LOVELL – Maine Humanities has awarded a $500 planning grant to Toni Seger, project director of the Western Oxford Foothills to research and write a report that details the restoration of books by historian Peter Lenz.

Lenz’s home was destroyed by a fire last February. The fire took with it his inventory of unsold books, master copies and most of the disks that contained the text of two dozen works of history and folklore. Topics range from Columbus and early Native American history, women’s history including witchcraft persecutions in both Europe and America, 14th to 17th century Jewish history, African American history, early Maine and New England history, also local history, folklore and culture.

Restoration can be accomplished by scanning text and graphics from surviving copies, then restoring graphics with post scan processing. Layout and design will be conducted through desktop publishing programs where Lenz had previously produced his books by hand. The professional production of Lenz’s books will mean they can be produced and distributed in much larger numbers than previously possible.

The plan will analyze and catalogue the particular issues each book presents, calculate the time and cost of recreating the books on disk. It will also research the cost of print on demand services and various methods of distribution.

After completion of the report, Seger will discuss funding sources with Maine Humanities for the actual restoration process. Seger was excited to get approval for the grant. “Peter has made an enormous contribution to our efforts to produce a print directory for Western Oxford Foothills. His knowledge of this region is encyclopedic.”

Seger notes that there has long been a larger audience for Lenz’s work than he was able to satisfy and that this is an opportunity to reach libraries and educational institutions who haven’t been able to get copies of his work before. “Everyone involved with Western Oxford Foothills sees this as a way to bring something positive out of this situation,” says Seger.