Madawaska was among the first areas permanently settled by Acadians and French Canadians who moved to the Upper St. John River in the 1780s. Settlers maintained close familial, religious, and commercial ties with the other side of the river even after the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, which established the river as the international boundary line from Grand Falls to St. Francis. Small ferries moved goods and people across.
Madawaska was firmly connected to Edmundston, New Brunswick, with the construction of a bridge in 1922; it remained in use for more than a century. The construction of bridges in Van Buren, Madawaska, and Fort Kent enabled U.S. customs officials to narrow cross-border traffic to specific checkpoints like the one on this photograph. (A very similar structure was built in Van Buren.) This customs house replaced an earlier structure seen in MMN item 8176. Although the photograph is not dated, a piece from the same collection showing the building and bridge from a slightly different angle is postmarked 1948.
Dave Astor used this horn during his television series featuring local teens. The Dave Astor Show aired on WCSH, Portland's NBC affiliate, through 1971. Originally titled "For Teenagers Only," Astor's program first broadcast on WGAN (now WGME). It moved to WCSH by 1963.
One of Maine’s earliest punk bands, The Same Band of Brunswick, held a mirror to society. They commented on social justice and environmental topics—but typical of punk music, they did so with satire.
In 1978, The Same Band opened for New York punk legends, The Ramones, at Portland's The Loft.
Most Same Band band members performed with stage names like Dual Space Organs (John Etnier), Swill Hovel (Mike Laskey), Bartholomew Rex Gross (Bart Gross), Wild Barbed Needle (Joe Wainer), Crimp Eastland (Mike Guimond), Lucky Bangstick (Ozzy Gross), and Bolt Upright (Chris Michaud).
The Van Buren-based Héritage Vivant historical society grew out of renewed interest in the history and culture of the Acadians at the end of the 1960s. Organizers gradually brought historic buildings to what is now the Acadian Village to preserve the material heritage of Acadians and interpret their culture to visitors. According to a National Park Service publication, the site opened to the public in 1976.
The two buildings in the left foreground are the shoe shop and the Dubé barber shop and general store. On the right are the Morneault House (built in 1857 and moved to the site in 1975) and the Levasseur-Ouellette House (built in 1859). A building now stands between the shoe shop and the Dubé shop. It is unclear when it was built; a definitive answer might help ascertain more precisely the date of this photo.
The photographer is given simply as Voscar.
Bishop James A. Healy invited priests from the Society of Mary to serve Van Buren in the 1880s. They soon established a college with grades ranging from high school to the baccalaureate. The first building (seen above on the left) was completed in 1887. Due to low enrollment and consistent financial losses, the college closed in 1926, though high school courses were still offered under Marist leadership.
The card has no publication date or postmark. However, the image shows a new, four-story building made of brick or stone between two earlier structures (seen in MMN item 10914). This may be the building constructed through a $15,000 state grant allocated in 1907.
The college was located across from the parish church on Main Street.
Sawmills and pulp mills developed along the banks of the Penobscot River in the late nineteenth century. Logs were floated from camps farther upstream. The work of "driving" logs downriver and breaking jams may have been the most dangerous occupation in the lumber industry. Once at the destination, as in this photograph, men sorted the logs to ensure contracts between extractors and the mills were fulfilled. There were similar operations along the major rivers of northern New Hampshire and Maine.
A different angle of the sorting gap is seen in MMN item 31389 (linked below).
The card does not bear a publication date, but it was mailed and postmarked in 1911. The card was printed in Germany by the W. A. Brown Company of Lincoln, Maine.
Fort Kent is located at the junction of the St. John River and the Fish River. A mill was built on the site in the 1820s and the hamlet grew with an influx of people of Acadian and French-Canadian descent. The registers of the Roman Catholic parish of St. Louis opened in 1870. The town continued to grow with the establishment of the Madawaska Training School (now the University of Maine at Fort Kent) and, in 1952, the hospital that is today Northern Maine Medical Center. The region remains linked to its agricultural roots and to the logging industry.
The photograph, taken near the hospital on East Main Street, shows, in the left foreground, St. Louis Cemetery. Farther in the distance we find the steeple of St. Louis Church. The confluence of the two rivers, partially hidden by trees and exposed rocks, is near the center of the image. Clair, New Brunswick, appears across the river on the right-hand side of the picture. The steeple of the church of Saint-François-d'Assise lies in the distance behind the potato fields.
The back of the postcard provides the location and credits the photograph to Fred Bush. A copyright year of 1979 is given, but the photograph may have been taken earlier. Eastern Illustrating, located in Tenants Harbor, Maine, published the card.
Located on the St. John River between Fort Kent and Madawaska, Frenchville was settled by people of Acadian and French-Canadian descent in the early 1800s. Through the nineteenth century, the area was known variously as Chatauqua (or Chautauqua), Dionne Plantation, and Dickeyville. Residents helped organize a Catholic parish in the 1840s; the settlement was incorporated as a town in 1869. The railroad reached Frenchville in 1910, but the area's vocation remained primarily agricultural.
The photograph depicts the stretch of Main Street (Route 1) near the present-day Frenchville Historical Society. The date and location are ascertained by the water tower, seen partially on the left, which, according to one source, was built in or around 1910. Some of the homes to the right of the road still stand today. One of those buildings, though substantially altered, may be the Wylie House, which is today home to the historical society.
The Town of Madawaska grew from the settlement of Acadian families along the St. John River beginning in the mid-1780s. It remained a predominantly agricultural community through the nineteenth century. Though the town had boasted sawmills and carding mills, it entered the industrial era with the arrival of the Fraser Company in 1925. The center of the town gradually shifted from Saint David to the area of the mill and the international bridge. The town's population has gradually declined since the 1970s. It remains one of the most francophone towns in the United States, thanks in part to the proximity of Edmundston, New Brunswick.
The photograph was taken above the intersection of Main and Bridge streets and looks east, in the direction of Saint David. It depicts the town's commercial center. The water tower, located near the Fraser Mill, is still standing in 2024. On the right-hand side, we find what at one time was the Kmart building. The date is approximate and largely based on the automobiles in the picture.
Pelletier's Studio, which published the postcard, was located in Madawaska.
The flute is one of the oldest and most widely used wind instruments. A typical Western design side-blown flute, the player holds this instrument to the side (transverse) and blows air across the mouth hole into the flute. Along with keys that cover finger holes, this creates a different, higher sound than Indigenous block flutes.
Born in Germany, Heinrich Eduard Baack immigrated to New York around 1832 where he began manufacturing and importing instruments as Edward Baack. Baack marked this flute, which disassembles in four pieces, with his signature, E. Baack.
Arthur Schuh, who served as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) in the United States Navy Reserve, captured this candid photograph of the entrance of the U.S. Naval Frontier base in downtown Portland, in 1944. Apart from his work in the Navy, Schuh was also a professional photographer and entrepreneur. Born in Quincy, Massachusetts, Schuh received his BA and MBA from Harvard and graduated in 1940.
During Schuh's service in Portland, he captured photographs of military life during World War II, many of which depict rarely-seen images of Naval activity and locations. Some of these subjects include a captured Italian Submarine, U.S. Navy Headquarters, Frontier Base, H.E.C.P at Fort Williams, Navy Supply Pier, Casco Bay Net Depot, U.S. Navy Fuel Depot, and the U.S. Navy Fleet Signal Station on Great Diamond Island.
William H. Atkinson (1844-1929) from Limington owned this side-blown flute, made by Charles G. Chritsman of New York. Atkinson served in the 17th Maine Regiment during the Civil War, where he played in the band. Written on a piece of paper glued to the interior of the flute is the name “Atkinson.”
The Cumberland County Civic Center hosted arena music concerts and family-friendly entertainment like skating, basketball, the circus, rodeos, and music.
This poster encouraged “kids of all ages” to cut out favorite entertainment figures and to purchase tickets at local banks and stores.
Samuel Zimelman served as cantor of the Hochschule Synagogue in Lomazy, Poland before he and his family fled from Nazi Germany to Canada around 1938. The family, including five sons, moved to Maine in 1946 where Zimelman worked as a cantor at Shaarey Tphiloh in Portland.
A musical family, all five Zimelman sons—Milton, Ralph, Rabbi Sidney, Cantor Sol, and Cantor Paul— joined Samuel on the album, A Family Rejoices. Duo Sol and Paul performed as the Zimel Brothers, producing several albums including The Zimel Brothers sing Chassidic Melodies. Cantor Sol Zim—using a further shortened version of Zimelman—teaches and records in New York, with 23 recordings of Yiddish, Israeli, Chassidic, Broadway, Opera, and Pop Music as of 2024.
Alan B. Jacobs ran Tikva Records, a label specializing in Jewish American recordings in Manhattan, New York from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Dick Curless (1932-1995) from Fort Fairfield rose to stardom with his 1965 single, A Tombstone Every Mile that highlights his baritone voice. As a teen, he played with Yodeling Slim Clark in Massachusetts under the name The Tumbleweed Kid. Curless started performing in Maine when he returned from serving in the Korean War. He won a national talent contest hosted by Arthur Godfrey in 1957, and over his career had 22 Billboard country hits.
Arthur Schuh, who served as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) in the United States Navy Reserve, captured this candid photograph of a bustling Congress Street in downtown Portland on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Schuh made over 25 photographs that day throughout the city.
During Schuh's service in Portland, he captured photographs of military life during World War II, many of which depict rarely-seen images of Naval activity and locations. Some of these subjects include a captured Italian Submarine, U.S. Navy Headquarters, Frontier Base, H.E.C.P at Fort Williams, Navy Supply Pier, Casco Bay Net Depot, U.S. Navy Fuel Depot, and the U.S. Navy Fleet Signal Station on Great Diamond Island.
When donated to MHS in 1929, the owner of this bassoon noted it was “over 100 years old” and played in the first church built in Standish, likely the First Parish Meeting House, also called Old Red Church, built in 1804-1806. A woodwind instrument, this bassoon disassembles into six pieces for transport.
John Parker of London, England made this bassoon. Parker was an oboist, bass singer and bassoon player who made bassoons for the Goulding music business.
Aeolian harps create music by wind moving over the strings. Named for Aeolus, the ancient Greek god of wind, the harps include a wooden box with a sounding board and strings stretched lengthwise across two bridges.
Cultures including China, Ethiopia, Europe, Greece, India, Indonesia, and Melanesia have ancient wind harp traditions. The Bible features Aeolian harps, likely the instrument which played by itself when King David held it to the wind.
This box zither-style Aeolian harp rose to popularity in Maine between 1800 to 1850.
Melodeons are keyboard instruments invented in Buffalo, New York in the 1830s. Similar to accordions, melodeons use reeds and airflow to create sounds, but the musician pumps the instrument by foot rather than using their arms.
Melodeons were popular with rural Maine congregations and for personal use in homes because they require little maintenance and are portable. The instruments are smaller and less expensive than pianos, yet they have a very loud and pleasing organ sound. Parishioners carried this fold-up melodeon to West Cumberland Methodist Church each Sunday where Evelina D. Morrill Montfort played it for the congregation.