Maine Memory Network

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…"

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

"… Preble block, Portland, 1877Maine Historical Society John Corey, a dry goods merchant with a store on Middle Street, built the house around 1850…"

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…"

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."

Music in Maine - Community Music

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Writing Women

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

Strike Up the Band

Before the era of recorded music and radio, nearly every community had a band that played at parades and other civic events. Fire departments had bands, military units had bands, theaters had bands. Band music was everywhere.

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.

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.

J.A. Poor and the Portland-Montreal Connection

John A. Poor's determination in 1845 to bring rail service to Maine and to make Portland the winter port for Montreal, along with the steel foundry he started to build locomotives and many other products, helped boost the economy of Portland the state.

Educating Oneself: Carnegie Libraries

Industrialist Andrew Carnegie gave grants for 20 libraries in Maine between 1897 and 1912, specifying that the town own the land, set aside funds for maintenance, have room to expand -- and offer library services at no charge.

Presque Isle and the Civil War

Presque Isle had fewer than 1,000 residents in 1860, but it still felt the impact of the Civil War. About half of the town's men went off to war. Of those, a third died. The effects of the war were widespread in the small community.

Rum, Riot, and Reform - 1919 to 1934: The Nation Follows Maine Into Prohibition

"… liquor bottles, Portland, 1927Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media The dream of outlawing the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcoholic…"