Maine Memory Network

Three piece rayon suit, Portland, ca. 1935

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1935 Location: Portland Media: rayon, metal, celluloid, mother of pearl
This record contains 11 images.

Susan Kincaid's Pendelton suit, Portland, ca. 1951

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1950 Location: Brunswick; Portland Media: wool, rayon

Biddeford, Saco and the Textile Industry

The largest textile factory in the country reached seven stories up on the banks of the Saco River in 1825, ushering in more than a century of making cloth in Biddeford and Saco. Along with the industry came larger populations and commercial, retail, social, and cultural growth.

Fashionable Maine: early twentieth century clothing

Maine residents kept pace with the dramatic shift in women’s dress that occurred during the short number of years preceding and immediately following World War I. The long restrictive skirts, stiff collars, body molding corsets and formal behavior of earlier decades quickly faded away and the new straight, dropped waist easy-to-wear clothing gave mobility and freedom of movement in tune with the young independent women of the casual, post-war jazz age generation.

Historic Clothing Collection - Square shouldered cape and suit ensemble, ca. 1943 - Page 1 of 3

"While a modern audience might associate a suit with business, the mid-century suit, paired with a stylish hat, was a popular choice for social…"

Historic Clothing Collection - Plum skirt suit with cape, ca. 1945 - Page 1 of 3

"Plum skirt suit with cape, ca. 1945 Contributed by Maine Historical Society Description This plum-colored wool suit exemplifies the chunky…"

Florence Ahlquist Link's WWII service in the WAVES
by Earlene Ahlquist Chadbourne

Florence Ahlquist, age 20, was trained to repair the new aeronautical cameras by the US Navy in WWII

My Mom was a nurse in the 8055 MASH, Korea
by Pat MacPherson

I’m so proud of my mother and the thousands of Army & Navy nurses who served in WWII & Korea