45Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Old Town Public Library
Old Town, Maine
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Old Town.
1790 to 2022Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
236,960Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Old Town, Maine.
Explore the past of Old Town, Maine through newspapers as well as yearbooks and annuals in the Old Town Public Library's digital archive. Its forty-five titles include material from 1790 to 2022.
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Selected titles
The titles shared by Old Town Public Library include “Old Town High School Yearbooks” as well as “Nos Histoires De Lile History and Memories of French Island Old Town Maine”.
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Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
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Different views of the past
Newspaper pages connect individual accounts with a wider story, preserving how events were reported and presented to the readers of the day. Yearbooks and annuals bring together the people and activities their editors chose to remember, offering a view of life within a particular year.
Reporting from the time can reveal how people described the events, work and concerns of their day, placing a local story within the history unfolding around it. Whether you are tracing a family connection, exploring a local event or sharing history with a class, there is more to discover than names and dates alone. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse forty-five titles and 236,960 digitized pages, with material from 1790 to 2022. A partnership between Old Town Public Library and Advantage Archives makes this collection available. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
Every search for the past starts with a question. Explore the titles below, follow the sources that speak to it, and see what new detail appears.
1900 U.S. Census of Old Town and Indian Island
150 pages in 1900
1910 U.S. Census Old Town and Indian Island
198 pages in 1910
1920 U.S. Census Old Town and Indian Island
198 pages in 1920
1956 Mannings Old Town Orono Directory
424 pages in 1956
A History of Stillwater Maine
74 pages in 1952
Alton, Then and Now
264 pages in 1988
Annual Report
16,158 pages from 1866 to 1991
Annual Statement
108 pages in 1919
Census Records Old Town Maine
488 pages in 1800
City of Old Town Death Index
232 pages in 1939
Directory of Old Town Orono Milford Bradley and Penobscot Tribe of Indians
358 pages in 1926
Early Church Records of Old Town Maine Baptist
360 pages in 1835
Early Records Old Town
478 pages in 1998
Excerpts Town Records
82 pages in 1806
Greenbush and Greenfield Maine Town Records
192 pages in 1833
Greenbush Maine A Historial Sketch
84 pages in 1984
Livre De Cuisine
178 pages in 1900
Maine Census 1790
218 pages in 1790
Marriages of St Josephs Catholic Church Old Town Maine 1860 - 1960
622 pages in 1860
Mirror into the Past Town of Passadumkeag Maine Sesquicentennial 1835 - 1985
260 pages in 1835
Nos Histoires De Lile History and Memories of French Island Old Town Maine
532 pages in 1800
Nos Histoires De Lile Stories of the Island
1,270 pages in 1993
Officers and Committees
118 pages from 1905 to 1943
Old Town - Orono Times
25,684 pages from 1979 to 1992
Old Town Directory
170 pages in 1903
Old Town Enterprise
4,168 pages from 1901 to 1929
Old Town High School Yearbooks
28,976 pages from 1894 to 2022
Old Town Maine The First 125 Years 1840 - 1965
148 pages in 1840
Old Town Maine The First 175 Years 1840 - 2015
160 pages in 1840
Orono News
12 pages in 1941
Penobscot Indian National Tribal Census List 1988
110 pages in 1988
Penobscot Times
123,862 pages from 1934 to 2018
Report of Selectmen
16 pages in 1872
Report of Superintendent of Schools
136 pages in 1918
Riverfest 2016
210 pages in 2016
Selected Aspects of the Political Economic and Social Development of Old Town Maine
292 pages in 1949
Sketches of the Town of Old Town
306 pages in 1881
St Marys Its People Its Pastors Its Church
130 pages in 1928
Temple Israel
130 pages in 1955
Ten Old Houses in Old Town
110 pages in 1940
The History of the Catholic Church in Old Town Maine
102 pages in 1994
The Old Town Enterprise
25,468 pages from 1888 to 1934
The Penobscot Times
1,880 pages in 2019
Vital Records of Old Town 1806 - 1891
634 pages in 1806
Vital Records of Old Town Maine prior to 1892
1,210 pages in 1892
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About the Archive
About The Old Town Public Library’s History Archives
The Old Town Public Library offers free access to a collection of historical documents and resources, thanks to its partnership with Advantage Archives . These digitized records provide invaluable insights into Old Town’s rich history and heritage, making it an essential tool for genealogists, historians, and researchers.
About the Library
About The Old Town Public Library
The Old Town Public Library is dedicated to enriching the lives of Old Town’s residents by providing resources and programs that foster knowledge, enlightenment, and personal growth. With a commitment to maintaining a high quality of life for all community members, the library serves as a welcoming space for learning, recreation, and discovery.
Partner Story
Mission
The mission of the Old Town Public Library is to maintain and improve the quality of life for all citizens of our community by providing resources and programs that enhance and contribute to individual knowledge, enlightenment, and enjoyment in the most efficient manner possible. We especially recognize our responsibility to serve as a place for children to discover the joy of reading and the value of libraries. The Old Town Public Library is dedicated to making the City of Old Town a rewarding, attractive, and pleasant place in which to live, visit, and work.
Partner Story
History
Founded with a vision to serve the people of Old Town, the Old Town Public Library has evolved over time to meet the changing needs of its patrons. Today, it offers a variety of programs, resources, and services aimed at fostering a love of reading, lifelong learning, and community engagement.
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Look beyond a familiar name
Yearbooks and annuals preserve selected views of a time in Old Town. Follow a name or organization through a dated volume in the yearbooks and annuals shared by the Old Town Public Library, and keep the publication's perspective visible as you ask what other sources might add. Read the publication as one historical voice; it can illuminate a community without speaking for everyone who lived there.
Where the available dates overlap, use a name, activity, or organization in a yearbook or annual as a starting point for a newspaper search. Compare the details carefully; a similar name is a lead to investigate, not an identification by itself.
Keep the title, date, page or item reference with each useful finding. Separate the words in a historical account from your interpretation, and note conflicting perspectives rather than choosing one too quickly. These notes help you connect a local story to its evidence and explain what remains uncertain.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Old Town Public Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.
Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.
Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.
Learn about partnerships
Stories, research tips, and archive news
Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.
May 7, 2025
Why Microfilm is still important in 2023
Preserving documents on microfilm has been a popular method of storage for many years, and it still holds many benefits today. Here…
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May 7, 2025
Don’t Search For An Obituary By Only Searching For An “Obituary”
In the quest to trace our roots and understand our heritage, obituaries often serve as a crucial starting point. Obituaries are undoubtedly…
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April 9, 2025
Unveiling the Hidden Mysteries: Exploring Cold Cases and Unconventional Clues
Even the most esteemed police forces in the county encounter perplexing cold case files. These unsolved mysteries often leave investigators and genealogists…
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April 1, 2025
This Week in History: March 31st through April 6th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. This week in history, there is absolutely nothing to talk about… April Fools! April…
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March 24, 2025
This Week in History: March 24th through March 30th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. It has officially been a year since I started writing This Week in History,…
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March 18, 2025
It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?
We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
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