clippings

Regiments

BOX 1693

Orono:  Property and Vital Statistics

Blue Books: Vital Records

Orono Assessors Birth Returns (original)

Census Communications

“Census 1790-1830 Orono”

Census: Maine

Census: Orono

Deaths

Deeds (many original deeds are filed in genealogy files)

Estates to Study

Foreclosures

House lots

Land Titles

“Legal List of Voters 1869”

Map of Water Street, Undated (original)

Maps

Marriages

Misc. Statistics

Place Names and Town Locations

Tax Lists, 1831, 1856 (original)

Town Reports, 1888-1974 (misc. volumes)

BOX 1694

Orono:  Business: Files on businesses of Orono, including letters, receipts, ledgers, newspaper clippings, and corporate charters.

Abner Bailey & Co.

Aqueduct

Bangor Pulp and Paper

Banks: Misc.

Banks: Orono

Banks: Stillwater Canal

Bond, W.W.

Brickyard

Cant Dog Factory: Original Documents (receipts, patients, etc.)

Cant Dog Factory: Misc.

Crombie, R.M. (bills)

George H. Hamlin: Financial Records (2 files) Prof. Hamlin was involved at the end of the nineteenth century in many different financial ventures, including various mills, lumbering, etc. His letters, agreements, receipts, and cancelled checks are included in these files.

Hardware Ledger

Incorporations

Insurance

Merchants

Mills

Natural Resources

Orono Drug Company Minutes, 1907 (original)

Orono General Store, record of sales 1814 (original)

Orono Water Company

Match Factory

Penobscot Boom

Post Office and Telephone

Misc. Receipts and Accounts: Original and Copied

Edmund Ring Account Book, 1840 (original)

A.J. Ring Ledger (original)

Telos Dam

Webster and Pilsbury

BOX 1695

Orono:  Schools and University

Orono Schools:

“A Brief History of Education in Orono”: Preparatory notes

Articles by Barbara Dunn Hitchner

Notes

Original Documents (primarily financial records, receipts)

Photographs

Nineteenth Century

1950 to present

Misc. Schools: Original documents (receipts, letters, etc.)

Orono High School:

Billing Contract 1903 (original)

Class Reunion 1929

Class Reunion 1931

Comet, 1915 (several issues)

Union Academy

Includes “History of Union Academy” by Harry C.

Saunders, 1935

University of Maine

Alumni Association (misc. publications)

Commencement and other programs (original)

Financial Records

Misc. (including 1974 reminiscences of 1913-1914 by Dr. Robert Whitford)

Pictures

Newspaper Articles

Maine State College

Prophecy ‘81

Handwritten copy of original documents, 1863

“College Reporter” (misc. issues, 1877, 1878)

BOX 1696

Orono:  Churches

Anglican

Catholic

Church of Universal Fellowship

Congregational (3 files) Included in this file are numerous original documents, including receipts, letters, minutes, and account books. Also included is “History of First Congregational Church of Orono Compiled by G.M. Woodwell, January 15, 1906”.

Methodist

Misc. Church History

Quaker

Universalist

“An account of the Descendants of Rev. John Woodridge” 1883 (copied)

Newspaper clippings

Original documents: Nineteenth Century (including 1850 Ladies Aid Society Account Book, 1863 Annual Meeting Minutes)

Original documents: Twentieth Century (primarily official publications: programs, letters to members. Including a talk by Arthur a. Hauck on the tenth anniversary of the church, December 11, 1951.)

Parish Chronicle (several issues, 1890)

Programs

Woman’s Alliance

BOX 1697

Clubs / Transportation

Clubs:

Daughters of the American Revolution (including letters, minutes May 1962 – May 1964)

Daughters of the American Revolution: Good Citizen Award

Daughters of the American Revolution: National Kiwanis

First Ladies Literary Society (photograph with names)

Knights of Pythias

Maine Historical Society

Masonic Lodge

Misc. Clubs and Organizations

Misc. Clubs in Wisconsin (from Barbara Dunn Hitchner scrapbook)

Sesquicentennial: Public Committee Minutes, 1956

Temperance

Temperance: Hall of the Sons of Temperance Minutes, 1852 (original)

Orono’s Woman’s Banquet, 1917 (photograph with names)

Women’s Club

Transportation:

Bangor Bar Harbor Steamship Company, 1850-1890: Original documents

Bridges (including a map of the proposed changes for the Railroad Bridge in Orono, 1911)

Bridges: Proceedings of the First Proprietors of the Stillwater Bridge (original)

Canals: Stillwater and Telos (Including numerous original letters and financial documents)

Canals

Communication and Transportation

Ferry: Orono-Bradley

River Transportation

BOX 1698

Photographs / Misc. Documents

The approximately 50 photographs include matted and loose images of buildings and people. Some have been identified by BDH with attached post-it notes. In addition, this box includes close to 200 letters written to William C. Crosby, Esq., who served as lawyer and abolition organizer in Bangor in the mid-nineteenth century. It also includes seven leather wallets which hold an assortment of check stubs, financial records etc., including those of George T. Jenness and Frank Thayer (fruit seller in Portland).

BOX 1699

Lumber / Railroad

Lumber:

Lumber Business: Articles

Lumber Business: Excerpts from Nineteenth Century Newspapers

Lumber Business: Newspaper Clippings

Lumber Business: Original Documents

Railroad:

“Bangor and Aroostook, 1891-1966” (publication celebrating railroad’s 75^th year)

Bangor and Orono Railway (later, Penobscot Railway)

Bangor and Orono Railway: Original documents

Bangor Piscataquis Canal and Railroad (later, Bangor, Old Town, and Milford Railroad and then European and North American Railroad) (2 files)

Greenleaf, Moses: Excerpts from Survey Book

Blue Books

Notes

Misc. This file includes a railroad rail joint patent (original) and a report of the exploration survey for the board of the grand Southern Railway, 1874 (original).

BOX 1700

Military

Aroostook War

Civil War

Early Colonial Wars

Fort Pownal (including “Story of Penobscot Valley” by Pearl Vinal)

Maine Forts

Militia

Revolutionary Soldiers

Revolutionary War: copies of original documents

Revolutionary War: secondary accounts

“Revolution on the Penobscot”: Notes

War of 1812: Copies of original documents

War of 1812: Notes

War of 1812: Secondary accounts

Wars: Misc.

BOX 1701

Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire / Indians

Indians:

Copies of original documents concerning general background information

News clippings

Treaty involving Colburn and others (copy)

Land claims: News clippings

Notes

Chief Joseph Orono

Massachusetts Bay Colony: copies of original documents

Massachusetts Bay: copies of secondary sources

Massachusetts: Towns

Massachusetts: Copies of maps

New Hampshire: Copies of Original Documents

Maine:

“Index of Economic Material in Documents of the States of the United States” Maine, 1820-1904

Copies of original documents and secondary sources

Maps

Towns

Writers

Penobscot River: Background information

Bangor

Bangor Deeds

Baxter Park Fire, 1977 (newspaper clippings)

Brewer Deeds

Georgetown

Old Town / Stillwater

Penobscot Firemen

BOX 1702

Notebook: Military / Towns

Civil War (includes an extensive listing of soldiers from Orono)

Colonial Wars, 1759

Early Militia

King Philip’s War

This file includes a list of soldiers and “A Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620-1677” by George Madison Bodge, 1906 (copy).

Revolutionary Soldiers who at some time resided in Orono (3 files)

Early towns: How they were organized

Early towns of Maine and Massachusetts (2 files) (Includes information on a number of individual towns)

Orono fire and police departments original documents (2 files)

Orono fire department: Newspaper clippings

BOX 1703

Church / Early History

Congregational church (2 files)

Methodist church (2 files)

Universalist church notes

Schools and Teachers

Tax Inventory for 1829-1835, 1860, 1899

Planters and census (2 files)

Early Orono and Penobscot River

Growth, Population

Misc.

“Ulster Scots and Blandford Scots” by S.G Wood, and Ancestral Records of the Church of Ireland (copies)

Lumbering

BOX 1704

Notebook: Genealogy

Bennoch (2 files)

Bradstreet

Buffam /Ordway / Merrill

Colburn

Eayres (2 files)

Freese

Oliver-Vinal

Read, David

Spencer

Tourtelott

Webster

BOX 1705

Notebook: Genealogy / Index Cards

Marsh, John

Marsh, John / Hitchborn, Robert (2 files)

Marsh Descendants (2 files)

Index Cards of Barbara Dunn Hitchner

MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS:

Lantern glass slides of the Orono Sesquicentennial, 1956.

Alpha Omicron Pi.  Publications, scrapbooks, audiotape of Hitchner Day speech at Alpha Omicron Pi, May 9, 1965.

 

Finding Aids for selected manuscript collections in the Special Collections Department at Fogler Library are accessible online in URSUS, in a browsable Guide to Manuscript Collections. Please contact Special Collections at spc@umit.maine.edu or (207) 581-1686 for further information.

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Special Collections Staff: spc@umit.maine.edu | Revised: 01/16/2013