Maine Historical Society opens a new exhibition, From Slavery to Maine, on April 4 in the Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. Lecture Hall, on 489 Congress Street, Portland. A number of former slaves, probably several hundred, settled in Maine during and after the Civil War. Some came through the auspices of Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, a native of Leeds and head of the Freedman's Bureau; some with individual soldiers and others on their own. Letters, photographs, and newspaper articles tell the story of a few of the former slaves who came to Maine in the 1860s.

On display are Howard family letters courtesy of George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives at Bowdoin College, and images courtesy of Kemp family historian Elaine Bragdon Kemp, Maine Historic Preservation Commission, and Belfast Historical Society and Museum, as well as photographs and documents from the collections of Maine Historical Society.

A celebration of the exhibition is scheduled for May 2, 5- 8 p.m., during the First Friday Art Walk. The exhibition runs April 4-May 26. For more information on the exhibition, contact Curator Candace Kanes at MHS, ckanes@mainehistory.org, 207-774-1822 ext 233.