NORWAY — Anne B. Gass will speak at the first summer program of the Norway Museum and Historical Society at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 22. The program is free and concludes with social time and refreshments.

Gass will speak about her great-grandmother, Florence Brooks Whitehouse, and her role in the fight for women’s right to vote in Maine.

Gass discovered her great-grandmother’s name in connection to Maine’s suffrage movement in some of Florence’s papers, which are now at the Maine Historical Society. Gass had known nothing about it.

Once she did, however, Gass was quite determined to learn all she could about her great-grandmother and Maine’s historic fight to win women the right to vote.

Her studies led to writing her book, “Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Fight for Woman Suffrage,” which was published in 2014.

Since then, Gass has been an active lecturer all over the state and beyond about the movement and her great-grandmother’s role in it. She has published articles and is assisting the Maine State Library in planning a celebration for the 100th anniversary of Maine ratifying the 19th amendment that gave women the right to vote.

Gass’ writings include an article titled “Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Vote to Ratify Women’s Suffrage in 1919” in the Maine History Journal. She also blogged about a cross-country road trip she took in 2015 that retraced the route of three women suffrage activists in 1915

The activist gene has travelled two generations to Gass. In her professional life, she has continued her great-grandmother’s activist tradition. She is the founder and principal owner of ABG Consulting Services LLC, a small business supporting nonprofits, local and state governments and foundations in their efforts to help people in need build stable, productive lives.

Gass has a close tie to the Oxford Hills. Her parents lived for 18 years on Paris Hill Road and raised sheep. They were active in Bethel in shearing, spinning and knitting organizations, using the wool from the sheep they raised.

The Norway Museum and Historical Society is located at the corner of Main and Whitman streets. It is open to the public year round from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays during the summer, and by appointment.

Contact the society by phone at 207-743-7377, by email at norwaymehistory@gmail.org or on the web at www.norwayhistoricalsociety.org.

Anne Gass