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Come visit us Saturday, June 4 from 9am to 3pm for tours and a special exhibit of memorabilia from the Livermore Falls High School Class of 1967! Lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs and dessert from noon to 1pm. Come shop at our HUGE garage sale. Event is by donation. Maine’s Paper & Heritage Museum is a non-profit, volunteer organization and all proceeds go toward building repairs and ongoing museum operations. Tours available anytime by appointment. For information, see our website www.papermuseumofmaine.org or call Greg at 897-3157. We hope to see you at the museum this summer!

Maine’s Paper and Heritage Museum on Church Street in Livermore Falls needs your help to keep working towards our mission of preserving history and educating visitors on the industries that helped shape our community’s distinctive heritage!  The museum recently received a generous donation from an anonymous donor of $5,000, with an offer to match donations up to another $20,000 to assist with much needed building maintenance.

Our most urgent repair issue is a leaky roof which continues to cause damage to the top floor of the museum.  Roof replacement is estimated to cost $22,000.  The foundation also requires repointing and drainage work to prevent groundwater leaks with repairs estimated at $10,000.  Building painting is estimated at $20,000.  With a total building maintenance cost of over $50,000 plus our annual operating expenses, the museum’s team of volunteers is currently working to complete several grant applications in order to complete these expensive yet critical infrastructure improvement projects.

Maine’s Paper and Heritage Museum is housed in the home originally built by Judson Record in 1906.  The house served as a residence for the Record family and after being signed over to International Paper, served as the residence for many Mill Managers and their families.  The house was then converted to an office and in 2007 was donated by International Paper to Maine’s Paper and Heritage Museum.  The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and retains many of the original ornate features.

There are many opportunities for the community to help the Paper Museum meet our fundraising goal of $20,000!  Direct contribution can be made via our website at www.papermuseumofmaine.org or checks can be mailed to Maine’s Paper and Heritage Museum, PO Box 239, Jay, Maine 04239.  With this matching opportunity, donors who work for companies that match donations can triple the donation they make to this important mission.  We are hoping to take full advantage of this generous offer by raising $20,000 in 2021.

The museum is also planning several special events throughout the year.  Donations can be made directly at any of these following events:

Friday May 21: Museum will be open for tours and holding a garage sale from 11am to 8pm in conjunction with History Night in downtown Livermore Falls.

Saturday June 26: Tours, Model Train Display, Garage Sale & Strawberry Shortcake from 10am to 3pm

Saturday August 28:  3^rd Annual Papermakers Heritage Celebration from 10am to 3pm – join for tours, refreshments, garage sale, guest speaker and paper making demonstrations

Saturday September 25: Tours, Garage Sale, Refreshments, Papermaking and children’s train rides

October 31: Halloween at the Museum from 3pm to 6pm bring the kids for candy, games and train rides

In addition to these days, the museum will be open every Saturday in June, July and August from 10am to Noon and is also open by appointment for group or personal tours May through October.  To schedule tours or more information, please call Greg Bizier at 207-897-3157 or Sherry Judd at 207-592-1807.  All events are subject to change and will follow latest CDC guidelines.

Greetings Friends of Maine’s Paper & Heritage Museum!

For our inaugural newsletter, I want to take this opportunity to let you know how the museum fared in 2020 and the exciting opportunities our small group of dedicated volunteers and supporters envision for 2021. We continued to work towards achieving our mission; to create an exciting interactive museum where visitors can experience life in a paper making community, as well as to encourage tourism, increase economic activity and showcase the area’s distinctive heritage. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, 2020 was a trying year that required us to cancel most of our events. Despite this we were able to provide the following services and are looking forward to preparing for 2021!

Education 2020

• Conducted a private tours of the museum and assisted a visitor in researching her family history in our area while following CDC guidelines. 
• Provided the publisher of “Memories of Maine” magazine with photos of Alvin Record and the Jay Paper Company for an article they will be publishing.
• Served as a base of operations for Ryan Cooks, a filmmaker and native Mainer who currently lives in Massachusetts.  We provided a tour of the museum and set up videotaped interviews at the museum with local papermakers for use in a documentary he is creating on the Maine Paper Industry.

Fundraising 2020

• The museum staff wants to thank all of the generous donations of time, garage sale items and money.  These donations are critical to the museum’s survival and help us continue to meet our mission of service to the area we live in.
• We were able to run three garage sales over the summer which resulted in a total of $1,050 in profit.
• No grants were awarded to us in 2020, but we are actively working on several applications for 2021!

Challenges

• Our immediate need is to replace the weather cracked roofing shingles which leak and have caused ceiling damage to the top floor of the building. Repair is estimated at $22,000.
• Water leaking through the rock foundation into the basement.  Efforts to prevent this from happening (landscaping and paving) have been unsuccessful.  Foundation repair cost will be significant.
• Exterior painting of the house and garage
• These are all expensive but critical infrastructure projects that will require acquiring grant money to complete.

Goals

• Improve our educational outreach opportunities to the local schools and organizations.
• Expand the hours of operation at the museum and increase season length.
• Install wheelchair ramp access into the building.
• Increase the number of volunteer staff to act as docents, general help for special events and board members.
• Create a membership base and implement a quarterly newsletter

With the continued challenges the paper and wood products industries are facing, preservation of our heritage is even more important.  I look forward to the museum overcoming its challenges and reaching our goals through our volunteers and help from the community.  The challenges are great but the opportunities and benefits are greater!  

We recently received a generous donation from an anonymous donor of $5,000 with an offer to match donations of up to another $20,000 to help ensure that we can continue our mission far into the future.  We will be kicking off a fundraising effort this spring – more information will be available soon.  Please help us take advantage of this generous offer!  Donations can be sent anytime to our PO Box or through the donate button on our website.

Sincerely,

Greg Bizier

Museum President

2018 Papermaker Heritage Day