Maine Memory Network

Military parade group, City Hall, Portland, ca. 1926

Was this during Armistice Day?

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media Date: circa 1926 Location: Portland Media: Glass Negative

February Fashions 1840

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1840 Media: Ink on paper

House for Mr. W.M. Greenleaf, Auburn, ca. 1920

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1920 Location: Auburn Client: W. M. Greenleaf Architect: Harry S. Coombs

Lewiston Water Works, Pump House, Gate House, Pipe House, Lewiston, 1878

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1878 Location: Lewiston Client: Lewiston Water Works Architect: Stevens and Coombs Architects

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.

Mural mystery in Westport Island's Cornelius Tarbox, Jr. House

The Cornelius Tarbox, Jr. House, a well-preserved Greek Revival house on Westport Island, has a mystery contained within--a panoramic narrative mural. The floor-to-ceiling mural contains eight painted panels that create a colorful coastal seascape which extends through the front hallway and up the stairwell. The name of the itinerant painter has been lost over time, can you help us solve the mystery of who he or she was?

Early Maine Photography - Studio Portraits

… by the introduction of drapery, tastefully colored." Portrait of a young woman with a straw hat, South Berwick, ca.

Historic Clothing Collection - 1900-1910 - Page 1 of 3

… fashions, one was defined by soft pastel colored, lacy, bloused or pouched bodices, with smooth firmly corseted back thrust hips ("S" bend style)…

Tapestry, Seine Twine and Burlesque
by Barbara Burns

My work as a tapestry artist and dancer in Maine.

From Chinese Laundress to Mother of the Year
by Dr. Andrea Louie

Toy Len Goon's granddaughter recounts her immigration to the US and becoming Mother of the Year.

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.