Maine Memory Network

County fair pulling contest, Farmington, 1932

Contributed by: Stanley Museum on deposit at Maine Historical Society Date: 1932 Location: Farmington Media: Lantern slide, hand colored

Grinding corn, Franklin county, ca. 1910

Contributed by: Stanley Museum on deposit at Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1910 Media: Lantern slide, hand colored

House for Mr. W.M. Greenleaf, Auburn, ca. 1920

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1920 Location: Auburn Client: W. M. Greenleaf Architect: Harry S. Coombs

Lewiston Water Works, Pump House, Gate House, Pipe House, Lewiston, 1878

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1878 Location: Lewiston Client: Lewiston Water Works Architect: Stevens and Coombs Architects

Of Note: Maine Sheet Music

Of Note: Maine Sheet Music features captivating covers of original sheet music along with stories about Maine connections to the songs. Before people had easy access to popular music from records, radios, and the internet, they played songs of the day on instruments at home, using sheet music purchased at music stores. Iconic Maine subjects like lobsters, pine trees, and winter were perfect for lyrics sung by luminaries like Rudy Vallée of Westbrook, and intricate artwork of Maine’s landscape graced the sheet music covers.

Mural mystery in Westport Island's Cornelius Tarbox, Jr. House

The Cornelius Tarbox, Jr. House, a well-preserved Greek Revival house on Westport Island, has a mystery contained within--a panoramic narrative mural. The floor-to-ceiling mural contains eight painted panels that create a colorful coastal seascape which extends through the front hallway and up the stairwell. The name of the itinerant painter has been lost over time, can you help us solve the mystery of who he or she was?

Historic Clothing Collection - 1870-1890 - Page 3 of 4

"The garment is trimmed throughout with colorful hand embroidered floral sprays and a deep chenille bobble fringe edges the sleeves and basque."

Historic Clothing Collection - Northern Threads: Two centuries of dress at Maine Historical Society - Page 3 of 3

"Bigelow, the garment is trimmed throughout with colorful hand-embroidered floral sprays, and chenille bobble fringe."

Co-founding Halcyon Yarn and learning to weave
by Hector Jaeger

Moving to Maine, Halcyon Yarn, and rediscovering the joy of weaving

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.

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.