Maine Memory Network

Hermann Kotzschmar: Portland's Musical Genius

During the second half of the 19th century, "Hermann Kotzschmar" was a familiar household name in Portland. He spent 59 years in his adopted city as a teacher, choral conductor, concert artist, and church organist.

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.

Music in Maine - Community Music

"Sometimes Grange halls served as town library and offered adult education. Leeds Grange Hall stage, 1975Leeds Historical Society The Grange…"

Music in Maine - Country Music

"I was too shy to consider dancing, but I loved the music. My family always had a radio and I listened to stations WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia and…"

Music in Maine - Radio Cowboys and Country Music

"… Music Hall of Fame by Ken Brooks, Board Chair, Hall of Fame Inductee 2012 Maine Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum Click to learn more about…"

Music in Maine - Opera, Orchestras and Stages

"… and teaching Penobscot spiritual songs and dances in our community. During a time when it was illegal to do so, she disguised the events as tourist…"

Music in Maine - MAKE

"Some music and dance traditions happen seasonally for harvesting, social, and ceremonial events. Other songs honor and welcome visitors or prepare…"

Music in Maine - Music and Television

"… Astor’s performance skits included music, dance, and comedy routines. Dave Astor’s weekly episodes featured students from local high schools who…"

Music in Maine - Music Makers

"The quartet played local dances as “Mellie Dunham's dance band.” 'Rippling Waves Waltz,' 1926Maine Historical Society Mellie Dunham…"

Music in Maine - Music Education

"Dancing to music helps children build motor skills while allowing them to practice self-expression. For children and adults, music helps strengthen…"

Music in Maine - Community and School Marching Bands

"Singing, dancing, performing reenactments and showcasing their artwork were major sources of income for many Indigenous peoples."

Remembering Mellie Dunham: Snowshoe Maker and Fiddler

Alanson Mellen "Mellie" Dunham and his wife Emma "Gram" Dunham were well-known musicians throughout Maine and the nation in the early decades of the 20th century. Mellie Dunham also received fame as a snowshoe maker.

Student Exhibit: Save the Skowhegan Grange & Granges in General

A brief history of the Grange in Skowhegan, its importance to community history, and a plea to save it from destruction.

MY ISLAND HOME: Verlie Colby Greenleaf of Westport Island

Verlie Greenleaf (1891-1992) bore witness to over a century of Westport Island's history. Many changes occurred during Verlie's 100-year life. Verlie Greenleaf donated photographs, personal notes, and sat for an interview in 1987, all part of the Westport Island History Committee's collection. Her words frame this exhibition, providing a first-person account of her life.

We Used to be "Normal": A History of F.S.N.S.

Farmington's Normal School -- a teacher-training facility -- opened in 1863 and, over the decades, offered academic programs that included such unique features as domestic and child-care training, and extra-curricular activities from athletics to music and theater.

Guarding Maine Rail Lines

Black soldiers served in Maine during World War II, assigned in small numbers throughout the state to guard Grand Trunk rail lines from a possible German attack. The soldiers, who lived in railroad cars near their posts often interacted with local residents.

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.

Power of Potential

The National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs (NFBPWC) held their seventh annual convention in Portland during July 12 to July 18, 1925. Over 2,000 working women from around the country visited 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.

Promoting Rockland Through a Stereopticon, 1875

Frank Crockett and photographer J.P. Armbrust took stereo views of Rockland's downtown, industry, and notable homes in the 1870s as a way to promote tourism to the town.

Summer Folk: The Postcard View

Vacationers, "rusticators," or tourists began flooding into Maine in the last quarter of the 19th century. Many arrived by train or steamer. Eventually, automobiles expanded and changed the tourist trade, and some vacationers bought their own "cottages."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - A Call to Temperance

"… affair, which left one man dead, 14 wounded and a dance hall in ashes, on drinking. Actually, Portland, Bangor, and some smaller communities, were…"

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.

Washington County Through Eastern's Eye

Images taken by itinerant photographers for Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company, a real photo postcard company, provide a unique look at industry, commerce, recreation, tourism, and the communities of Washington County in the early decades of the twentieth century.