The Frances Perkins Center is a nonprofit organization located in

Newcastle, Maine Newcastle is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,848 at the 2020 census. The village of Newcastle is located in the eastern part of the town, on the Damariscotta River. Together with the village of Damariscott ...

. Its mission is to inspire current and future generations to understand and uphold the government's role in providing social justice and economic security for all, based on the vision of workers’ rights advocate

Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...

. The center is located at the Frances Perkins Homestead in Newcastle, which was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 2014. Its house and connected farm buildings are owned by the center.

History

The Frances Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark has been owned and managed by the Center since 2020. It includes 57 acres of woods and fields along the

Damariscotta River The Damariscotta River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 22, 2011 tidal river in Lincoln County, Maine, that empties into the Atlantic Ocean. ''Damariscotta'' ...

, and an 1837 brick house listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014. The site was home to generations of the Perkins family dating back to the 1750s. In 2023, the Center completed a $3.5 million renovation project, protecting the farmhouse and other structures from deterioration. That same year, it hosted an awards ceremony to celebrate the center's reopening for public visitation. In June 2024, the center was awarded a $750,000 grant by the

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

. It became the first organization in Maine to receive funds from the Mellon Foundation's grant program. Distributed over three years, the grant money is meant to advance the center's mission of historic preservation, enhance educational programming, and support staffing. The center hosts a self-guided exhibit dedicated to Perkins’ life and work. Open seasonally, it displays artifacts, photographs, and other items to tell Perkins’ story.

Leadership

The center's executive director is Giovanna Gray Lockhart. Amanda Hatch serves as deputy director.

External links

Frances Perkins Center

References

{{Reflist Non-profit organizations Non-profit organizations based in Maine Workers' education