Shettleworth, Earle (1948 - )

Genre: Non-Fiction

Earle Grey Shettleworth, Jr. was born in Portland, Maine on August 17, 1948, the son of Earle G. Shettleworth, Sr. and Esther Knudsen Shettleworth. He was educated in Portland public schools, graduating from Deering High School in 1966. He received a B.A. in Art History from Colby College in 1970, an M.A. in Architectural History from Boston University in 1979, and an L.H.D. from Bowdoin College in 2008.

At the age of thirteen, Shettleworth became interested in historic preservation through the destruction of Portland?s Union Station in 1961. A year later he joined the Sills Committee which founded Greater Portland Landmarks in 1964. In 1971 he was appointed by Governor Curtis to serve on the first board of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, for which he became architectural historian in 1973 and director in 1976. He is the longest actively serving State Historic Preservation Officer in the nation.

Shettleworth?s elected and appointed positions include president of the Maine Historical Society (1977-79), president of the New England Chapter, Society of Architectural Historians (1995-98), chair of the State House and Capitol Park Commission (1988- ), chair of the Capitol Planning Commission (1998- ), and chair of the Blaine House Commission (2004- ). He served on the Maine Lighthouse Selection Committee in 1997-98 and the State Facilities Master Plan Commission in 1999.

Earle Shettleworth has lectured and written extensively on Maine history and architecture. The Maine Historical Society?s auditorium in Portland was named for him in 1999. In 2004 Governor John E. Baldacci appointed him as State Historian, and he was reappointed to a second term by Governor Baldacci in 2008. (From the State Historian's website)

Selected Bibliography

  • The Flight of the Grand Eagle: Charles G. Bryant, Maine Architect and Adventurer with James H. Mundy (1977)
  • Norlands : the Architecture of the Washburn Estate (1980)
  • The Maine State House : a brief history and guide with Frank A. Beard (1981)
  • The Summer cottages of Islesboro, 1890-1930 (1989)
  • An Eye for the Coast : the Maritime and Monhegan Island Photographs of Eric Hudson (1998) with W.H. Bunting, with the assistance of Paul T. Stubing
  • Mount Desert Island : Somesville, Southwest Harbor, and Northeast Harbor (c2001) with Lydia B. Vandenbergh
  • Victorian Augusta (c2008)
  • Waterville (2013)