Romantic notes discovered at the University of Southern Maine goes back to the 1800s

A romantic mystery has been resolved.

In December 2024, a series of personal love letters were discovered that stashed between walls and floorboards at the University of Southern Maines Gorham Campus. The notes were found in Academy Building, which was under renovation at that time. Local historians decided that they probably come from the 1800s.

The building was built in 1806 and once served as a preparatory high school for high -quality students. Stephen Longfellow, father of the acclaimed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, initially secured the land contribution to build the school, Bangor Daily News Reports.

The notes contained secret doodles that were sent between crushing of teenage schools, full of phrases like “My Darling.” The letters also bore concerned about unrectioned affections and the teacher’s comments. The notes are believed to be from the building’s time as a high school, before it was sold to the state of Maine and acquired as university properties in 1878, Bangor Daily News reported in 2024.

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The university is now working to preserve the shocking discovery for both locals and students to observe. Dr. Libby Bischof, a historian at the university, told ABC 8 WMTW, “Learning history here, like a Maine historian, it is incredible to have these buildings because they become our classrooms, the landscape becomes our classroom. And you do not have to imagine what the past looks.”

Susie Bock, a coordinator for the university’s special collection department, is currently working to preserve the notes and potentially digitize them for widespread access, according to the news station.

“The people’s knowledge and changes in interests, interpretation of primary resources will change, but that is why it is important to maintain the primary resources so that we can make these interpretations,” Bock said. “It is an important part of preventing the story from being deleted.”