Jan Brett is coming soon! Click here or on the picture above to learn more!
Sponsor a Year of the Observer!
By Jon Knepp, Director, Thompson Free Library
UPDATE: We have raised $4,300 of the $6,500 needed to rescan the papers!
The digital archive maintained by the Thompson Free Library and the Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society (found at: https://doverfoxcroft.historyarchives.online/home) is a tremendous resource for our community! And now, we are looking for help to make it even better by rescanning the Piscataquis Observer collection between 1921 and 1986. Because of badly damaged microfilm, you cannot search through the paper for names, towns, or really anything. Through donors willing to sponsor a year of the Observer for $100, we can redigitize these vital pieces of our county’s history and make them fully searchable for local historians, geneaologists, families and anyone who wants to research the rich history of our wonderful county! Donations are accepted by mail via check, in-person at the library via cash, card, or check, or online via credit, debit, or PayPal using the button below:
The archive was created to house all of the FA yearbooks (1940-2021) as well as all of the county’s newspapers from 1838 to 2019. Unfortunately, when the archive was created, it was made with a well-used, very scratched copy of microfilm. When scanned, entire lines went missing. e’s scanned in as c’s or vice versa. You can read the images, but searching is useless. Even The Piscataquis Observer itself became “The Piscatarus Qhseg ‘et.”
Starting with the 1987 paper, the Observer became the Observer again. The film was undamaged and you can once again search for anything through the search bar! Having worked in digitization projects for 17 years, I was always frustrated with the low quality of the searchable text in the archive and have always wanted to improve it! There just wasn’t an easy way until now. Recently, the historical society uncovered completely untouched microfilm, which, if rescanned and used to replace the current digital versions, will mean the text is searchable, making historical research much easier and more accessible. No more leafing through pages of the Observer to find an obituary. The search bar will lead you right to it!
Unfortunately, rescanning will be costly! By sponsoring the cost of a year’s digitization for $100, we can all work together to preserve this resource and make it accessible! Purchase the birth year of you or a relative, your anniversary, your class at FA. Any reason is a good reason to help out your community! For more information, reach out at 564-3350, email director@thompsonfreelibrary.org, or stop in and chat about it at 186 E. Main St. Dover-Foxcroft, Maine 04426.
Thanks for our donors, who have already helped us raise $4,300 of our $6,500 goal!
1921- Dave and Barbara Lockwood |1925- Dave and Barbara Lockwood |1933- Gregory Nolan and Deborah Gardner |1938- Carlson and Carolyn Williams |1939- Carlson and Carolyn Williams |1940 Barbara Buerger |1941 Barbara Buerger | 1944 George and Jan Barton | 1945- Gregory Nolan and Deborah Gardner | 1952- Lynn Van Note |1953 Bill and Heidi Erspamer | 1954- Sean Stitham |1956 Bill and Heidi Erspamer | 1961 Jim and Mary Annis | 1963 Bruce and Nancy Grant | 1964 Carlson and Carolyn Williams | 1967 Carlson and Carolyn Williams | 1969 Dan and Pat Juska | 1971- James and Kathy Castonguay | 1973 Sean Shortall | 1975 Moosehead Marine Museum | 1944 Randy and Kerry King | 1978 Luke Muzzy | 1986 Jon Knepp
Bruce Lyford, Shirley Wright, Stephen and Lindsay Tudor, Dover-Foxcroft Kiwanis, Carol and Eric Boothroyd, David McDermott, Peggy Baldwin, Alfred Buck, Kevin and Jane Stitham, and our anonymous donors
New Books at the TFL
Check out the newest books at the TFL!
Click here to see new books by genre
We are excited to offer Biblio+, a free streaming video stream service for our patrons.
Sign up with your library card at https://biblioplus.com/library/thompsonfreelibrary.org to start streaming their selection of films and TV series today! The biblio+ app is available for download on almost any device: Apple (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV), Android phone and tablet, Amazon devices, Fire TV, Roku, and others or stream directly from www.biblioplus.com. You’ll just need your library card number (contact us if you forget it!) and your email. We can also assist patrons in setting up Biblio+ on their devices.
Biblio+ provides popular and award-winning shows, movies, and documentaries with more being added every month. The service isn’t meant to compete with the giants spending billions to offer seemingly endless options in the streaming space, like Netflix or HBO Max. Instead, it is a highly-curated service hoping to provide what you want to watch, rather than everything you could ever watch. Recently, a large collection of BBC offerings were added, including the original British version of The Office, Call the Midwife, The Young Doctor’s Notebook, Wallander, and more. Other content such as literary adaptations, documentaries, and independent award winners are constantly refreshing the options available.
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