Maine Memory Network

The Sanitary Commission: Meeting Needs of Soldiers, Families

The Sanitary Commission, formed soon after the Civil War began in the spring of 1861, dealt with the health, relief needs, and morale of soldiers and their families. The Maine Agency helped families and soldiers with everything from furloughs to getting new socks.

Music in Maine - Music in Maine

"When radio and television waves raced across Maine in the 20th century, instead of diluting musical traditions, these influences layered blues…"

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.

Blueberries to Potatoes: Farming in Maine

Not part of the American "farm belt," Maine nonetheless has been known over the years for a few agricultural items, especially blueberries, sweet corn, potatoes, apples, chickens and dairy products.

Trolley Travel

Trolleys were the cleanest and most efficient means of mass transit Maine has ever known.

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Overview & Introduction

"… social controversies of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Temperance and prohibition movements, like the fight to abolish slavery and the struggle…"

Maine Sweets: Confections and Confectioners

From chocolate to taffy, Mainers are inventive with our sweet treats. In addition to feeding our sweet tooth, it's also an economic driver for the state.

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Why Study the History of Drinking?

"… social ills in the later 19th and early 20th centuries led to a growing political, and professional stature."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Quenching the Thirst

"S-5665 By the late 19th century, tonics and patent medicines such as these were popular cure-alls, especially with women."

Maine's Untold Vegetarian History

Vegetarianism has deep roots in Maine and this first-of-its-kind exhibition explores this untold story.

Great Cranberry Island's Preble House

The Preble House, built in 1827 on a hilltop over Preble Cove on Great Cranberry Island, was the home to several generations of Hadlock, Preble, and Spurling family members -- and featured in several books.

From French Canadians to Franco-Americans

French Canadians who emigrated to the Lewiston-Auburn area faced discrimination as children and adults -- such as living in "Little Canada" tenements and being ridiculed for speaking French -- but also adapted to their new lives and sustained many cultural traditions.

Extracting Wealth

Maine's natural resources -- granite, limestone and slate in particular -- along with its excellent ports made it a leader in mining and production of the valuable building materials. Stone work also attracted numerous skilled immigrants.

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.

Valentines

Valentines Day cards have long been a way to express feelings of romance or love for family or friends. These early Valentines Day cards suggest the ways in which the expression of those sentiments has changed over time.

Northern Threads: Penobscot mocassins

A themed exhibit vignette within "Northern Threads, Part I," about telling stories through Indigenous clothing, featuring an essay by Jennifer Sapiel Neptune (Penobscot.)

Home: The Wadsworth-Longfellow House and Portland - The Privy

"… provided interesting insights about the mid 19th century neighborhood surrounding the Longfellow house."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - 1620 to 1820: New England's Great Secret

"For this reason, at least one 19th-century critic accused New England of keeping a great secret-intemperance."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Business as Usual

"… Hill, the last active, legal brewery in 19th-century Maine. After Maine went dry in 1851, it was illegal to drink, possess, or sell alcohol but…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - 1820 to 1865: Temperance and the Maine Law

"By the second decade of the 19th Century, New England's great secret was increasingly seen as America's growing problem with alcohol."

Music in Maine - MAKE

"Developed over centuries, music in Wabanaki communities, including Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Abenaki Nations, connects to…"

Summer's Favorite Game

Baseball often is called the National Pastime. For many people, baseball is encountered in the backyard and down the street, a game played by a few or the full contingent of a team.

The Irish on the Docks of Portland

Many of the dockworkers -- longshoremen -- in Portland were Irish or of Irish descent. The Irish language was spoken on the docks and Irish traditions followed, including that of giving nicknames to the workers, many of whose given names were similar.

Rum, Riot, and Reform - A Call to Temperance

"License Early 19th century Collections of Maine Historical Society; gift of Marian Bucholtz, 1965 Broadside 282 This verse summarizes the hope of…"