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Document Type
Text
Contributing Institution
Freeport Community Library
Exact Creation Date
2024
Language
English
Location
Freeport
City
Freeport, Maine
Publisher
Freeport Community Library
Recommended Citation
Freeport Community Library, "Freeport Obituary Collection Index" (2024). Freeport Book Collection. 9.
https://digitalmaine.com/freeport_books/9
Rights Statement
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Description
The Freeport Obituary Collection comprises newspaper obituaries clipped by Freeport Community Library staff and volunteers beginning in 1973 and continuing through the end of the year 2000. Everyone in the collection has some connection to the Town of Freeport, be they former residents, business owners, or relatives of people with ties to the town. A decades-long effort was made to collect obituaries from newspapers that served the Freeport area, as well as other local publications. If not totally comprehensive, the 2,488 clippings represent an undoubtedly extensive collection.
These obituary clippings were saved, arranged, and photocopied with the intent to be made available to the public. According to her contemporaries, this was primarily the passion project of former librarian and 2011 Freeport Citizen of the Year Vicki Lowe, who deserves much of the credit for the collection's existence. Following her retirement, this unfinished project was put into storage and rediscovered in 2023. A new generation of library workers dedicated themselves to scanning, indexing, cataloging, and realizing Vicki's vision. The Freeport Obituary Collection was published in 2024, marking the culmination of more than 50 years of work.
This file includes the two indexes that cover the entire 2,488 obituaries in the six books; one organized by the surnames recorded from the obituaries; and one for the maiden names of the women in the collection (maiden names were entered even when it is the same as the recorded surname).
The accuracy of the information in the index was recorded to the best of the ability of the Freeport Community Library staff, based solely on the information contained in the obituaries. An effort was made to list birth locations only as cities or towns (for example if somebody was said to be born in “Manhattan,” their birth location was entered as “New York City, NY”). Whenever information was unclear or omitted, the corresponding field in the index was left blank. There were 10 identified publications that obituaries had been clipped from, which were abbreviated in the index thusly: Baptist Church Newsletter (BCN); Ellsworth American (EA); Forecaster (F); Freeport News (FN); Freeport Post (FP); Freeport Teacher's Association Newsletter (FTA); Maine Sunday Telegram (MST); Portland Evening Express (PEE); Portland Press Herald (PPH); and Times Record (TR).
If you would like to request a personal copies of one or more of the included obituaries, contact fcl@freeportmaine.com and specify the Book # and Page # fields from the index where the obituary or obituaries are located. A digital copy will be sent in reply at our earliest convenience.