BETHEL – Anthropologist Bunny McBride, author of “Women of the Dawn,” “Molly Spotted Elk: A Penobscot in Paris” and “Our Lives in Our Hands: Micmac Indian Basketmakers,” will be the featured speaker on the first day of Sudbury Canada Days, the summer heritage festival of the Bethel Historical Society.

The lecture is free and will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12, in the meeting room of the Dr. Moses Mason House.

She will deliver the 14th annual Hall Memorial Lecture, sponsored in part by a grant from the Maine Daughters of the American Revolution and the Mollyockett Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

It is part of several events that have been featured while the exhibit, “Molly Ockett and Her World,” is on view in the society’s O’Neil Robinson House throughout the year from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and on some weekends during the summer and fall.

McBride, who holds a BA in fine arts and English from Michigan State University and an MA in anthropology from Columbia University, has written and lectured widely. She is an adjunct lecturer in anthropology at Kansas State University. From 1981 to 2002 she was a visiting lecturer in anthropology at Principia College in Illinois. She has also taught at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland.

From 1981 to 1991 McBride and her husband Harald Prins, a Kansas State University anthropology professor, conducted historical research for the Aroostook Micmac Indians. These efforts resulted in legislation granting the band federal recognition and funds to buy aboriginal land. In 1999 the Maine Legislature honored McBride with special commendation for her research and writing on the history of Native women.

She was a regular contributor to The Christian Science Monitor from 1978 to 1988 and has contributed chapters to more than a dozen books.

Sponsors are still being sought for the annual Fourth of July Community Picnic Band (Portland Brass Quintet) and for support of the 18th century (American Revolution era) re-enactors for Sudbury Canada Days on Aug. 12 to 14.

Anyone wishing to make a donation is invited to do so by sending a gift to the society at P.O. Box 12, Bethel, ME 04217-0012. All sponsors will be listed during the event and all donations are tax deductible.

More information about the society and its activities may be obtained by calling 824-2908 or 1-800-824-2910 or e-mailing info@bethelhistorical.org. Additional information can also be obtained by checking www.bethelhistorical.org.

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