If you love ice cream we invite you to learn more about its history. Pauline “Polly” Tarbell Bartow is an honorary state regent of the DAR from Biddeford. Polly will treat those present to a program called, The History of Ice Cream, at the Pemaquid Chapter DAR monthly meeting in the Lincoln Home Library, Aug. 14, starting at 11 am. Polly first became interested in collecting ice cream scoops when she spotted an antique scoop in a small shop in Vermont many years ago. Being a lover of ice cream, she bought the scoop and later researched it to find out more about its history.

The program includes a discussion of the earliest known ice cream-like desserts and some historical mentions of ice cream in Europe and later in Colonial America. She delves into the where and when ice cream was produced and sold in America and the rise of the soda fountain or ice cream shop in the early 20th century. This leads to a look at the products needed by these shop owners and the explosion of ice cream related inventions in the 1900s, teens, and 1920s aimed at making scooping the product easier and making the ice cream treats sold in shops more visually appealing and/or convenient to sell. This program does not include recipes or specific information about how ice cream is made.

Polly’s collection of scoops (from 1876 through about 1935) is focused on a particular manufacturer as well as the specially shaped scoops. There will be about a dozen of them on display including an example of the first ice cream scoop patented in 1876.

Bartow is a life-long resident of Maine and a graduate of the University of Maine who lives with her husband Ken, also an ice cream lover. Their two sons and three grandsons are frequent visitors who are always happy to share an ice cream cone.

If you would like to become a member and join us in service to our communities in Lincoln County, please contact Audrey Miller, 633-7089.