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frontspiece watercolor by Lou Mucci
Friends of Baxter State Park is pleased to make available for public use and scholarship this vast collection of original sources and personal material that conveys Governor Baxter’s intent and vision for Baxter State Park, his extraordinary gift to the people of Maine. For the first time, this compilation gathers in one source the Deeds of Trust, legislative interpretations, Opinions of the Attorney General, appellate court decisions, and the many Baxter speeches and correspondence pertaining to the creation and administation of the Park. It is a valuable resource for all who wish to research Baxter’s vision of wilderness.
A limited number of copies of this four-volume, 1400-page, hard-bound collection were printed in 2005. A copy was presented to Governor Baldacci on May 31, 2005 at a ceremony at the State House. Click here for photos of the event
The project coordinator and annotator was Dr. Howard Whitcomb, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Lehigh University, who now lives in Georgetown, Maine. A frequent Baxter State Park visitor, Dr. Whitcomb has spent three years compiling this work. (Whitcomb is also the author of Governor Baxter's Magnificent Obsession: A Documentary History of Baxter State Park, 1931-2006 (2008) that is available for purchase directly from Friends.)
Thanks to the generosity of the Davis Conservation Foundation and other contributors, copies of the 2005 limited edition are now located in the Office of Maine’s Attorney General, Maine State Library, Maine State Law Library, Cleaves Law Library (Cumberland County), Maine Historical Society, Baxter State Park Headquarters, and the Portland, Bangor, Millinocket, and Presque Isle public libraries. A second printing of the four-volume Baxter Vision set in 2008 is fully subscribed and copies are now available for research purposes at collegiate libraries throughout Maine and several other New England states.
Friends of Baxter State Park is pleased to make this contribution to the long-term preservation of the wilderness values of this very special park.
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