ORONO — Economic downturn. Property being seized. Available revenue declining. Sound familiar? These headlines from the Great Depression are eerily similar to what we are hearing today.
If you believe, as Pearl Buck stated, that “if you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday,” go to the Special Collections department at the University of Maine’s Fogler Library at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, when Richard Hollinger, head of Special Collections, will give a presentation, “Maine Towns During the Great Depression.”
“The Great Depression constituted the greatest economic downturn in recent Maine history,” said Hollinger. “As the institutions primarily responsible for providing for the poor, town governments in Maine were on the front lines of efforts to cushion its impact. Federal programs and state assistance mitigated, but did not eliminate, their responsibility. At a time when tax revenues were dramatically down because residents could not pay them, the demands for assistance went up quickly.”
Hollinger’s presentation will explore the situation in different towns. He will discuss what resources were available, and how virtually all locations experienced the gap between available revenues and desperately needed resources. Some towns, he notes, seized large numbers of properties on which taxes were delinquent; others sold liens on unpaid taxes as a way of raising revenue; in other cases, unpaid taxes were written off. He will examine these diverse responses and how they have increasing relevance today as we struggle with the current financial crisis.
The event is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served. “Maine Towns During the Great Depression” is sponsored by the Fogler Library Friends.