BETHEL — The Bethel Historical Society will host the 6th annual Stanley Russell Howe Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, at the Dr. Moses Mason House, 14 Broad St.

This year’s speaker will be Dr. Micah A. Pawling, assistant professor of history and Native American studies at the University of Maine. He will present a talk titled “Wabanaki Treaties and Water: Indigenous Homeland in Nineteenth-Century Maine.”

Pawling will explore the ways that rapid change affected the world of Maine’s Native Americans (including local “doctress” Molly Ockett) during the early 19th century. Pawling received his B.A. from the University of Delaware in 1996, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Maine in 1999 and 2010, respectively. His research areas include the ethnohistory of North America, native people of eastern Canada and the Northeastern U.S., American history, Canadian history, and environmental history.

Following his presentation, Pawling will sign copies of his book “Wabanaki Homeland and the New State of Maine: The 1820 Journal and Plans of Survey of Joseph Treat.”

In late September 1820, hoping to lay claim to territory under dispute between Great Britain and the U.S., Gov. William King of the newly founded state of Maine dispatched Maj. Joseph Treat to survey public lands on the Penobscot and Saint John rivers. Traveling well beyond the limits of colonial settlement, Treat relied heavily on the cultural knowledge and expertise of John Neptune, lieutenant governor of the Penobscot tribe, to guide him across the Wabanaki homeland.

Along the way, Treat recorded his daily experiences in a journal and drew detailed maps, documenting the interactions of the Wabanaki people with the land and space they knew as home.

Edited, annotated and with an introduction by Micah Pawling, this volume includes a complete transcription of Treat’s journal, reproductions of dozens of hand-drawn maps, and records pertaining to the 1820 treaty between the Penobscot Nation and the governing authorities of Maine.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the program.

FMI: 207-824-2908.