Maine Memory Network

President Taft, Biddeford Pool, 1910

Contributed by: McArthur Public Library Date: 1910-07-28 Location: Biddeford Media: Photographic print

President Taft visits Biddeford Pool, 1910

Contributed by: McArthur Public Library Date: 1910-07-28 Location: Biddeford Media: Photographic print

Goldstein residence, Winter Harbor, 1982-1993

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1982–1993 Location: Winter Harbor Client: Alan Goldstein, Architect: Landscape Design Associates

J. C. Hamlen house, ca. 1890

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1890 Client: J. C. Hamlen Architect: John Calvin Stevens and Albert Winslow Cobb Architects

Presidents and Campaigns

Several Mainers have run for president or vice president, a number of presidents, past presidents, and future presidents have had ties to the state or visited here, and, during campaign season, many presidential candidates and their family members have brought their campaigns to Maine.

Putting Men to Work, Saving Trees

While many Mainers were averse to accepting federal relief money during the Great Depression of the 1930s, young men eagerly joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, one of President Franklin Roosevelt's most popular programs. The Maine Forest Service supervised the work of many of the camps.

Presque Isle: The Star City - Mono Aircraft Company, Presque Isle, 1935

"Linn, president of the Linn Tractor Company, Morris, N.Y. The photo was taken at Presque Isle's airport in 1935. Linn was a native of Washburn."

Historic Hallowell - Portrait of the Proprietor

"His son Joseph F. Bodwell succeeded him as president of the Hallowell Granite Works. Bodwell House, Hallowell, ca."

Pandemic ruminations and the death of Rose Cleveland
by Tilly Laskey

Correlations between the 1918 and 2020 Pandemics

Mark Plummer, golfer from Maine
by Mark Plummer

Amateur golfer from Maine, Mark Plummer discussed his golf career and life lessons

Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride Companion Curriculum

Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8 Content Area: Social Studies
These lesson plans were developed by Maine Historical Society for the Seashore Trolley Museum as a companion curriculum for the historical fiction YA novel "Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride" by Jean. M. Flahive (2019). The novel tells the story of Millie Thayer, a young girl who dreams of leaving the family farm, working in the city, and fighting for women's suffrage. Millie's life begins to change when a "flying carpet" shows up in the form of an electric trolley that cuts across her farm and when a fortune-teller predicts that Millie's path will cross that of someone famous. Suddenly, Millie finds herself caught up in events that shake the nation, Maine, and her family. The lesson plans in this companion curriculum explore a variety of topics including the history of the trolley use in early 20th century Maine, farm and rural life at the turn of the century, the story of Theodore Roosevelt and his relationship with Maine, WWI, and the flu pandemic of 1918-1920.

Longfellow Studies: The Birth of An American Hero in "Paul Revere's Ride"

Grade Level: 9-12 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
The period of American history just prior to the Civil War required a mythology that would celebrate the strength of the individual, while fostering a sense of Nationalism. Longfellow saw Nationalism as a driving force, particularly important during this period and set out in his poem, "Paul Revere's Ride" to arm the people with the necessary ideology to face the oncoming hardships. "Paul Revere's Ride" was perfectly suited for such an age and is responsible for embedding in the American consciousness a sense of the cultural identity that was born during this defining period in American History. It is Longfellow's interpretation and not the actual event that became what Dana Gioia terms "a timeless emblem of American courage and independence." Gioia credits the poem's perseverance to the ease of the poem's presentation and subject matter. "Paul Revere's Ride" takes a complicated historical incident embedded in the politics of Revolutionary America and retells it with narrative clarity, emotional power, and masterful pacing,"(2). Although there have been several movements to debunk "Paul Revere's Ride," due to its lack of historical accuracy, the poem has remained very much alive in our national consciousness. Warren Harding, president during the fashionable reign of debunk criticism, perhaps said it best when he remarked, "An iconoclastic American said there never was a ride by Paul Revere. Somebody made the ride, and stirred the minutemen in the colonies to fight the battle of Lexington, which was the beginning of independence in the new Republic of America. I love the story of Paul Revere, whether he rode or not" (Fischer 337). Thus, "despite every well-intentioned effort to correct it historically, Revere's story is for all practical purposes the one Longfellow created for him," (Calhoun 261). It was what Paul Revere's Ride came to symbolize that was important, not the actual details of the ride itself.