On May 26 at the Boothbay Region Historical Society lifelong Juniper Point summer resident, Bill Keller will give a heavily illustrated talk about his father Deane's World War II mission to protect art.

Bill, past fine arts librarian at the University of Pennsylvania, will also explain how his father's Boothbay experience (1916-1980) fueled his work as a portrait painter, watercolorist, and teacher of drawing and painting. He enjoyed the friendship of several Boothbay residents and visitors who cheered him on in his art. Local portraits by him hung in public places include Drs. George and Philip Gregory and Nurse Mabel Brackett at St. Andrews, and Richard Hallett at the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library.

Deane Keller, a Yale professor who had studied in Rome as a young man, enlisted in 1943 as one of the Monuments Men to help find and protect Europe's stolen, threatened, and damaged artwork. His activities included locating art by interviewing local citizens upon entering an Italian town or city; one of the high points of his wartime exploits was organizing a train of 22 rail cars in 1945 to return art to Florence.

This program is free to all and will be held at 4:30 at the museum located at 72 Oak Street, Boothbay Harbor. For more information call 633-0820.

Following a recent change in policy, reservations will no longer be accepted for our program. Seating, limited to the main room of the museum, will be available on a first come, first served basis. The doors will open at 4:10 p.m.