Bucksport, ME

Capturing History's Images

Many things can help revive a town. In Bucksport, Maine, old films did the trick.

Ten years ago, Bucksport’s main street was looking a bit scraggly, with “a 40 to 50 percent vacancy rate in our downtown area,” according to Town Manager Roger Raymond. Now, the coastal community of 2,970 has experienced a renaissance—in part because of a moving-picture archive called Northeast Historic Film.

NHF started 15 years ago when David Weiss and Karan Sheldon, two film historians, received financial help from Bucksport’s Champion International paper mill to restore a 1930 film about logging. The experience made the two aware of the need to find and restore visual images of their region.

Weiss and Sheldon founded NHF to do just that, starting a collection of diverse images that include industrial films, Hollywood narratives from the silent era to the present, home movies, television news footage, and documentaries about notable people in northern New England.

But the archive needed a home. In 1992 they heard that Bucksport’s Alamo Theater was to be auctioned off. Built in 1916, the 120-seat theater is the second oldest cinema building in Maine. It closed as a movie theater in 1956, then went through incarnations as a supermarket, health center, and a community center before being abandoned.

“It was a low point in the condition of the building,” recalls Richard Rosen, third-generation owner of Rosen’s Department Store across the street. He characterizes the NHF’s arrival at the Alamo as a “sort of coming home again” for the building.

Supporters of NHF came up with $37,500 to purchase the Alamo. The inside was gutted and became home to the enterprise’s growing archives. Weiss, Sheldon, and friends soon began a screening series in the old theater, inviting community members to participate in potluck suppers before watching vintage films.

As the collection and hope for the revival of motion pictures in Bucksport grew, more money was raised to refurbish the theater. With the help of town funding, the Alamo reopened for regular screenings in 1999, balancing its program between recent releases and classics. NHF’s collection now holds more than 5 million feet of film and 2,000 hours of videotape.

Community response to the new resource in Bucksport is enthusiastic. “It had been since the 1950s that you had a place on the main street where you could attend an event and walk home,” Rosen says.

Attendance at screenings and visits from scholars and tourists helped revitalize the downtown, bringing more diners and shoppers to Main Street. “(NHF) became a focal point in our downtown area that helped us bring back a lot of our businesses,” Raymond says. “They served a tremendous, tremendous need.”

New businesses include restaurants, a gift shop, a pharmacy, and professional offices. Downtown Bucksport now has no vacancies, and the rebirth of Main Street has helped spur development of a nearby marina.

Northeast Historic Film’s involvement in Bucksport encompasses more than just commerce. The archive opens its doors to the community—meetings, symposia, and debates take place on the Alamo’s stage, and NHF maintains a school program, helping local teachers design courses in film history, arranging for student internships, and hosting tours and workshops.

“It aids students in learning and understanding our region’s history,” says Marc Curtis, Bucksport superintendent of schools. “We’ve been extremely pleased. It’s just a good relationship.”

NHF helped preserve more than just film and television; the organization keeps alive a way of life residents have treasured for generations.

“Bucksport’s a great place to raise a family,” says Rosen, the father of two and a local merchant. “It’s safe, and it’s a caring community.

“It’s hard to say if there are more (shoppers than before),” he says. “But I think they’re happier.”

Tinky Dakota Weisblat is senior editor at The Museum of Television & Radio in New York City.

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