Maine Memory Network

Portrait of Anthony Petropulos in policeman's uniform, Lewiston, 1940

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1940 Location: Lewiston Media: Wood, paper

Cutting sheds, Benvenue Granite Co., Stonington, ca. 1912

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1912 Location: Stonington Media: Postcard

Dressing Up, Standing Out, Fitting In

Adorning oneself to look one's "best" has varied over time, gender, economic class, and by event. Adornments suggest one's sense of identity and one's intent to stand out or fit in.

Looking Out: Maine's Fire Towers

Maine, the most heavily forested state in the nation, had the first continuously operational fire lookout tower, beginning a system of fire prevention that lasted much of the twentieth century.

Historic Hallowell - Ice Cutting

"Ice cutting industries, specifically Gardiner ice cutting industry cut ice off of the Kennebec River, during the cold winter seasons when the ice was…"

Historic Hallowell - Ice Cutting and Ice Houses on the Bombahook

"The ice was cut by hand. After the snow was scraped from the area, the ice was plowed out. The ice plow was a weighted, horse-drawn machine with a…"

Rug Hooking Project with a Story
by Marilyn Weymouth Seguin

My grandmother taught me the Maine craft of rug hooking when I was a child.

A Story in a Stick
by Jim Moulton

A story about dowsing for a well in Bowdoin

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.