Maine Memory Network

Philpot Studios, Sanford, ca. 1905

Contributed by: Sanford-Springvale Historical Society Date: circa 1905 Location: Sanford Media: Print from Glass Negative

Philpot's Studio, Sanford, 1903

Contributed by: Sanford-Springvale Historical Society Date: circa 1903 Location: Sanford Media: Photographic print

510-512 Congress Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Martha Abbott Use: Stores - Studio - Beauty Parlor

226-228 Westbrook Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Lillian M. Parker Use: Studio and Dwelling

Patterson studio, Cape Elizabeth, 1925

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1925 Location: Cape Elizabeth Client: C. R. Patterson Architect: John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens Architects

Sargent residence, South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, 2013

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 2013 Location: Dartmouth Client: Susan Sargent Architect: Albert, Richter, Tittmann Architects, Inc.

People, Pets & Portraits

Informal family photos often include family pets -- but formal, studio portraits and paintings also often feature one person and one pet, in formal attire and pose.

Eternal Images: Photographing Childhood

From the earliest days of photography doting parents from across Maine sought to capture images of their young children. The studio photographs often reflect the families' images of themselves and their status or desired status.

Early Maine Photography - Studio Portraits

"Studio Portraits Studio Portrait Slideshow Click on image for full slideshow Beginning the 1840s, photographers sought to make the connection…"

Farmington: Franklin County's Shiretown - Mildred Thomas and Harold Sawyer, ca. 1910

"Harold was the son of Charles Sawyer who had a studio in Farmington from 1904-1920. His handpainted photographs were very popular."

Scientist Turned Artist Making Art Out of Trash
by Ian Trask

Bowdoin College alum returns to midcoast Maine to make environmentally conscious artwork

One View
by Karen Jelenfy

My life as an artist in Maine.

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.