Maine Memory Network

Lamé dress with beaded details, ca. 1930

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1930 Location: Portland Media: silk, glass beads

Blue velvet opera coat, ca. 1920

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1920 Media: Silk, fur, beads

J. B. Brown town houses on Neal St., Portland, 1906

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1906 Location: Portland Client: J. B. Brown Architect: John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens Architects

J. B. Brown town houses on West St., Portland, 1910

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1910 Location: Portland Client: J. B. Brown & Sons Architect: John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens Architects

Luxurious Leisure

From the last decades of the nineteenth century through about the 1920s, vacationers were attracted to large resort hotels that promised a break from the noise, crowds, and pressures of an ever-urbanizing country.

Ice: A Maine Commodity

Maine's frozen rivers and lakes provided an economic opportunity. The state shipped thousands of tons of ice to ports along the East Coast and to the West Indies that workers had cut and packed in sawdust for shipment or later use.

Biddeford History & Heritage Project - The Civil War/Reconstruction Era as Experienced in Biddeford & Saco - Page 3 of 17

"… the Civil War and Reconstruction Era, ice was a luxury. Once citizens financially recovered from the hardship of the war, perishable items such as…"

Historic Clothing Collection - Eighteenth Century - Page 1 of 3

"… skilled, intensive hand labor, and an extreme luxury afforded by only the wealthiest individuals."

Maine and the Atlantic World Slave Economy
by Seth Goldstein

How Maine's historic industries are tied to slavery