Maine Memory Network

Frederick Rogers to his mother in Bangor, Oct. 11, 1861

Contributed by: Bangor Historical Society Date: 1861-10-11 Location: Bangor Media: Ink on paper

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Taking the Oath and Drawing Rations, 1866

Contributed by: Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum Date: 1866 Location: Houlton; New York Media: Painted plaster

Rogers property, Island Avenue, Long Island, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Geneva B. Rogers Use: Sweet Shop and Fish Market

Rogers property, East Side Garfield Avenue, Long Island, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Samuel H. Rogers Use: Summer Dwelling

House for Mr. O. C. Rogers, Bath, 1898

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1898 Location: Bath Client: O. C. Rogers Architect: Coombs, Gibbs, and Wilkinson Architects

Alterations for Mr. Roger Snow, Falmouth, 1913-1933

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1913–1933 Location: Falmouth Client: Roger Snow Architect: John P. Thomas

World Alpine Ski Racing in Maine

Sugarloaf -- a small ski area by European standards -- entered ski racing history in 1971 by hosting an event that was part of the World Cup Alpine Ski Championships. The "Tall Timber Classic," as the event was known, had a decidedly Maine flavor.

Horace W. Shaylor: Portland Penman

Horace W. Shaylor, a native of Ohio, settled in Portland and turned his focus to handwriting, developing several unique books of handwriting instruction. He also was a talented artist.

Lincoln, Maine - Roger Weatherbee of Lincoln in his P-51 H fighter plane, 1946

"Roger flew this plane from Florida to Presque Isle air base after being stationed in Florida after WW II."

Thomaston: The Town that Went to Sea - The Humphrey House

"1871Thomaston Historical Society Howland Rogers was another builder brought to Thomaston by General Knox."

In the midst of the tragedy of war, there are humorous moments
by Roger Ek, Seawolf 25

Never leave beer with the PBRs

Seawolf Outhouse Robbery
by Roger Ek, Seawolf 25

How necessity creates invention, and the moving of an outhouse in Vietnam.

Longfellow Studies: The American Wilderness? How 19th Century American Artists Viewed the Separation Of Civilization and Nature

Grade Level: 9-12 Content Area: Social Studies, Visual & Performing Arts
When European settlers began coming to the wilderness of North America, they did not have a vision that included changing their lifestyle. The plan was to set up self-contained communities where their version of European life could be lived. In the introduction to The Crucible, Arthur Miller even goes as far as saying that the Puritans believed the American forest to be the last stronghold of Satan on this Earth. When Roger Chillingworth shows up in The Scarlet Letter's second chapter, he is welcomed away from life with "the heathen folk" and into "a land where iniquity is searched out, and punished in the sight of rulers and people." In fact, as history's proven, they believed that the continent could be changed to accommodate their interests. Whether their plans were enacted in the name of God, the King, or commerce and economics, the changes always included – and still do to this day - the taming of the geographic, human, and animal environments that were here beforehand. It seems that this has always been an issue that polarizes people. Some believe that the landscape should be left intact as much as possible while others believe that the world will inevitably move on in the name of progress for the benefit of mankind. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby – a book which many feel is one of the best portrayals of our American reality - the narrator, Nick Carraway, looks upon this progress with cynicism when he ends his narrative by pondering the transformation of "the fresh green breast of a new world" that the initial settlers found on the shores of the continent into a modern society that unsettlingly reminds him of something out of a "night scene by El Greco." Philosophically, the notions of progress, civilization, and scientific advancement are not only entirely subjective, but also rest upon the belief that things are not acceptable as they are. Europeans came here hoping for a better life, and it doesn't seem like we've stopped looking. Again, to quote Fitzgerald, it's the elusive green light and the "orgiastic future" that we've always hoped to find. Our problem has always been our stoic belief system. We cannot seem to find peace in the world either as we've found it or as someone else may have envisioned it. As an example, in Miller's The Crucible, his Judge Danforth says that: "You're either for this court or against this court." He will not allow for alternative perspectives. George W. Bush, in 2002, said that: "You're either for us or against us. There is no middle ground in the war on terror." The frontier -- be it a wilderness of physical, religious, or political nature -- has always frightened Americans. As it's portrayed in the following bits of literature and artwork, the frontier is a doomed place waiting for white, cultured, Europeans to "fix" it. Anything outside of their society is not just different, but unacceptable. The lesson plan included will introduce a few examples of 19th century portrayal of the American forest as a wilderness that people feel needs to be hesitantly looked upon. Fortunately, though, the forest seems to turn no one away. Nature likes all of its creatures, whether or not the favor is returned. While I am not providing actual activities and daily plans, the following information can serve as a rather detailed explanation of things which can combine in any fashion you'd like as a group of lessons.