Keywords: New England towns
Item 98974
6 Portland Street, Mott Walker's New England Grain Company, Bridgton, ca. 1938
Contributed by: Bridgton Historical Society Date: circa 1938 Location: Bridgton Media: Ink on paper, photograph
Item 76567
Muster committee New Year postcard, 1927
Contributed by: Town of Topsham Date: 1927-10-12 Location: Newburyport Media: Postcard
Exhibit
Westbrook Seminary: Educating Women
Westbrook Seminary, built on Stevens Plain in 1831, was founded to educate young men and young women. Seminaries traditionally were a form of advanced secondary education. Westbrook Seminary served an important function in admitting women students, for whom education was less available in the early and mid nineteenth century.
Exhibit
A Town Is Born: South Bristol, 1915
After being part of the town of Bristol for nearly 150 years, residents of South Bristol determined that their interests would be better served by becoming a separate town and they broke away from the large community of Bristol.
Site Page
New Portland: Bridging the Past to the Future - Bridges of West New Portland
"… and ordered two cables to be made in Sheffield, England. That summer under his direction, Elder Ezra Wilson and William Witham with a crew built…"
Site Page
Rum, Riot, and Reform - 1620 to 1820: New England's Great Secret
"From the beginning, imbibing was part of New England's social and religious institutions. Religious leader Increase Mather rebuked drunkards, while…"
Story
Dr. Norman Beaupré: Preserving his Franco-American culture
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center
Journey growing up as a Franco-American in Biddeford to his career as a professor and author.
Story
Bob Hodge:A rocky road to become Biddeford school superintendent
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center
The son of immigrants, Bob's hard work and determination leads to a life of community service.
Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
Content Area: Social Studies, Visual & Performing Arts
"In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book?" Englishman Sydney Smith's 1820 sneer irked Americans, especially writers such as Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Maine's John Neal, until Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's resounding popularity successfully rebuffed the question. The Bowdoin educated Portland native became the America's first superstar poet, paradoxically loved especially in Britain, even memorialized at Westminster Abbey. He achieved international celebrity with about forty books or translations to his credit between 1830 and 1884, and, like superstars today, his public craved pictures of him. His publishers consequently commissioned Longfellow's portrait more often than his family, and he sat for dozens of original paintings, drawings, and photos during his lifetime, as well as sculptures. Engravers and lithographers printed replicas of the originals as book frontispiece, as illustrations for magazine or newspaper articles, and as post cards or "cabinet" cards handed out to admirers, often autographed. After the poet's death, illustrators continued commercial production of his image for new editions of his writings and coloring books or games such as "Authors," and sculptors commemorated him with busts in Longfellow Schools or full-length figures in town squares. On the simple basis of quantity, the number of reproductions of the Maine native's image arguably marks him as the country's best-known nineteenth century writer. TEACHERS can use this presentation to discuss these themes in art, history, English, or humanities classes, or to lead into the following LESSON PLANS. The plans aim for any 9-12 high school studio art class, but they can also be used in any humanities course, such as literature or history. They can be adapted readily for grades 3-8 as well by modifying instructional language, evaluation rubrics, and targeted Maine Learning Results and by selecting materials for appropriate age level.
