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Forgotten by History: 18th Century Artist and Inventor Rufus Porter

BRIDGTON, Maine - Rufus Porter was an eighteenth century artist, journalist, and inventor. His formal schooling ended when he was only 12, but during his life he invented more than 100 useful devices.

And he might have been remembered as a brilliant pioneer of American aviation. But his is a story that doesn't quite get you into the history books.

Casey Herman visited a western Maine museum in dedicated to the life and work of Rufus Porter, and produced this profile for the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland.
 
The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland will hold an opening for its spring exhibition of student work Thursday, May 14, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.