All MMN Exhibits
20th Maine
The War was not going well for the Union and in the summer of 1862, when President Lincoln called for an additional 300,000 troops, it was not a surprise to see so many men enlist in an attempt to bring proper leadership into the Army. Read on.
Amazing! Maine Stories 1866-1759
Documents, art and artifacts saved by family and friends, help tell the story of nine amazing Mainers who lived from the middle of the eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth centuries. Read on.
Amazing! Maine Stories 1999-1879
People make history. Things tell tales. Objects and documents from the collections of the Maine Historical Society tell interesting and sometimes unexpected stories about well-known and less well-known Mainers who have helped to make history in the state. Read on.
Aroostook County in 1900: Railroads
Construction of the Bangor and Aroostook rail lines into northern Aroostook County in the early twentieth century opened the region to tourism and commerce from the south. Read on.
The Arrival of Winter
The astronomical arrival of winter -- also known as the winter solstice -- marks the year's shortest day and the season of snow and cold. It usually arrives on December 21. Read on.
Atherton Furniture
LeBaron Atherton's furniture empire consisted of ten stores, four of which were in Maine. The photos are reminiscent of a different era in retailing. Read on.
Back to School
Public education has been a part of Maine since Euro-American settlement began to stabilize in the early eighteenth century. But not until the end of the nineteenth century was public education really compulsory in Maine. Read on.
Blueberries to Potatoes: Farming in Maine
Not part of the American "farm belt," Maine nonetheless has been known over the years for a few agricultural items, especially blueberries, sweet corn, potatoes, apples, chickens and dairy products. Read on.
A Brief History of Colby College
Colby originated in 1813 as Maine Literary and Theological Institution and is now a small private liberal arts college of about 1,800 students. A timeline of the history and development of Colby College from 1813 until the present. Read on.
Canning: A Maine Industry
Maine's corn canning industry, as illuminated by the career of George S. Jewett, prospered between 1850 and 1950. Read on.
Cape Elizabeth Shipwrecks
The rocky coastline of Cape Elizabeth has sent many vessels to their watery graves. Read on.
Chinese in Maine
In 1857, when Daniel Cough left Amoy Island, China, as a stowaway on a sailing ship from Mt. Desert Island he was on his way into history as the first Chinese person to make his home in Maine. He was soon followed by a cigar maker and a tea merchant who settled in Portland and then by many more Chinese men who spread all over Maine working mostly as laundrymen. Read on.
A City Awakes -- Arts Flourish in Portland
By the middle of the 1820s, Portland had become a major New England city. Enterprise, wealth, and opportunity could be found in the growing city -- an environment that also brought a flowering of the arts. Read on.
A City Awakes -- Early Years
From 1786 to the 1860s, Portland experienced a dynamic period of growth that spawned a unique social and cultural environment and fostered artistic opportunity and creative expression in a broad range of the arts. Read on.
The Civil War Through the Eyes of a Young Sailor and His Family
Eager to deal with the "Sesech" [Secessionists], young deepwater sailor John Monroe Dillingham of Freeport enlisted in the U.S. Navy as soon as he returned from a long voyage in 1862. His letters and those of his family offer first-hand insight into how one individual viewed the war. Read on.
Colonial Cartography: The Plymouth Company Maps
The Plymouth Company (1749-1816) managed one of the very early land grants in Maine along the Kennebec River. The maps from the Plymouth Company's collection of records constitute some of the earliest cartographic works of colonial America. Read on.
A Day for Remembering
Most societies have had rituals or times set aside to honor ancestors, those who have died and have paved the way for the living. Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, is the day Americans have set aside for such remembrances. Read on.
Early Fish Canneries in Brooklin
By the 1900s, numerous fish canneries began operating in Center Harbor, located within the Brooklin community. For over thirty years, these plants were an important factor in the community. Read on.
Eternal Images: Photographing Childhood
From the earliest days of photography doting parents from across Maine sought to capture images of their young children. The studio photographs often reflect the families' images of themselves and their status or desired status. Read on.
Evergreens and a Jolly Old Elf
Santa Claus and evergreens have been common December additions to homes, schools, businesses, and other public places to America since the mid nineteenth century. They are two symbols of the Christian holiday of Christmas whose origins are unrelated to the religious meaning of the day. Read on.
Farm-yard Frames
Throughout New England, barns attached to houses are fairly common. Why were the buildings connected? What did farmers or families gain by doing this? The phenomenon was captured in the words of a children's song, "Big house, little house, back house, barn," (Thomas C. Hubka Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn, the Connected Farm Buildings of New England, University Press of New England, 1984.) Read on.
A Focus on Trees
Maine has some 17 million acres of forest land. But even on a smaller, more local scale, trees have been an important part of the landscape. In many communities, tree-lined commercial and residential streets are a dominant feature of photographs of the communities. Read on.
George Washington
George Washington was America's first president, an office he held for two terms from 1789 to 1797. He, more than any other individual, was important in bringing the American people to a realization of their national identity. Read on.
Giving Thanks
Cultures from the ancient Greeks and Chinese to contemporary societies have set aside time to give thanks, especially for the harvest. In 1941, the United States set a permanent date for the observance. Read on.
The Great War and Armistice Day
In 1954, November 11 became known as Veterans Day, a time to honor American veterans of all wars. The holiday originated, however, as a way to memorialize the end of World War I, November 11, 1918, and to "perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations." Mainers were involved in World War I as soldiers, nurses, and workers on the homefront aiding the military effort. Read on.
Hermann Kotzschmar: Portland's Musical Genius
During the second half of the 19th century, "Hermann Kotzschmar" was a familiar household name in Portland. He spent 59 years in his adopted city as a teacher, choral conductor, concert artist, and church organist. Read on.
High water
Melting snow, ice, warmer temperatures, and rain sometimes bring floods to Maine's many rivers and streams. Floods are most frequent in the spring, but can occur at any season. Read on.
How Sweet It Is
Desserts have always been a special treat. For centuries, Mainers have enjoyed something sweet as a nice conclusion to a meal or celebrate a special occasion. But many things have changed over the years: how cooks learn to make desserts, what foods and tools were available, what was important to people. Read on.
Hunting Season
Maine's ample woods historically provided numerous game animals and birds for hunters seeking food, fur, or hides. The promotion of hunting as tourism and concerns about conservation toward the end of the nineteenth century changed the nature of hunting in Maine. Read on.
In Time and Eternity: Maine Shakers in the Industrial Age
"In Time and Eternity: Maine Shakers in the Industrial Age 1872-1918" is a series of images that depict in detail the Shakers in Maine during a little explored time period of expansion and change. Read on.
Indians at the Centennial
Passamaquoddy Indians from Washington County traveled to Portland in 1920 to take part in the Maine Centennial Exposition. They set up an "Indian Village" at Deering Oaks Park. Read on.
Irish Immigrants in Nineteenth Century Maine
With the popularity of all things Irish in modern America, many people have forgotten the difficulties faced by nineteenth century Irish immigrants. Read on.
John Dunn, 19th Century Sportsman
John Warner Grigg Dunn was an accomplished amateur photographer, hunter, fisherman and lover of nature. On his trips to Moosehead Lake, he became an early innovator among amateur wildlife photographers. His photography left us with a unique record of the Moosehead Lake region in the late nineteenth century. Read on.
The Kotzschmar Memorial Organ
A fire and two men whose lives were entwined for more than 50 years resulted in what is now considered to be "the Jewel of Portland" -- the Austin organ that was given to the city of Portland in 1912. Read on.
La Basilique Lewiston
Like many cities in France, Lewiston and Auburn's skylines are dominated by a cathedral-like structure, St. Peter and Paul Church. Now designated a basilica by the Vatican, it stands as a symbol of French Catholic contributions to the State of Maine. Read on.
La St-Jean in Lewiston-Auburn
St-Jean-Baptiste Day in Lewiston-Auburn was a very public display of ethnic pride for nearly a century. Read on.
Laboring in Maine
Workers in Maine have labored in factories, on farms, in the woods, on the water, among other locales. Many of Maine's occupations have been determined by the state's climate and geographical features. Read on.
Le Théâtre
Lewiston, Maine's second largest city, was long looked upon by many as a mill town with grimy smoke stacks, crowded tenements, low-paying jobs, sleazy clubs and little by way of refinement, except for Bates College. Yet, a noted Québec historian, Robert Rumilly, described it as "the French Athens of New England." Read on.
Liberty Threatened: Maine in 1775
At Lexington and Concord, on April 19, 1775, British troops attempted to destroy munitions stored by American colonists. The battles were the opening salvos of the American Revolution. Shortly, the conflict would erupt in Maine. Read on.
Lillian Nordica: Farmington Diva
Lillian Norton, known as Nordica, was one of the best known sopranos in America and the world at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. She was a native of Farmington. Read on.
Lock of George Washington's Hair
Correspondence between Elizabeth Wadsworth, her father Peleg Wadsworth and Martha Washington's secretary about the gift of a lock of George Washington's hair to Eliza. Read on.
Longfellow: The Man Who Invented America: Beloved and Enduring Poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, well known by children and adults in the 19th century, remains a popular poet today -- even though not everyone knows they're quoting Longfellow when they utter some common phrases. Read on.
Longfellow: The Man Who Invented America: Common Man, American Poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the most popular living author in 19th century America and the most widely read American poet who ever lived. To understand why, it is necessary to understand his century. Read on.
Longfellow: The Man Who Invented America: The Early Years
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a man and a poet of New England conscience. He was influenced by his ancestry and his Portland boyhood home and experience. Read on.
Looking Out: Maine's Fire Towers
Maine, the most heavily forested state in the nation, had the first continuously operational fire lookout tower, beginning a system of fire prevention that lasted much of the twentieth century. Read on.
Luxurious Leisure
From the last decades of the nineteenth century through about the 1920s, vacationers were attracted to large resort hotels that promised a break from the noise, crowds, and pressures of an ever-urbanizing country. Read on.
The Mainspring of Fashion
The mainspring of fashion is the process whereby members of one class imitate the styles of another, who in turn are driven to ever new expedients of fashionable change. Read on.
Meshach P. Larry
Meshach P. Larry, a Windham blacksmith, joined Maine's 17th Regiment Company H on August 18, 1862. Larry and his sister, Phebe, wrote to each other frequently during the Civil War, and his letters paint a vivid picture of the life of a soldier. Read on.
Most Inconvenient Storm
A Portland newspaper wrote about an ice storm of January 28, 1886 saying, "The city of Portland was visited yesterday by the most inconvenient storm of the season." Read on.
On the Campaign Trail
Even though Maine has a small number of delegates to national political conventions, candidates campaigning for president nominations or for election to the nation's highest office do not ignore the state. Read on.
One Hundred Years of Caring - Later Years EMMC
From the 1920s to the present, Eastern Maine General Hospital grew considerably, adding modern buildings, equipment, and services. It also grew into a regional medical facility. Read on.
One Hundred Years of Caring -- EMMC
In 1892 five physicians -- William H. Simmons, William C. Mason, Walter H. Hunt, Everett T. Nealey, and William E. Baxter -- realized the need for a hospital in the city of Bangor had become urgent and they set about providing one. Read on.
Otisfield's One-Room Schoolhouses
Many of the one-room schoolhouses in Otisfield, constructed from 1839 through the early twentieth century, are featured here. The photos, most of which also show teachers and children, were taken between 1898 and 1998. Read on.
Picturing Henry
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's popularity in the 19th century is reflected by the number of images of him -- in a variety of media -- that were produced and reproduced, some to go with published works of his, but many to be sold to the public on cards and postcards. Read on.
Powering Pejepscot Paper Co.
In 1893, F.C. Whitehouse of Topsham, who owned paper mills in Topsham and Lisbon Falls, began construction of a third mill on the eastern banks of the Androscoggin River five miles north of Topsham. First, he had to build a dam to harness the river's power. Read on.
Protests
Throughout the history of the state, residents have protested, on paper or in the streets, to increase rights for various groups, to effect social change, to prevent social change, or to let their feelings be known about important issues. Read on.
The Public Face of Christmas
Christmas, a Christian holiday observed by many Mainers, has a very public, seasonal face that makes it visible to those of all beliefs. Read on.
Reading, Writing and 'Rithmetic: Brooklin Schools
When Brooklin, located on the Blue Hill Peninsula, was incorporated in 1849, there were ten school districts and nine one-room school houses. As the years went by, population changes affected the location and number of schools in the area. State requirements began to determine ways that student's education would be handled. Regardless, education of the Brooklin students always remained a high priority for the town. Read on.
Rebecca Usher
Rebecca Usher of Hollis signed letters that she penned for wounded Civil War soldiers with the saying, "Yours for the Soldier, Rebecca Usher." She was one of 20,000 women who worked in Union military hospitals. Read on.
Samplers, Learning to Sew
Settlers' clothing had to be durable and practical to hold up against hard work and winters. From the 1700s to the mid 1800s, the women of Maine learned to sew by making samplers. Read on.
San Life: the Western Maine Sanatorium, 1928-1929
Merle Wadleigh of Portland, who was in his mid 20s, took and saved photographs that provide a glimpse into the life of a tuberculosis patient at the Western Maine Sanatorium in Hebron in 1928-1929. Read on.
Settling along the Androscoggin and Kennebec
The Proprietors of the Township of Brunswick was a land company formed in 1714 and it set out to settle lands along the Androscoggin and Kennebec Rivers in Maine. Read on.
The Shape of Maine
The boundaries of Maine are the product of international conflict, economic competition, political fights, and contested development. The boundaries are expressions of human values; people determined the shape of Maine. Read on.
Skiing Pleasant Mountain
By the second half of the 20th century, skiing began to enjoy unprecedented popularity. Pleasant Mountain in Bridgton (now Shawnee Peak) was Maine's foremost place to join the fun in the 1950s and 1960s. Read on.
A Soldier's Declaration of Independence
William Bayley of Falmouth (Portland) was a soldier in the Continental Army, seeing service at Ticonderoga, Valley Forge, Monmouth Court House, and Saratoga, among other locations. His letters home to his mother reveal much about the economic hardships experienced by both soldiers and those at home. Read on.
Songs of Winnebago
An enduring element of summer camps is the songs campers sing around the campfire, at meals, and on many other occasions. Some regale the camp experience and others spur the camp's athletes on to victory. Read on.
Strike Up the Band
Before the era of recorded music and radio, nearly every community had a band that played at parades and other civic events. Fire departments had bands, military units had bands, theaters had bands. Band music was everywhere. Read on.
Suffrage in Maine
While numerous Mainers worked for and against woman suffrage in the state in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some also worked on the national level, seeking a federal amendment to allow women the right to vote Read on.
Summer Camps
Maine is home to dozens of summer-long youth camps and untold numbers of day camps that take advantage of water, woods, and fresh air. While the children, counselors, and other staff come to Maine in the summer, the camps live on throughout the year and throughout the lives of many of the campers. Read on.
Summer's Favorite Game
Baseball often is called the National Pastime. For many people, baseball is encountered in the backyard and down the street, a game played by a few or the full contingent of a team. Read on.
The Swinging Bridge: Walking Across the Androscoggin
Built in 1892 to entice workers at the Cabot Manufacturing Corporation in Brunswick to move to newly built housing in Topsham, the Androscoggin Pedestrian "Swinging" Bridge or Le Petit Pont quickly became important to many people traveling between the two communities. Read on.
Sylvan Site: A Model Development
Frederick Wheeler Hinckley, a Portland lawyer and politician, had grand visions of a 200-home development when he began the Sylvan Site in South Portland in 1917. The stock market crash in 1929 put a halt to his plans, but by then he had built 37, no two of which were alike. Read on.
Taber Wagon
The Taber farm wagon was an innovative design that was popular on New England farms. It made lifting potato barrels onto a wagon easier and made more efficient use of the horse's work. These images glimpse the life work of its inventor, Silas W. Taber of Houlton, and the place of his invention in the farming community Read on.
A Tale of Two Sailmakers
Camden has been home to generations of fishermen, shipbuilders, sailmakers, and others who make their living through the sea. The lives of two Camden sailmakers, who were born nearly a century apart, became entwined at a small house on Limerock Street. Read on.
A Tour of Sanford in 1900
This collection of images portrays many buildings in Sanford and Springvale. The images were taken around the turn of the twentieth century. Read on.
Trolley Travel
Trolleys were the cleanest and most efficient means of mass transit Maine has ever known. Read on.
Umbazooksus and Beyond: The Allagash and Lobster Lake
Visitors to the Maine woods in the early twentieth century often recorded their adventures in private diaries or journals. Two such journals highlight a 1911 trip on the Allagash and a 1909 honeymoon at Lobster Lake. Read on.
Umbazooksus and Beyond: Katahdin and Ragged Lake
Maine is often defined by its wilderness areas. Visitors to the Maine woods, including those featured here who traveled to Katahdin and to Ragged Lake, frequently recounted their journeys in writing and photographs. Read on.
Valentines
Valentines Day cards have long been a way to express feelings of romance or love for family or friends. These early Valentines Day cards suggest the ways in which the expression of those sentiments has changed over time. Read on.
The Waldo-Hancock Bridge
The Waldo-Hancock Bridge is in the process of being dismantled after over 70 years of service. The Maine State Archives has a number of records related to the history of this famous bridge that are presented in this exhibition. Read on.
William King: Consummate Politician, Military Leader, and Entrepreneur
Maine's first governor, William King, was arguably the most influential figure in Maine's achieving statehood in 1820. Although he served just one year as the Governor of Maine, he was instrumental in establishing the new state's constitution and setting up its governmental infrastructure. Read on.
Women, War, and the Home Front
When America entered the Great War in 1917, the government sent out pleas for help from American women, many of whom responded at the battle front and on the home front. Read on.
Writing Women
Published women authors with ties to Maine are too numerous to count. They have made their marks in all types of literature. Read on.