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Period changes of Mira variables in the M16-M17 region

We analyzed the light curves of 165 AGB variables, mostly Miras, in the sky area centered between M16 and M17 (l=16, b=0), using the OGLE GVS database in the I_C band. Comparison with the published light curves, derived about 50 years earlier by P.~Maffei using Kodak I-N photographic plates, allowed us to find no significant period changes in any star. Remarkably, a few stars of the sample appear to have substantially changed their average luminosity, the most striking case being KZ Ser. We provide a better identification for three stars: IX Ser, NSV 10522, and NSV 10326, all of them being Miras. We classify the light curves of 6 stars, discovered but not classified by Maffei, (GL Ser, NSV 10271, NSV 10326, NSV 10522, NSV 10677, and NSV 10772) five of them being new Miras, and confirm the R CrB nature of V391 Sct. The magnitude scale used by Maffei is compared to the modern I_C one.