Keywords: Wadsworth, John
Item 7478
John Campbell to Henry Clinton about capture of Peleg Wadsworth, 1781
Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1781-03-15 Location: Castine Media: Ink on paper
Item 22473
Peleg Wadsworth letter to son, 1796
Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1796 Location: Portland; Cambridge Media: Ink on paper
Item 151493
Longfellow's Birthplace on corner of Fore and Hancock, Portland, 1950
Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1950-04-26 Location: Portland Client: unknown Architect: John Howard Stevens and John Calvin Stevens II Architects
Item 151147
Falmouth High School addition, Falmouth, 1930-1935
Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1930–1935 Location: Falmouth Client: Town of Falmouth Architect: John P. Thomas
Exhibit
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's popularity in the 19th century is reflected by the number of images of him -- in a variety of media -- that were produced and reproduced, some to go with published works of his, but many to be sold to the public on cards and postcards.
Exhibit
Home: The Longfellow House & the Emergence of Portland
The Wadsworth-Longfellow house is the oldest building on the Portland peninsula, the first historic site in Maine, a National Historic Landmark, home to three generations of Wadsworth and Longfellow family members -- including the boyhood home of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The history of the house and its inhabitants provide a unique view of the growth and changes of Portland -- as well as of the immediate surroundings of the home.
Site Page
Maine's Road to Statehood - 1790s: A Growing Movement
"… new capital in Maine.[15] In October 1793, Peleg Wadsworth, grandfather of the noted poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, put forth an effort to place…"
Site Page
Maine's Road to Statehood - The Final Vote
"… lobbying and failure, Massachusetts Governor John Brooks signed the bill on June 19, and on the 26 of July Maine citizens voted 17,091-7,132 in…"
Lesson Plan
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.
