About
A warm welcome to the Encyclopaedia of Portland History website, which was established in 2014 to provide an easily-accessible and educational resource on the history of Portland. The website is regularly updated, and the latest updates and additions are recorded on the Updates page.
I was born in Dorchester in 1994 and spent part of my childhood growing up on Portland between 1998 and 2005. Having always been intrigued by its history, I later became committed to learning and sharing more about Portland's fascinating past. In 2012 I began editing existing and creating new Portland-related articles on Wikipedia. This became a big project for the next couple of years and during this time, in May 2014, I also decided to create a website dedicated to Portland. The main reason for this was to free myself from Wikipedia's guidelines, particularly regarding the restricted use of original research and what's considered to be primary sources. With my own website, I have been able to cover topics more freely, use a wider range of sources, and add more photographs to each topic than would otherwise be possible.
I hope the website serves as an interesting and valuable resource to those wishing to learn more about the history of Portland.
Ashley Smith
I was born in Dorchester in 1994 and spent part of my childhood growing up on Portland between 1998 and 2005. Having always been intrigued by its history, I later became committed to learning and sharing more about Portland's fascinating past. In 2012 I began editing existing and creating new Portland-related articles on Wikipedia. This became a big project for the next couple of years and during this time, in May 2014, I also decided to create a website dedicated to Portland. The main reason for this was to free myself from Wikipedia's guidelines, particularly regarding the restricted use of original research and what's considered to be primary sources. With my own website, I have been able to cover topics more freely, use a wider range of sources, and add more photographs to each topic than would otherwise be possible.
I hope the website serves as an interesting and valuable resource to those wishing to learn more about the history of Portland.
Ashley Smith
Cartoon drawn and kindly supplied by John L. D. Barnett.