LOVELL – The Lovell Historical Society will be able to preserve its oral history collection and make its stories available to anyone who wishes to listen, thanks to two significant grants.

An Archival Project Grant from the Maine State Archives will let the society make duplicate CDs and preservation master tapes of some 21 hours of recordings that are more than 10 years old.

In addition, a grant from the Henney Historical Fund will help the society create a storage area and listening station for visitors, and make catalogs and copies of some 50 hours of more recent tapes.

Many of the people in the society’s recordings have passed away. “Their spoken memories are unique and irreplaceable,” says project director Jo Radner. “Preserving their words and making them easily accessible is tremendously important.”

Through its Oral History Project, the society has gathered the memories of farmers, storekeepers, musicians, postmasters, churchgoers, river-drivers, loggers, sawyers, schoolteachers and pupils, men and women, and seasonal residents, reaching back to the early 20th century.

Interviewers have collected stories of the people of the Lovell area at work and at play, in youth and age, and they have gathered oral information about historical events and photos and buildings. They have also begun a collection of veterans’ memories that includes, for example, a personal account of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a narrative of life in an ambulance corps and the reminiscences of the wife of a prisoner of war.

Interviews about such local traditions as Old Home Days and dramatic and musical entertainment document ceremonial ways to celebrate the town and accommodate its changing culture. In addition, because Kezar Lake has been attracting large numbers of summer residents to Lovell for more than a hundred years, the oral history collection aims to document the development of a seasonal population, its culture, its local impact and its evolving relationship with the year-round residents of the town.

During 2004 the recordings will be copied and cataloged so that visitors to the collection can search by subject or by personal names. This work will be carried out by Jo Radner, a descendant of local families, who recently retired to Lovell after teaching at American University. She is also past president of the American Folklore Society, and last winter conducted the Lovell Historical Society’s Oral History Workshop.

The Lovell Historical Society is at the intersection of Routes 5 and 5A in Lovell, and can be reached at (207) 925-3234 or [email protected]. Society collections are open year-round on Tuesdays from 1 to 4 p.m.