Maine Memory Network

Home: The Longfellow House & the Emergence of Portland

The Wadsworth-Longfellow house is the oldest building on the Portland peninsula, the first historic site in Maine, a National Historic Landmark, home to three generations of Wadsworth and Longfellow family members -- including the boyhood home of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The history of the house and its inhabitants provide a unique view of the growth and changes of Portland -- as well as of the immediate surroundings of the home.

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

"… for records that have been digitized Sanborn Fire Map, Portland, 1877 X Other towns have similar records."

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

"… Home: The Longfellow House & the Emergence of Portland View exhibit: A Snapshot of Portland, 1924: The Taxman Cometh View exhibit: Picturing Henry…"

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

"1, Portland, 1846Maine Historical Society Casco Fire Company, ca. 1849 Middle Street near Exchange Daguerreotype Collections of Maine Historical…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Acknowledgements

"… Peabody Essex Museum Pingree Family Portland Museum of Art Portland Public Library Madelyn Provancher Rumford Historical Society Saint Louis Art…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Drinking Implements

"… United States Blown glass Collections of Portland Museum of Art, Maine; bequest of Margaret Jane Mussey Sweat Discovered in the foundation of the…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Business as Usual

"… in barrooms, taverns, hotels, restaurants, and museums throughout the country. It is probably safe to say that in the fifty years elapsing since…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Politics and Enforcement

"… Stoneware Collections of the York Institute Museum, Saco A strong supporter of the total abstinence movement, B.F."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Taverns, People, and Scenes

"… with enamel painting Collections of Peabody Essex Museum Jeremiah Berry (1742-1816) toasts the successful economy while on a break in his Portland…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Influential & Interesting Documents

"1812 Collections of the Dyer Library / Saco Museum Reverend Mason Locke Weems (1759-1825), best known for his imaginative biography of George…"

Home: The Wadsworth-Longfellow House and Portland - Streetscape, 1790-1930

"… house was repaired and expanded after a fire in 1814. A third story was added with a hipped roof and five windows, matching the second floor. Peleg…"

Amazing! Maine Stories

These stories -- that stretch from 1999 back to 1759 -- take you from an amusement park to the halls of Congress. There are inventors, artists, showmen, a railway agent, a man whose civic endeavors helped shape Portland, a man devoted to the pursuit of peace and one known for his military exploits, Maine's first novelist, a woman who recorded everyday life in detail, and an Indian who survived a British attack.

Port of Portland's Custom House and Collectors of Customs

The collector of Portland was the key to federal patronage in Maine, though other ports and towns had collectors. Through the 19th century, the revenue was the major source of Federal Government income. As in Colonial times, the person appointed to head the custom House in Casco Bay was almost always a leading community figure, or a well-connected political personage.

Hiking, Art and Science: Portland's White Mountain Club

In 1873, a group of men, mostly from Portland, formed the second known hiking club in the U.S., the White Mountain Club of Portland, to carry out their scientific interests, their love of hiking and camaraderie, and their artistic interests in painting and drawing the features of several of the White Mountains.

MHS in Pictures: exploring our first 200 years

Two years after separating from Massachusetts, Maine leaders—many who were part of the push for statehood—also separated from Massachusetts Historical Society, creating the Maine Historical Society in 1822. The legislation signed on February 5, 1822 positioned MHS as the third-oldest state dedicated historical organization in the nation. The exhibition features MHS's five locations over the institution's two centuries, alongside images of leaders who have steered the organization through pivotal times.

A City Awakes: Arts and Artisans of Early 19th Century Portland

Portland's growth from 1786 to 1860 spawned a unique social and cultural environment and fostered artistic opportunity and creative expression in a broad range of the arts, which flowered with the increasing wealth and opportunity in the city.

Lincoln County through the Eastern Eye

The Penobscot Marine Museum’s photography collections include nearly 50,000 glass plate negatives of images for "real photo" postcards produced by the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company of Belfast. This exhibit features postcards from Lincoln County.

CODE RED: Climate, Justice & Natural History Collections

Explore topics around climate change by reuniting collections from one of the nation's earliest natural history museums, the Portland Society of Natural History. The exhibition focuses on how museums collect, and the role of humans in creating changes in society, climate, and biodiversity.

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.

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.

Eye in the Sky

In 1921, Guy Gannett purchased two competing Portland newspapers, merging them under the Portland Press Herald title. He followed in 1925 with the purchase the Portland Evening Express, which allowed him to combine two passions: photography and aviation.

Longfellow: The Man Who Invented America

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a man and a poet of New England conscience. He was influenced by his ancestry and his Portland boyhood home and experience.

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.

Laboring in Maine

Workers in Maine have labored in factories, on farms, in the woods, on the water, among other locales. Many of Maine's occupations have been determined by the state's climate and geographical features.