Local History Albacore Lecture Series begins Tuesday March 3

Local History Talks
Albacore Lecture Series
Tuesdays March 3, March 24 & April 7
7 – 8:30 PM

The library’s Local History series features authors and experts on local history topics. In March and April, we present a special partner series with the Albacore Park Museum!

Stark Decency: New Hampshire’s World War II German Prisoner of War Camp
with Allen Koop
Tuesday March 3
During WWII, 300 German prisoners of war were held at Camp Stark near the village of Stark in New Hampshire’s North Country. German combat veterans and the citizens of the small New Hampshire logging town were forced to confront their prejudices and fears and examine the merits and flaws of their ideologies. In their rural isolation, sharing harsh weather conditions and the pinch of wartime rationing, an astonishing thing happened: friendships began to develop. Allen Koop reveals the history of this camp, which tells us much about our country’s war experience and about our state. View this event on Facebook!

Allen Koop earned a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Koop currently teachers European and American history at Dartmouth College and has published books and articles on New Hampshire and American History including Stark Decency: German Prisoners of War in a New England Village.

The Loss of the USS Indianapolis
with Bob Begin
Tuesday March 24
In July 1945, the USS Indianapolis was assigned the Top Secret mission to deliver an atomic bomb to Tinian Island. This was the bomb later dropped on Hiroshima. Once the mission had been completed, the Indianapolis was torpedoed on her starboard side by a Japanese submarine. Approximately 900 men went into the water that night. Due to a series of blunders, the wreck would remain undiscovered for nearly five days and only 316 would survive the harrowing experience. Bob Begin will detail the events before, during, and after the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, including the courts-marshalling of the ship’s Captain, Charles B. McVay III. This is an incredible story of loss due to a breakdown of order and discipline. View this event on Facebook!

Bob Begin is a visiting lecturer whose take on historical events often reflects the great challenges and courage put forth by the people who made history. With a focus on the human element in every story, Bob’s lectures span a wide range of topics including Lawrence of Arabia, the USS Quincy, and the Cocoanut Grove Fire of 1942. Bob grew up in the Lewiston-Auburn area and worked as a carrier for the Lewiston Daily Sun and the Lewiston Evening Journal. He graduated from Babson College with a degree in business administration. He and his wife Mary have been married for 48 years, and they have two sons and five grandchildren.

32 in ’44:  Building the Portsmouth Submarine Fleet in World War II
with Rodney Watterson
Tuesday April 7
During the 1930s, the Portsmouth Navy Yard was capable of completing less than two submarines in a year. In 1944, workers completed an astonishing thirty-two submarines, with four launched in a single day! Between 1941 and 1945, the yard built seventy-nine submarines, a fleet that collectively sank over one third of the Japanese shipping sunk by the United States. Rodney Watterson will discuss how the Portsmouth Navy Yard transformed into a mass-production operation that contributed so greatly to the winning of the war. View this event on Facebook!

During his naval career, Captain Rodney K. Watterson USN (Retired) was primarily involved with shipyards and the design, construction, and maintenance of submarines. Captain Watterson received his B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy and M.S. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from M.I.T. He also holds a Naval Engineer’s degree from MIT. After a career steeped in engineering and management, he shifted to liberal arts at the University of New Hampshire and received his PhD in History.