“Ken is a man with a mission and a bulldozer to make it happen.”

Ken Mahler was brought up in Riverside, Rhode Island served in the US Army from 1966-9, and served in the Signal Corp in Vietnam, and as an instructor at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey.  Following  service he attended Roger Williams University and graduated with a BA in American Studies with a minor in Journalism.

In June 1974, Ken was appointed supervisor and curator of Photographic, Audio-Visual, and Moving Images at Mystic Seaport Museum.    He left the museum in 1998 but remained as a contractor for 23 years curating motion picture films.  Ken moved with his wife Christine to Lisbon in 1994 and joined the historical society a few years after.

He has been treasurer for the society for many years, and chair of the buildings and grounds committee for the society’s four sites.  He has used his small earth moving equipment to provide volunteer excavation to help on diverse projects including digging trenches for water, drainage, and power, rebuilding roads, paths, drives, maintenance and assisting in hauling heavy items, and cutting fields and brush.  He has also hired and supervised contractors of all types doing work on the society’s structures.

A great part of his volunteer work is overseeing the can and bottle redemption program, the society’s primary fundraising activity.  He and other volunteers work daily sorting the products.   Ken arranges for transport of the hundreds of thousands of cans and bottles to more than five distributors for redemption.

Using his experience and with audio-visual equipment, Ken has produced several audio and video programs on historical subjects about Lisbon.  Recording oral history interviews with noted Lisbon residents has yielded a good source of background on many Lisbon sites and people.