Maine Memory Network

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.

Great Cranberry Island's Preble House

The Preble House, built in 1827 on a hilltop over Preble Cove on Great Cranberry Island, was the home to several generations of Hadlock, Preble, and Spurling family members -- and featured in several books.

Fashionable Maine: early twentieth century clothing

Maine residents kept pace with the dramatic shift in women’s dress that occurred during the short number of years preceding and immediately following World War I. The long restrictive skirts, stiff collars, body molding corsets and formal behavior of earlier decades quickly faded away and the new straight, dropped waist easy-to-wear clothing gave mobility and freedom of movement in tune with the young independent women of the casual, post-war jazz age generation.

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.

Wired! How Electricity Came to Maine

As early as 1633, entrepreneurs along the Piscataqua River in southern Maine utilized the force of the river to power a sawmill, recognizing the potential of the area's natural power sources, but it was not until the 1890s that technology made widespread electricity a reality -- and even then, consumers had to be urged to use it.

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.

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

"Generations of later immigrants brought new brewing and distilling traditions—the signs of their cultures and often the means to fortune."

Walter Wyman and River Power

Walter Wyman's vision to capture the power of Maine's rivers to produce electricity led to the formation of Central Maine Power Co. and to a struggle within the state over what should happen to the power produced by the state's natural resources.

Monuments to Civil War Soldiers

Maine supplied a huge number of soldiers to the Union Army during the Civil War -- some 70,000 -- and responded after the war by building monuments to soldiers who had served and soldiers who had died in the epic American struggle.

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Influential & Interesting Documents

"… a physician of some stature, he influenced a new generation of medical leaders. In his 1790 edition, he used this chart to illustrate the addictive…"

Music in Maine - Community Music

"… folksongs, making me the keeper of songs for my generation. Representing a mélange of poignant laments and serenades along with uproarious…"

Gluskap of the Wabanaki

Creation and other cultural tales are important to framing a culture's beliefs and values -- and passing those on. The Wabanaki -- Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot -- Indians of Maine and Nova Scotia tell stories of a cultural hero/creator, a giant who lived among them and who promised to return.

Music in Maine - Sacred Music

"1966Maine Historical Society From Generation to Generation: Cantor Samuel Zimelman A Family Rejoices, Portland, 1971Maine Historical Society…"

How Sweet It Is

Desserts have always been a special treat. For centuries, Mainers have enjoyed something sweet as a nice conclusion to a meal or celebrate a special occasion. But many things have changed over the years: how cooks learn to make desserts, what foods and tools were available, what was important to people.

John Hancock's Relation to Maine

The president of the Continental Congress and the Declaration's most notable signatory, John Hancock, has ties to Maine through politics, and commercial businesses, substantial property, vacations, and family.

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

"… for human waste and as receptacles (or trashcans) for the daily waste generated in a household such as broken china, glassware, and food scraps."

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Temperance Membership

"… publications aimed at preventing a younger generation from taking up the habit. X Temperance Levee Bath, February 1849 Courtesy of the…"

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

"His writings influenced a new generation of medical professionals who began to view drinking as a social ill."

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

"… to Armenian refugees and were part of an emerging generation of professional women. During the 1870s, alcoholics including former Portland…"

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Society Copes

"… alcohol, much as their parents did in prior generations. Old Collingswood Rye Whiskey ca. 1920s Courtesy of Drew D."

Music in Maine - Longfellow Family Music

"… luxury items in the early 19th century—over generations. During the War of 1812, Henry asked his father to send him a drum from Boston."

Music in Maine - Music Education

"As of 2024, the NEMC continues under the fourth generation of Wiggin family leadership. The Bowl in the Pines at Eastern Music Camp The Bowl in…"

Music in Maine - Community and School Marching Bands

"… for passing cultural traditions to the next generation. Côté worked as the organist and choir director at St. Louis Church in Auburn."

From French Canadians to Franco-Americans

French Canadians who emigrated to the Lewiston-Auburn area faced discrimination as children and adults -- such as living in "Little Canada" tenements and being ridiculed for speaking French -- but also adapted to their new lives and sustained many cultural traditions.