Maine Memory Network

A Handwritten Community Newspaper

The eight issues of South Freeport's handwritten newspaper, distributed in 1859, provided "general interest and amusement" to the coastal community.

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

"… many of which reflect patterns of growth seen in other American cities. The house, through all the changes of the city surrounding it, stayed much…"

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

"For women, the fight against alcohol abuse and other social ills in the later 19th and early 20th centuries led to a growing political, and…"

The Devil and the Wilderness

Anglo-Americans in northern New England sometimes interpreted their own anxieties about the Wilderness, their faith, and their conflicts with Native Americans as signs that the Devil and his handmaidens, witches, were active in their midst.

Debates Over Suffrage

While numerous Mainers worked for and against woman suffrage in the state in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some also worked on the national level, seeking a federal amendment to allow women the right to vote

The Swinging Bridge: Walking Across the Androscoggin

Built in 1892 to entice workers at the Cabot Manufacturing Corporation in Brunswick to move to newly built housing in Topsham, the Androscoggin Pedestrian "Swinging" Bridge or Le Petit Pont quickly became important to many people traveling between the two communities.

Women, War, and the Homefront

When America entered the Great War in 1917, the government sent out pleas for help from American women, many of whom responded at the battle front and on the home front.

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.

Away at School: Letters Home

Young men and women in the 19th century often went away from home -- sometimes for a few months, sometimes for longer periods -- to attend academies, seminaries, or schools run by individuals. While there, they wrote letters home, reporting on boarding arrangements and coursework undertaken, and inquired about the family at home.

Field & Homefront: Bethel during the Civil War

Like many towns, Bethel responded to the Civil War by sending many soldiers and those at the homefront sent aid and supported families. The town grew during the war, but suffered after its end.

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.

Nuclear Energy for Maine?

Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Wiscasset generated electricity from 1972 until 1996. Activists concerned about the plant's safety led three unsuccessful referendum campaigns in the 1980s to shut it down.

Prisoners of War

Mainers have been held prisoners in conflicts fought on Maine and American soil and in those fought overseas. In addition, enemy prisoners from several wars have been brought to Maine soil for the duration of the war.

Cooks and Cookees: Lumber Camp Legends

Stories and tall tales abound concerning cooks and cookees -- important persons in any lumber camp, large or small.

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

"… were divided into apartments (or tenements), others were boarding houses where rooms were rented or shared."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - 1865 to 1919: The Drys Gain New Adherents and Leaders

"These tough-minded women engaged in other social causes including suffrage and aid to Armenian refugees and were part of an emerging generation of…"

Notorious: Maine Crime in the Public Eye, 1690–1940 - Publication Genres

"… literacy rates in colonial New England outpaced other areas in British America, and even England itself."

A Focus on Trees

Maine has some 17 million acres of forest land. But even on a smaller, more local scale, trees have been an important part of the landscape. In many communities, tree-lined commercial and residential streets are a dominant feature of photographs of the communities.

A Field Guide to Trolley Cars

Many different types of trolley cars -- for different weather, different uses, and different locations -- were in use in Maine between 1895-1940. The "field guide" explains what each type looked like and how it was used.

Luxurious Leisure

From the last decades of the nineteenth century through about the 1920s, vacationers were attracted to large resort hotels that promised a break from the noise, crowds, and pressures of an ever-urbanizing country.

Scarborough: They Answered the Call

Scarborough met every quota set by the state for supplying Civil War soldiers for Union regiments. Some of those who responded became prominent citizens of the town.

Notorious: Maine Crime in the Public Eye, 1690–1940 - Murder on the High Seas: The Case of Captain John Connor and the Mary

"… once beat a crew member to death and threatened others from rendering aid. Eventually, crewmen Thomas Bird (circa 1760-1790) and Hans Hanson killed…"

Canning: A Maine Industry

Maine's corn canning industry, as illuminated by the career of George S. Jewett, prospered between 1850 and 1950.

Big Timber: the Mast Trade

Britain was especially interested in occupying Maine during the Colonial era to take advantage of the timber resources. The tall, straight, old growth white pines were perfect for ships' masts to help supply the growing Royal Navy.