Join the Blue Hill Library for a talk with UMaine Professor of History Liam Riordan on the American Revolution and the impact felt in Maine on Tuesday July 14 at 7pm in the library's Howard Room. This event is part of a recognition of the United States of America and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

This illustrated lecture explores how the American Revolution began in Maine as well as the significance of Revolutionary commemoration in 2026. What happened in Machias in 1775, and what was the burning of Falmouth (Portland) about? What did the Declaration of Independence mean in 1776? This event aims to open a discussion with the audience about how we should remember the American Revolution today.

Liam Riordan is Department Chair and Adelaide and Alan Bird Professor of History at the University of Maine, where he has been a faculty member since 1997. He is the co-editor of What We Know, What We Wish: Maine Statehood, Historical Commemoration, and the Urgency of Public History (UMass Press, 2025). He is a specialist on the American Revolution and has a book project about loyalists, those who opposed the rebellion that created the United States. In 2020 he received the Maine Historical Society’s Neal W. Allen History Award as well as the Outstanding Faculty Member Award for Public Engagement from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UMaine. He is currently a board member of the New England Historical Association and is active in the National History Day program for grade 6-12 students in Maine. He was a member of Bangor’s Historic Preservation Commission (2019-2025), Director of the University of Maine Humanities Center (2014-2016), Board Member of the Maine Humanities Council (2010-2017), and a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Glasgow (2012).

This program is free and open to all. For more information, please contact the library at 374-5515 or email Assistant Director Kayleigh Thomas at kayleigh.thomas@bhpl.net.