Calvin Downey, left, speaks with the Stanley twins, including Jarod Eastman, right, at Maine National History Day on March 25. Downey and Eastman will present the award-winning project at the next meeting of the Livermore-Livermore Falls Historical Society.

Historical society to hear about Stanley brothers

LIVERMORE FALLS – The Livermore-Livermore Falls Historical Society will meet at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, at the American Legion Post 10 hall on Reynolds Street.

The program will be a Maine History Day project by Jarod Eastman and Calvin Downey, two sixth-graders from Hartford-Sumner Elementary School, and will focus on the Stanley twin brothers from Kingfield. Visitors are welcome to attend.

The students teamed up to prepare the project and received a first place award for group performance in the junior division at Maine History Day. They were also presented a plaque sponsored by the family of Billie Gammon, recognizing the best Maine-related project among middle school students.

Students, parents and teacher Linda Andrews are combining forces to raise funds for the team to participate in National History Day in June, at the University of Maryland near Washington DC.

The Stanley brothers were interested in early Maine autos. Their family cars were powered by steam and well-known in Lewiston. Horseless carriages were their hobby, making and selling dry-plate negatives for photographers was their income.

Early photo hobbyists liked the dry-plate negatives in place of the wet-plate ones, which required mixing chemicals on glass. Silas R. Morse, Livermore native, was one amateur photographer who purchased thousands of Stanley negatives.

The program for the next meeting to be held on Tuesday, June 23, will focus on the Blue Falcons drum and bugle corps and will be sponsored by the American Legion Post 10 and the Livermore Falls town band.