The newly created Governor Joseph E. Brennan Archives will be dedicated Wednesday evening during a ceremony at the Maine Irish Heritage Center, 34 Gray St., in Portland.

Brennan, 82, served as Maine’s 70th governor from 1979 to 1987. A lifelong Democrat, he grew up on Portland’s Munjoy Hill.

Members of the Brennan Archives Committee have spent the past three years compiling more than 60 hours of filmed interviews with former staffers, colleagues, friends, family members, and state officials recalling Brennan’s long public service career.

The Brennan Archives will feature more than 144 television clips and stories about Brennan, digitized for the first time.

The archives will be stored at the Maine Irish Heritage Center, which is on the corner of Gray and State streets. They will be available to the public.

“We wanted scholars, researchers and visitors to the Archives to see and hear firsthand from those who worked with Governor Brennan what was accomplished from 1979 to 1987, how it was accomplished, and why those initiatives were chosen by the governor to move Maine forward,” Nancy Brenerman, chairwoman of the Brennan Archives Committee, said in a statement.

“The interviews are fascinating and remind us of all that was accomplished during the Brennan years and why Joe Brennan is considered by many as one of the best governors Maine has ever had,” Brenerman said.

Mary McAleney, former chairwoman of the Irish Heritage Center, came up with the idea of the archives as a way to honor “the Irish kid from Munjoy Hill who made good.”

More than 200 former colleagues, friends and supporters are expected to attend the dedication, including former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell. Mitchell will be the keynote speaker. The event will begin with a reception at 5:30 p.m. followed by the program at 6:30 p.m.

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