Maine Memory Network
Maine's Online Museum

Title: Sweet Chariot musicians on a windjammer, Swan's Island, ca. 2000

Contributed by: Swan's Island Educational Society

Date: circa 2000

Location: Swans Island

Media: color photograph

Title: Musicians for dances at Mertic Morrison's restaurant, Swan's Island, ca.1968

Contributed by: Swan's Island Educational Society

Date: circa 1968

Location: Swan's Island

Media: color photograph

Title: Herman Kotzschmar, Portland, ca. 1900

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society

Date: circa 1900

Media: Black and white photograph

Remembering Mellie Dunham: Snowshoe Maker and Fiddler

Alanson Mellen "Mellie" Dunham and his wife Emma "Gram" Dunham were well-known musicians throughout Maine and the nation in the early decades of the 20th century. Mellie Dunham also received fame as a snowshoe maker.

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.

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.

Nordica Memorial Association

View collections, facts, and contact information for this Contributing Partner.

Swan's Island: Six miles east of ordinary

A look back at island life in Maine as captured by a team consisting of Swan's Island Educational Society representatives, which encompasses the community's library and historical society, a class from the Swan's Island School, and an Island Fellow from the Island Institute. Exhibit topics examine islanders at work and play, Baird's Quarry, old buildings, and the changing role of women on the island.