Maine Memory Network

Songs of Winnebago

An enduring element of summer camps is the songs campers sing around the campfire, at meals, and on many other occasions. Some regale the camp experience and others spur the camp's athletes on to victory.

Music in Maine - PLAY

"PLAY Watching musicians sing and play music in public is an important communal experience for the performer and the audience."

Music in Maine - MAKE

"There are many styles of singing, depending upon the regionality of each tribal community. My group, The RezDogs, are an intertribal drum group…"

Music in Maine - Sacred Music

"Sacred Music People play and sing sacred music during religious services and events. Singing allows worshipers to participate in the liturgy, with…"

Music in Maine - Music Education

"Radio and film star Gene Autry (1907-1998), known as the “singing cowboy” sold children-sized guitars to meet this market need."

Music in Maine - Radio Cowboys and Country Music

"Betty Cody recalled singing the Cattle Call song while watching horses and son Lenny, at about age three, intuitively singing the third part harmony."

Music in Maine - Music and Television

"… from the radio, often lip synching and sometimes singing live. Astor grew up on Munjoy Hill in Portland."

Evergreens and a Jolly Old Elf

Santa Claus and evergreens have been common December additions to homes, schools, businesses, and other public places to America since the mid nineteenth century. They are two symbols of the Christian holiday of Christmas whose origins are unrelated to the religious meaning of the day.

Music in Maine - Country Music

"… some music in school, found out that I could sing and encouraged me. The instrument that I was most drawn to was guitar."

Music in Maine - HEAR

"He recorded Passamaquoddy peoples singing and speaking their language into the bell, etching them on cylinders made of ceresin, beeswax, and stearic…"

Music in Maine - Community and School Marching Bands

"Singing, dancing, performing reenactments and showcasing their artwork were major sources of income for many Indigenous peoples."

Chinese in Maine

In 1857, when Daniel Cough left Amoy Island, China, as a stowaway on a sailing ship from Mt. Desert Island he was on his way into history as the first Chinese person to make his home in Maine. He was soon followed by a cigar maker and a tea merchant who settled in Portland and then by many more Chinese men who spread all over Maine working mostly as laundrymen.

Lillian Nordica: Farmington Diva

Lillian Norton, known as Nordica, was one of the best known sopranos in America and the world at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. She was a native of Farmington.

The Jews of Maine

Like other immigrant groups, Jews came to Maine to make a living and enjoy the natural and cultural environment. Their experiences have been shaped by their occupational choices, Jewish values and, until recently, experiences of anti-Semitism.

The Public Face of Christmas

Christmas, a Christian holiday observed by many Mainers, has a very public, seasonal face that makes it visible to those of all beliefs.

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Drinking: Elegance and Debauchery

"… artists, and friends spent the wee hours singing in front of houses until they were paid to go away."

Great War and Armistice Day

In 1954, November 11 became known as Veterans Day, a time to honor American veterans of all wars. The holiday originated, however, as a way to memorialize the end of World War I, November 11, 1918, and to "perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations." Mainers were involved in World War I as soldiers, nurses, and workers on the homefront aiding the military effort.

Writing Women

Published women authors with ties to Maine are too numerous to count. They have made their marks in all types of literature.

Memorializing Civil War Veterans: Portland & Westbrook

Three cemeteries -- all of which were in Westbrook during the Civil War -- contain headstones of Civil War soldiers. The inscriptions and embellishments on the stones offer insight into sentiments of the eras when the soldiers died.

Graduation Season

Graduations -- and schools -- in the 19th through the first decade of the 20th century often were small affairs and sometimes featured student presentations that demonstrated what they had learned. They were not necessarily held in May or June, what later became the standard "end of the school year."

Music in Maine - Rock and Roll, Punk, and Elvis

"It wasn't a long shot for me, I grew up singing along with Elvis, and our voices were similar. The first time I performed as Elvis was at a variety…"

The Kotzschmar Memorial Organ

A fire and two men whose lives were entwined for more than 50 years resulted in what is now considered to be "the Jewel of Portland" -- the Austin organ that was given to the city of Portland in 1912.

A Riot of Words: Ballads, Posters, Proclamations and Broadsides

Imagine a day 150 years ago. Looking down a side street, you see the buildings are covered with posters and signs.

Bookplates Honor Annie Louise Cary

A summer resident of Wayne collected more than 3,000 bookplates to honor Maine native and noted opera singer Annie Louise Cary and to support the Cary Memorial Library.