Maine Memory Network

A Tale of Two Sailmakers

Camden has been home to generations of fishermen, shipbuilders, sailmakers, and others who make their living through the sea. The lives of two Camden sailmakers, who were born nearly a century apart, became entwined at a small house on Limerock Street.

Launch of the 'Doris Hamlin'

The Doris Hamlin, a four-masted schooner built at the Frye-Flynn Shipyard in Harrington, was one of the last vessels launched there, marking the decline of a once vigorous shipbuilding industry in Washington County.

A Parade, an Airplane and Two Weddings

Two couples, a parade from downtown Caribou to the airfield, and two airplane flights were the scene in 1930 when the couples each took off in a single-engine plane to tie the knot high over Aroostook County.

Reuben Ruby: Hackman, Activist

Reuben Ruby of Portland operated a hack in the city, using his work to earn a living and to help carry out his activist interests, especially abolition and the Underground Railroad.

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.

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.

Music in Maine - Radio Cowboys and Country Music

"1950Maine Historical Society The Lone Pine Mountaineers, Bangor, ca. 1940Maine Historical Society Born in Pea Cove near Old Town, Harold…"

Otisfield's One-Room Schoolhouses

Many of the one-room schoolhouses in Otisfield, constructed from 1839 through the early twentieth century, are featured here. The photos, most of which also show teachers and children, were taken between 1898 and 1998.

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."

Pigeon's Mainer Project: who decides who belongs?

Street artist Pigeon's artwork tackles the multifaceted topic of immigration. He portrays Maine residents, some who are asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants—people who are often marginalized through state and federal policies—to ask questions about the dynamics of power in society, and who gets to call themselves a “Mainer.”

Northern Threads: Civil War-era clothing

An exhibit vignette within "Northern Threads, Part 1," featuring American Civil War civilian and military clothing, 1860 to 1869.

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

"1978Maine Historical Society Civic Center model, ca. 1970Maine Historical Society The Cumberland County Civic Center opened in Portland on…"

Music in Maine - Community Music

"… 'State of Maine, My State of Maine,' 1913Maine Historical Society Historically, Grange Halls were a meeting place for farmers and a place to…"

Aroostook County Railroads

Construction of the Bangor and Aroostook rail lines into northern Aroostook County in the early twentieth century opened the region to tourism and commerce from the south.

Trolley Travel

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

Belfast During the Civil War: The Home Front

Belfast residents responded to the Civil War by enlisting in large numbers, providing relief from the home front to soldiers, defending Maine's shoreline, and closely following the news from soldiers and from various battles.

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.)

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

"1850Maine Historical Society The Coming of Drink to New England (1620–1820) For Maine's early European settlers, alcohol was a social institution, a…"

Music in Maine - Music Education

"… Cheney posing with ukulele, Sanford, 1931Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media The Portland Sunday Telegram featured five-year-old Robert…"

A Day for Remembering

Most societies have had rituals or times set aside to honor ancestors, those who have died and have paved the way for the living. Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, is the day Americans have set aside for such remembrances.

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.

A Celebration of Skilled Artisans

The Maine Charitable Mechanic Association, an organization formed to promote and support skilled craftsmen, celebrated civic pride and members' trades with a parade through Portland on Oct. 8, 1841 at which they displayed 17 painted linen banners with graphic and textual representations of the artisans' skills.

Back to School

Public education has been a part of Maine since Euro-American settlement began to stabilize in the early eighteenth century. But not until the end of the nineteenth century was public education really compulsory in Maine.

Canning: A Maine Industry

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