Maine Memory Network

Textile industry companies on the falls, Biddeford and Saco, 1890

Contributed by: McArthur Public Library Date: circa 1890 Location: Biddeford; Saco Media: Photographic print

Lighthouse Brand potato bag, Presque Isle, ca. 1970

Contributed by: Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum Date: circa 1970 Location: Presque Isle Media: Paper

Cushing's Island Hotel & Realty Company property, Cushing's Island, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Cushing's Island Hotel & Realty Company Use: Cottage

Cushing's Island Hotel & Realty Company property, Cushing's Island, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Cushing's Island Hotel & Realty Company Use: Cottage

Great Northern Paper Company sleeping camp, 1913

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1913 Client: Great Northern Paper Company Architect: Great Northern Paper Company

Seboomook Farm, Seboomook, 1923

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1923 Location: Seboomook Client: Great Northern Paper Company Architect: Great Northern Paper Company

Colonial Cartography: The Plymouth Company Maps

The Plymouth Company (1749-1816) managed one of the very early land grants in Maine along the Kennebec River. The maps from the Plymouth Company's collection of records constitute some of the earliest cartographic works of colonial America.

Sagadahoc County through the Eastern Eye

The Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company of Belfast, Maine. employed photographers who traveled by company vehicle through New England each summer, taking pictures of towns and cities, vacation spots and tourist attractions, working waterfronts and local industries, and other subjects postcard recipients might enjoy. The cards were printed by the millions in Belfast into the 1940s.

Surry by the Bay - Surry Opera Company

"Surry Opera Company Opera Company's Tenth Anniversary festival schedule, Surry, 1994Surry Historical Society Text by Kate Mrozicki Images…"

Presque Isle: The Star City - Sears and Roebuck Company Building

"Sears and Roebuck Company Building Text by Logan and Tyler, students at Presque Isle Middle School Images from X Sears and Roebuck Company is…"

Canadian immigrant founds worlds largest paper company in 1898
by Hugh J. Chisholm

Hugh J. Chisholm founded International Paper, which was the world's largest paper company in 1898.

Starting Chebeague Island Oyster Company
by Caitlin Gerber

Farming oysters in Casco Bay

World War I and the U.S. Home Front

Grade Level: 9-12 Content Area: Social Studies
Learn about World War I using primary sources from Maine Memory Network and the Library of Congress.

Longfellow Studies: An American Studies Approach to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was truly a man of his time and of his nation; this native of Portland, Maine and graduate of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine became an American icon. Lines from his poems intersperse our daily speech and the characters of his long narrative poems have become part of American myth. Longfellow's fame was international; scholars, politicians, heads-of-state and everyday people read and memorized his poems. Our goal is to show that just as Longfellow reacted to and participated in his times, so his poetry participated in shaping and defining American culture and literature. The following unit plan introduces and demonstrates an American Studies approach to the life and work of Longfellow. Because the collaborative work that forms the basis for this unit was partially responsible for leading the two of us to complete the American & New England Studies Masters program at University of Southern Maine, we returned there for a working definition of "American Studies approach" as it applies to the grade level classroom. Joe Conforti, who was director at the time we both went through the program, offered some useful clarifying comments and explanation. He reminded us that such a focus provides a holistic approach to the life and work of an author. It sets a work of literature in a broad cultural and historical context as well as in the context of the poet's life. The aim of an American Studies approach is to "broaden the context of a work to illuminate the American past" (Conforti) for your students. We have found this approach to have multiple benefits at the classroom and research level. It brings the poems and the poet alive for students and connects with other curricular work, especially social studies. When linked with a Maine history unit, it helps to place Portland and Maine in an historical and cultural context. It also provides an inviting atmosphere for the in-depth study of the mechanics of Longfellow's poetry. What follows is a set of lesson plans that form a unit of study. The biographical "anchor" that we have used for this unit is an out-of-print biography An American Bard: The story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, by Ruth Langland Holberg, Thomas Y. Crowell & Company, c1963. Permission has been requested to make this work available as a downloadable file off this web page, but in the meantime, used copies are readily and cheaply available from various vendors. The poem we have chosen to demonstrate our approach is "Paul Revere's Ride." The worksheets were developed by Judy Donahue, the explanatory essays researched and written by the two of us, and our sources are cited below. We have also included a list of helpful links. When possible we have included helpful material in text format, or have supplied site links. Our complete unit includes other Longfellow poems with the same approach, but in the interest of time and space, they are not included. Please feel free to contact us with questions and comments.