Origin of "Out of the Past" Articles

Copy of the Original Letter by Isabel Morse Maresh,

Sent to the Editor of The Republican Journal,

A Belfast, Maine newspaper - 3 March 1988

This is a copy of a letter sent to The Republican Journal, the Belfast, Maine newspaper on 3 March 1988. Two stories that I submitted, with a photo, were published, before the Editor, Mike Crowley said that we had to give the column a name. I said that I didn’t know of a name, ‘Past Stories‘, ‘Out Of The Past‘, or something. He said, “That’s it! Out Of The Past, which I wrote for nearly every issue for six years. I tried to keep up to what I had promised to do. At one point, the Editor asked if I would write a brief history of each of the twenty-six towns in Waldo County, which I did in alphabetical order. I tried to make the stories as factual as possible. In one case, an elderly historian was very angry at the story because some of the dates were wrong. It turned out that a paragraph had been omitted, which changed the whole sum of the story. Sometimes the editing was not true to the original meaning. These were written to stimulate the public to remember and cherish the past. The rest is history. Also included is the first story under the logo Out Of The Past in 1988.

3 March 1988.To the Editor, Republican Journal, Main Street, Belfast, Maine 04985. Attention Mike Crowley: I would like to do a column for The Republican Journal, or for a local paper. I am enclosing a [poor quality] copy from a 1970 newspaper, which I believe was called Old Houses of Belfast, or similar title, which I believe was done by Margaret Stone. I would like to do a column similar in size. I have amassed two rooms of material, pictures from all over Waldo County, and have at hand a large number of the negatives of Walter Dickey, plus old postcards that I have collected, and pictures from every town in Waldo County, all of which was gathered by going to houses of elderly people in 1985, almost daily for three months with my maternal cousin, Jackie Watts. Jackie and I copied old pictures with what was called a Kodak Ektagraph Camera kit, with which we made slides and copies of for Downeast Publications in their book, Waldo County, The Way It Was. We also have several boxes of glass negatives done by F. W. Cunningham of Liberty in the early century. I also have about forty large glass negatives that I got in a trade.

My idea of a column that I’d like to do would not be all houses, or factories, but to cover Waldo County with a picture printed each week, probably about post-card size, and a brief history of the picture, or query from the public about a history of the picture. I would not want to limit it to buildings, because our nation was not founded on buildings, but on people, the little people. I would like to use a picture of a person, living or passed on, perhaps with the illustrious obituary of long ago; or of a family that has many descendants in this area. The people that I do may never have accomplished more in life than a good reputation, or sometimes a humorous shady reputation.

My husband’s uncle in Massachusetts told me that if I didn’t write something soon, he is going to cancel his subscription. I know that when I wrote the Centre Belmont column, the historical points were remembered long after the personal notes were forgotten. I believe the Town Columns are a good source of future history, but I’d like to write something for the older generation.

I’d also like to enclose in the column genealogical queries of people who may be having problems researching in this area, of responses to pictures printed. I have enough material to go on for months, and have sources and people who would be willing to help in my research.

I am not interested in pay for this work, unless it involved cost in obtaining some facts. I have over three hundred small pictures that I need to have the PMT process done for my own book. In speaking of my book, I would also like to include in a column local Family Bible records, many of which are ending up at lawn sales and dumps. I have a couple dozen of such records, and these are valuable, as some of these records can be found nowhere else.

I’m sure that as I go along, I can think of more and more items which should be used. The public’s input would determine what else would be added.

Sincerely, Isabel Morse Maresh.