Maine Memory Network

Causeway Dedication, Westport Island, 1950

Contributed by: Westport Island History Committee Date: 1950-06-25 Location: Westport Island; Wiscasset Media: Photographic print

Causeway Dedication Dinner, Westport Island, 1950

Contributed by: Westport Island History Committee Date: 1950-06-25 Location: Westport Island; Wiscasset Media: Photographic print

Cumberland County Courthouse, Portland, 1917-1947

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1917–1947 Location: Portland; Portland; Portland Client: Cumberland County Architect: John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens Architects

Sturtevant Hall at Hebron Academy, Hebron, ca. 1890

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1890–1927 Location: Hebron Client: Hebron Academy Architect: Stevens & Cobb Architects

WWI Memorial Trees along Portland's Baxter Boulevard

On Memorial Day of 1920, the City of Portland planted 100 Linden trees on Forest Avenue, each dedicated to the memory of one military service member who had died in World War I, or who had served honorably.

Shaarey Tphiloh, Portland's Orthodox Synagogue

Shaarey Tphiloh was founded in 1904 by immigrants from Eastern Europe. While accommodating to American society, the Orthodox synagogue also has retained many of its traditions.

Farmington: Franklin County's Shiretown - Cutler Memorial Library dedication, Farmington, 1903

"Cutler Memorial Library dedication, Farmington, 1903 Contributed by Farmington Public Library Description The dedication ceremony of the…"

Biddeford Mills Museum

A historic mill museum dedicated to creating exhibits that will educate the community and highlight mill history; as a research collection to assist the public in locating information on the mill's buildings, history and employees; and to ensure the story of Biddeford's economic and industrial revolution remains relevant and accessible to diverse audiences.

Sister Madeleine Couture: Dedicating her life to teaching
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center

The story of a life immersed in family and teaching

The man who dedicated 52 years to Biddeford's iconic Alex Pizza
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center

A work ethic learned from his parents and passion for the employees and customers of Alex Pizza.

Longfellow Studies: Longfellow Amongst His Contemporaries - The Ship of State DBQ

Grade Level: 9-12 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Preparation Required/Preliminary Discussion: Lesson plans should be done in the context of a course of study on American literature and/or history from the Revolution to the Civil War. The ship of state is an ancient metaphor in the western world, especially among seafaring people, but this figure of speech assumed a more widespread and literal significance in the English colonies of the New World. From the middle of the 17th century, after all, until revolution broke out in 1775, the dominant system of governance in the colonies was the Navigation Acts. The primary responsibility of colonial governors, according to both Parliament and the Crown, was the enforcement of the laws of trade, and the governors themselves appointed naval officers to ensure that the various provisions and regulations of the Navigation Acts were executed. England, in other words, governed her American colonies as if they were merchant ships. This metaphorical conception of the colonies as a naval enterprise not only survived the Revolution but also took on a deeper relevance following the construction of the Union. The United States of America had now become the ship of state, launched on July 4th 1776 and dedicated to the radical proposition that all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights. This proposition is examined and tested in any number of ways during the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War. Novelists and poets, as well as politicians and statesmen, questioned its viability: Whither goes the ship of state? Is there a safe harbor somewhere up ahead or is the vessel doomed to ruin and wreckage? Is she well built and sturdy or is there some essential flaw in her structural frame?