Maine Memory Network

West Peru Grammar School Graduation program, 1950

Contributed by: Peru Historical Society Date: 1950-06-05 Location: Peru Media: Card stock

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Danforth School House, 1912

Contributed by: An individual through East Grand School Date: 1912 Location: Danforth Media: Photographic print

Robbinston Grade School, Robbinston, 1952-1960

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1952–1960 Location: Robbinston Client: Town of Robbinston Architect: Eaton W. Tarbell

Proposed Grade School in Crystal, Maine, Crystal, 1957

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1957 Location: Crystal Client: Town of Crystal Architect: Eaton W. Tarbell

Reading, Writing and 'Rithmetic: Brooklin Schools

When Brooklin, located on the Blue Hill Peninsula, was incorporated in 1849, there were ten school districts and nine one-room school houses. As the years went by, population changes affected the location and number of schools in the area. State requirements began to determine ways that student's education would be handled. Regardless, education of the Brooklin students always remained a high priority for the town.

Graduation Season

Graduations -- and schools -- in the 19th through the first decade of the 20th century often were small affairs and sometimes featured student presentations that demonstrated what they had learned. They were not necessarily held in May or June, what later became the standard "end of the school year."

Farmington: Franklin County's Shiretown - White's Graded School Series, Complete Arithmetic book, 1870

"White's Graded School Series, Complete Arithmetic book, 1870 Contributed by Farmington Historical Society Description Complete Arithmetic…"

Guilford, Maine - Guilford Schools

"Both the grade school and high school were decked out with buntings and other festive decorations for the town of Guilford’s Centennial celebration."

Bob Hodge:A rocky road to become Biddeford school superintendent
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center

The son of immigrants, Bob's hard work and determination leads to a life of community service.

Ann Luginbuhl - One-to-one in a small rural school
by MLTI Stories of Impact Project

Ann Luginbuhl describes the arrival of one-to-one in a K-8 school of 30 students.

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.

Portland History: "My Lost Youth" - Longfellow's Portland, Then and Now

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow loved his boyhood home of Portland, Maine. Born on Fore Street, the family moved to his maternal grandparents' home on Congress Street when Henry was eight months old. While he would go on to Bowdoin College and travel extensively abroad, ultimately living most of his adult years in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he never forgot his beloved Portland. Years after his childhood, in 1855, he wrote "My Lost Youth" about his undiminished love for and memories of growing up in Portland. This exhibit, using the poem as its focus, will present the Portland of Longfellow's boyhood. In many cases the old photos will be followed by contemporary images of what that site looked like 2004. Following the exhibit of 68 slides are five suggested lessons that can be adapted for any grade level, 3–12.