PARIS — Two Oxford Hills Middle School students and their teacher are on a quest to identify the names and places depicted in dozens of old photographs found in an album found in an antique store in Bridgton.

Eighth-grade English language arts teacher Jolene Twombly-Wiser and eighth-grade students Thomasina Lester and Quinn Hartnett are spending hours each week poring over close to 100 photos, believed to have been taken in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

“We have decided to work to return the photos to their family, or families, and to learn as much as we can about the people in the photos,” Thomasina said.

But there are few clues.

“As far as we know, there is no local connection,” Twombly-Wiser said.

She said she bought the album at the Maine Street Mercantile.

“I asked about a previous owner and was not able to get any information,” she said. So she enlisted the two students.

Together they have removed the photographs, scanned them and researched places and people’s names using the few identifying marks. They also contacted historians in any areas they could identify.

The students use their critical-thinking skills to seek out clues in the photos, including clothing, buildings and other identifying information.

Quinn said he and Thomasina have been using a number of tools to identify the pictures, including the internet, finding words in the pictures or certain phrases they have to translate, and looking for the same people in pictures or similar places.

What is known is that many of the pictures were taken in Connecticut, New York, Washington, D.C., and possibly Virginia. The pictures date back as early as 1925.

Locations such as the town of Bayville and the Appledale resort in New York have been identified.

Appledale was a popular resort in South Cairo, New York.

Twombly-Wiser said they contacted the historian in South Cairo, who said the Appledale building exists, but it is no longer in use.

A few names have been marked, including Preston M. Marble and Jonathan Eberhard — and that’s where a lot of the mystery is at the moment.

Twombly-Wiser said they believed one photo, marked “3 Jonathan Eberhards,” is a three-generation photo of the Faber-Castell family, of which the Eberhards were connected. The famous German Faber-Castell family founded one of the world’s oldest and largest manufacturers of pencils, pens and other office supplies.

The researchers hope to create a website where all the photographs can be uploaded and shared in hopes that someone will have the answers they seek.

“I don’t want to give up,” Twombly-Wiser said.

ldixon@sunmediagroup.net