Maine Memory Network

Jonathan Bayley letter to Joseph Hights, 1770

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1770-02-13 Location: Portland Media: Ink on paper

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Dedication groundbreaking of St. Joseph Hospital building, Bangor, 1962

Contributed by: St. Joseph Healthcare Date: 1962-03-19 Location: Bangor Media: Photographic print

Reed property, Joseph Reed Farmhouse, Little Chebeague Island, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Joseph B. Reed Use: Summer Dwelling

Reed property, Joseph Reed Storage, Little Chebeague Island, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Joseph B. Reed Use: Storage

House for Mr. Joseph Kenney, Lewiston, 1893

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1893 Location: Lewiston Client: Joseph Kenney Architect: George M. Coombs

Plans for the Dwelling House of Joseph Briggs, Winthrop, 1884

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1884 Location: Winthrop Client: Joseph Briggs Architect: George M. Coombs

Student Exhibit: Benedict Arnold's March Through Skowhegan

Benedict Arnold arrived in Skowhegan on October 4th, 1775, and it was here that Arnold received his first offer of help from the colonists. Joseph Weston and his sons helped Benedict Arnold and his army cross over the Skowhegan Falls, but Joseph later got a severe cold from exposure and died of a fever on Oct.16th. His sons went back to the family home along the Kennebec for they were the first family to settle in Old Canaan or what is now Skowhegan.

A Riot of Words: Ballads, Posters, Proclamations and Broadsides

Imagine a day 150 years ago. Looking down a side street, you see the buildings are covered with posters and signs.

St. Joseph Healthcare

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Beyond Borders - Mapping Maine and the Northeast Boundary - Passamaquoddy Hereditary Chief Francis Joseph Neptune

"… of Pagan and Chipman’s Meetings with Francis Joseph Neptune, 1796Maine Historical Society Francis Joseph Neptune (1760-1834) grew up in a…"

Protesters spit on me as a Vietnam Veteran
by Joseph Rocque Jr.

I will never forget the horror of seeing all the protestors greeting my plane returning from Vietnam

Norman Sevigny: history of a neighborhood grocery store
by Biddeford Cultural & Heritage Center

Growing up in a Franco-American community and working in the family business, Sevigny’s Market

Longfellow Studies: The Birth of An American Hero in "Paul Revere's Ride"

Grade Level: 9-12 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
The period of American history just prior to the Civil War required a mythology that would celebrate the strength of the individual, while fostering a sense of Nationalism. Longfellow saw Nationalism as a driving force, particularly important during this period and set out in his poem, "Paul Revere's Ride" to arm the people with the necessary ideology to face the oncoming hardships. "Paul Revere's Ride" was perfectly suited for such an age and is responsible for embedding in the American consciousness a sense of the cultural identity that was born during this defining period in American History. It is Longfellow's interpretation and not the actual event that became what Dana Gioia terms "a timeless emblem of American courage and independence." Gioia credits the poem's perseverance to the ease of the poem's presentation and subject matter. "Paul Revere's Ride" takes a complicated historical incident embedded in the politics of Revolutionary America and retells it with narrative clarity, emotional power, and masterful pacing,"(2). Although there have been several movements to debunk "Paul Revere's Ride," due to its lack of historical accuracy, the poem has remained very much alive in our national consciousness. Warren Harding, president during the fashionable reign of debunk criticism, perhaps said it best when he remarked, "An iconoclastic American said there never was a ride by Paul Revere. Somebody made the ride, and stirred the minutemen in the colonies to fight the battle of Lexington, which was the beginning of independence in the new Republic of America. I love the story of Paul Revere, whether he rode or not" (Fischer 337). Thus, "despite every well-intentioned effort to correct it historically, Revere's story is for all practical purposes the one Longfellow created for him," (Calhoun 261). It was what Paul Revere's Ride came to symbolize that was important, not the actual details of the ride itself.