A Wonderful Collection!

Odds and Ends From The MUSEUM!

            The museum collection is constantly growing and contains a wide variety of items and photos. Everything from A to Z, familiar items and items that have us doing research to learn more about the item. We frequently get family genealogies and items related to local businesses, schools, sports and more.

Recently, MHS was the recipient of the Howard G. Collins Collection. Collins, his parents and brother had a long history at the Chesuncook Lake and dam areas. Collins also lived in Millinocket and worked in the mill for several years. He died in 2021.

Howard’s brother Nick Collins brought digital copies of the many photos in the collection plus two 3-ring binders of written materials. Bill Geller, author of three well-known Chesuncook logging era books, helped Nick organize the photos and provided captions and dates when possible. Nick Collins knew his brother wanted to share his material with others and had intended to write a book.

The photo collection (digital) is in three parts. The Collins Chesuncook collection of 1122 scans, plus 1135 from the Maine Historic Preservation Commission Collection (unduplicated), plus 793 scans from a locally circulated disc known as the Millinocket GNP disc. That’s a total of over 3000 photo scans with over 1300 being GNP scans that are labeled, organized by and within groups, and dated, if possible. Bill Geller spent six months on this project. This digital photo collection has been donated to the Millinocket Historical Society, the Moosehead Historical Society and the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

One three-ring binder (plus a digital copy) is labeled the “Howard C. Collins Chesuncook Collection." This contains news clippings and other printed material that Howard Collins collected pertaining to the Chesuncook area. He organized the materials into eight categories: village description 1853-2018, village school, mail & communication, logging operations, working boats, village people, village homes and village census. Both the binder and a digital copy may be viewed at the museum.

A second three-ring binder is titled “Bill Henderson Guide.” It is an unpublished manuscript written by Henderson about living and guiding in the Chesuncook area and later serving as game warden in the Eagle Lake/Churchill Lake area. This was in the 1920’s-1940’s. This is a hard copy only and can be seen at MHS and the Moosehead Historical Society.

            Bill Geller, author & historian, wrote the following about the Howard G. Collins collection.

“The richness of the Collins collection rest within Howard’s notations and his pictures; a trove of nuggets of information that exist no place else and are key to connecting and better understanding Chesuncook history.”