LEWISTON – The Franco-American Collection is the largest repository of Franco-American archival material in the state, according to USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College. The collection has material on history, politics, religion, education, industry, business, theater and music.

Located in a modern climate-controlled facility, the collection includes a state-of-the-art archival storage unit to preserve the large collection of documents, news clippings, photographs and artifacts about Franco-American history and culture. In addition, the collection houses the Madeleine Giguere Reading Room, which includes a large selection of books concerning the French presence in North America.

The collection is open to the public form 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursdays. Call 753-6545 for more information, or visit the Web at http://www.usm.maine.edu/lac/franco/.