In conjunction with Read ME, the Bowdoinham Library is pleased to host an illustrated history talk this Thursday, by Elizabeth DeWolfe, Ph.D., entitled; “Dangerous Temptations’: Maine Factory Girls in Fact and Fiction.” Maine’s first generation of textile workers, the daughters of New England farmers, flocked to the mills for cash wages, adventure, and opportunity. The textile factories boomed, men got rich, and the factory girls were praised as dutiful workers. But there was a dark side. Out from under the watchful eyes of parents, young women enjoyed new freedoms, and new dangers. In this illustrated talk, Professor DeWolfe will explore the “dangerous temptations” that enticed young women and made them the stars of a unique Maine-based literature: seamy, sensational stories that warned of the dire consequences of leaving the safety of home.

Elizabeth DeWolfe, Ph.D., is a professor of history and co-founder of the Women’s & Gender Studies Program at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine.

Thursday, August 19 at 1:00 pm in the Bowdoinham Town Hall.  Masks are required.