LEWISTON – The Franco-American Collection at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College, 51 Westminster St., will host an open house from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4, in conjunction with the Festival FrancoFun weekend. The event will feature an audio-visual presentation, tours of the collection, an art exhibit and refreshments. Admission is free.

Two documentaries will be shown. The first is an amateur film of a 1947 St. John the Baptist parade through New Auburn and Little Canada on the occasion of the Jacques Cartier Institute’s 75th anniversary.

The second is an award-winning documentary by former Bates College Professor Robert Branham, and students Lyn Francoeur and William Sturgis called “Roughing the Uppers: the Great Shoe Strike of 1937.” The effort to obtain union recognition, better working conditions and higher wages rocked Lewiston-Auburn and gained international attention.

Inside the collection, photo albums of Bates Mill workers from the 1940s to the 1960s and of Sts. Peter and Paul parochial school children from the 1920s to the 1940s will be on display.

In the Atrium Gallery there is an exhibit of the works of students of well-known local art teacher Mercedes Gastonguay. Her new historical tableau, a 46×54-inch oil painting, titled “A la mémoire de nos ancstres” (In memory of our ancestors), will also be featured.

Café L-A, whose walls are decorated with vintage photos of Franco-American life, will offer special traditional treats: snack-size tarts of maple syrup and walnuts and of raisins and molasses.

Finally, there will be the opening of the new Franco-American section at the campus bookstore. It features a selection of recent books by F-A authors in both French and English; posters, including prints of Mercedes Gastonguay’s tableau; and note cards decorated with local scenes from the past.

For more information, call Collection Coordinator Donat Boisvert at 753-6545 or visit the web at www.usm.maine.edu/lac/franco.