While restoring the historic Academy Building at the University of Southern Maine, workers came across a trove of letters and drawings left behind by students who studied in the building nearly two centuries ago.
Restoration Project Uncovers Forgotten History of Maine/h2 pThe University of Southern Maine's academic building first opened as a private high school in 1806. Students flocked to the institution from far and wide due to its reputation as a competitive and challenging school./p pIn 1878, the building was purchased by the University of Southern Maine. It is currently called the Academic Building and serves as an art studio for students on the Goran campus./p div id=”attachment_539127″ class=”wp-caption alignnone”img decoding=”async” aria-describedby=”caption-attachment-539127″ src=”https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/usm-academy-building.jpg” alt=”Academy Building” width=”900″ height=”601″ class=”size-full wp-image-539127 post-img-landscape” https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/usm-academy-building-300×200.jpg 300w, https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/usm-academy-building-768×513.jpg 768w” sizes=”(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px” />
University of Southern MaineThe Academy Building, originally built in 1806, is located on the campus of the University of Southern Maine in Goran.
Given its age, the building recently underwent a series of renovations that began in 2022. While removing rotted wooden walls and floors, construction crews found a vast collection of notes, drawings, and other messages dating back to the Academic Building’s early history as a private high school. The papers were hidden in cracks in the wooden panels near the steps, according to a university press release.
So far, workers have found dozens of notes and handed them over to the university's special collections experts for study.
What did teenagers write about 200 years ago?
Sourse: www.allthatsinteresting.com
