Maine Memory Network

Can Plant, North Lubec, ca. 1900, ca. 1900

Contributed by: Lubec Historical Society Date: circa 1900 Location: Lubec Media: Photograph on card

Brass Oil Measure Cans used in Lighthouses, ca. 1800

Contributed by: Museum at Portland Head Date: circa 1800 Location: Cape Elizabeth Media: Brass

144-226 Read Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: American Can Company Use: Factory

144-226 Read Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: American Can Company Use: Office

Portland Packing Company, Portland, 1916-1918

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1916–1918 Location: Portland; Skowhegan Client: Portland Packing Company Architect: John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens Architects

Maine Building for Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, 1903

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1903–1904 Location: St. Louis Client: unknown Architect: John Calvin Stevens

Student Exhibit: Can You Help Our Free Skowhegan Public Library?

The Skowhegan Free Public Library was built in 1889 with money donated by Abner Coburn and the town of Skowhegan. Mr. Coburn left $30,000 in his will towards the building of the library. In 2005, for the library to fully keep up with their programs need to make some renovations. These changes would allow for more use of technology, more room for children's programs, and provide handicap accessibility.

Canning: A Maine Industry

Maine's corn canning industry, as illuminated by the career of George S. Jewett, prospered between 1850 and 1950.

Historic Hallowell - Learn how you can help! Contact Us

"Learn how you can help! Contact Us The work of learning about and sharing the history of our community continues! If you are interested in helping…"

Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - You Can Get Here From There

"You Can Get Here From There Before cars were allowed on Mount Desert Island, steamboats were the primary mode of transportation to Mount Desert."

Share your COVID-19 story for future generations
by Steve Bromage and Jamie Rice, Maine Historical Society

Learn how you can share your stories on Maine Memory Network

I work as a Journeyman Mechanic, or Millwright at Catalyst
by Linda Deane

Working on a paper machine and as a Millwright can be challenging as a woman and a Union Rep.

Longfellow Studies: Celebrity's Picture - Using Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Portraits to Observe Historic Changes

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.

Wabanaki Studies: Stewarding Natural Resources

Grade Level: 3-5 Content Area: Science & Engineering, Social Studies
This lesson plan will introduce elementary-grade students to the concepts and importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous Knowledge (IK), taught and understood through oral history to generations of Wabanaki people. Students will engage in discussions about how humans can be stewards of the local ecosystem, and how non-Native Maine citizens can listen to, learn from, and amplify the voices of Wabanaki neighbors to assist in the future of a sustainable environment. Students will learn about Wabanaki artists, teachers, and leaders from the past and present to help contextualize the concepts and ideas in this lesson, and learn about how Wabanaki youth are carrying tradition forward into the future.