Ellen Vincent, 57, the author of Down on the Island, Up on the Main: A Recollected History of South Bristol, Maine, passed away Feb. 24 from breast cancer.
Ms. Vincent was born and raised in Washington, D.C. in 1949. She grew up in a Maryland suburb outside of Washington, D.C., and graduated from high school in 1967. She received a B.A. in art education from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1971, and a Masters of Fine Arts from George Washington University in 1973.
She was an art professor at the Maryland College of Art and Design from 1974-1989. She served as the Chair of the Fine Arts Department from 1978-1989. From 1982-1984, she served as the acting dean of the college. In 1989, she moved to Milwaukee to serve as an art professor at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD).
In the mid 1990s, Ms. Vincent discovered South Bristol while attending an artists’ workshop in Maine. She spent several summers in South Bristol and became greatly interested in the town and its history. She began collecting historical photographs of South Bristol from residents and talking to them about the history of the photographs, the people, and the town. The outpouring of interest from the community inspired her to begin collecting oral histories from some of the South Bristol residents.
In the summer of 1998, she held the first of many exhibits in Maine on the history of South Bristol at the Round Top Center for the Arts in Damariscotta.
Ms. Vincent received funding to expand her research into a full-length book from the South Bristol Historical Society through foundation grants in 2002, as well as funding from the Maine Humanities Council/Maine Art Commission and a New Century Grant.
Down on the Island, Up on the Main was published in 2003 by Tilbury House Publishers, with support from the South Bristol Historical Society, of which she was a founding member.
The Town of South Bristol hosted an exhibit of photographs, letters, and oral histories from the book at a celebration of its publication at the South Bristol School. At the opening of the exhibit, Ms. Vincent became an honorary citizen of South Bristol. This singular award, presented by the Selectmen, was “in recognition of her work gathering and preserving the history of our Town…” In addition to this award from the town, Ms. Vincent also received the “President’s Award” from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for her book.
Ms. Vincent was an art professor at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design from 1989-2006, when she took a leave of absence due to her illness. She lived in Whitefish Bay, Wis., but died in a hospice facility in Boca Raton, Fla.
She is survived by her mother, Nanette Vincent of Wheaton, Md.; brother, Jeff Vincent of Philadelphia, Penn.; and sister, Trudy Vincent of Washington, D.C.
