Maine Memory Network

Agent commissions and oaths, 1817

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1817 Location: Cornwall Media: Ink on Paper

Holmes and Austin commissions from President James Madison, 1816

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1816 Location: St. Andrews Media: Ink on Paper

Proposed park for Portland Public Development Commission, Portland, 1920

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1920 Location: Portland Client: Portland Public Development Commission Architect: John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens Architects

Sketches of Proposed Information Building at Junction of Route One and Toll Highway at Kittery Maine, Kittery, 1950

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1950 Location: Kittery Client: Maine Development Commission Architect: Eaton W. Tarbell

The Sanitary Commission: Meeting Needs of Soldiers, Families

The Sanitary Commission, formed soon after the Civil War began in the spring of 1861, dealt with the health, relief needs, and morale of soldiers and their families. The Maine Agency helped families and soldiers with everything from furloughs to getting new socks.

Maine Through the Eyes of George W. French

George French, a native of Kezar Falls and graduate of Bates College, worked at several jobs before turning to photography as his career. He served for many years as photographer for the Maine Development Commission, taking pictures intended to promote both development and tourism.

Maine Historic Preservation Commission

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

Architecture & Landscape database - Search the Database

As commissions are digitized, new images are added to the database. However, adding at least one image per commission is considered a priority over…

Rev James Wells Appointment as Chaplain for Maine in Civil War
by David Woodward

Certificate for Rev. Wells commissioned by Gov. Israel Washburn Jr. to serve in Maine 11th Regiment

Monument Square 1967
by C. Michael Lewis

The background story and research behind a commissioned painting of Monument Square.

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.