Maine Memory Network

John Neal to Rachel Neal, 1815

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1815 Location: Baltimore; Portland Media: Ink on paper

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John Neal letter, 1850

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1850 Media: Ink on paper

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39 Neal Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Max Oransky Use: Garage

61 Neal Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: First Church of Christ the Scientist Use: Church

Pike Farmhouse Measured for Neal W. Allen, Sebago, 1923

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1923 Location: Sebago Client: Neal W. Allen Architect: John Howard Stevens; John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens Architects

House for Neal W. Allen, Craigie St., Portland, 1908-1926

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1908–1926 Location: Portland; Portland Client: Neal W. Allen Architect: John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens Architects

Rum, Riot, and Reform - Neal Dow

"1885Maine Historical Society Neal Dow (1804-1897), ca. 1880 Collections of Maine Historical Society; gift of Nathan Goold X The Portland…"

Prohibition in Maine in the 1920s

Federal Prohibition took hold of America in 1920 with the passing of the Volstead Act that banned the sale and consumption of all alcohol in the US. However, Maine had the Temperance movement long before anyone was prohibited from taking part in one of America's most popular past times. Starting in 1851, the struggles between the "drys" and the "wets" of Maine lasted for 82 years, a period of time that was everything but dry and rife with nothing but illegal activity.

Portland Press Herald Glass Negative Collection - Icons & Influencers

"… Fred Dow (son of infamous Temperance advocate, Neal Dow), but starting with Guy Gannett’s ownership in 1925, the Evening Express became known for…"

Lincoln, Maine - Solomon's Store

"Dalton Neal Interview on prices at Solomon's Part 2 of 2   Dalton Neal Interview on prices at Solomon's Part 1 of 2 Works Cited Lincoln…"

Anti-immigrant violence
by Matthew Jude Barker

Prejudice in Maine against immigrants dates back to at least the mid-1700s

Longfellow Studies: Celebrity's Picture - Using Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Portraits to Observe Historic Changes

Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 Content Area: Social Studies, Visual & Performing Arts
"In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book?" Englishman Sydney Smith's 1820 sneer irked Americans, especially writers such as Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Maine's John Neal, until Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's resounding popularity successfully rebuffed the question. The Bowdoin educated Portland native became the America's first superstar poet, paradoxically loved especially in Britain, even memorialized at Westminster Abbey. He achieved international celebrity with about forty books or translations to his credit between 1830 and 1884, and, like superstars today, his public craved pictures of him. His publishers consequently commissioned Longfellow's portrait more often than his family, and he sat for dozens of original paintings, drawings, and photos during his lifetime, as well as sculptures. Engravers and lithographers printed replicas of the originals as book frontispiece, as illustrations for magazine or newspaper articles, and as post cards or "cabinet" cards handed out to admirers, often autographed. After the poet's death, illustrators continued commercial production of his image for new editions of his writings and coloring books or games such as "Authors," and sculptors commemorated him with busts in Longfellow Schools or full-length figures in town squares. On the simple basis of quantity, the number of reproductions of the Maine native's image arguably marks him as the country's best-known nineteenth century writer. TEACHERS can use this presentation to discuss these themes in art, history, English, or humanities classes, or to lead into the following LESSON PLANS. The plans aim for any 9-12 high school studio art class, but they can also be used in any humanities course, such as literature or history. They can be adapted readily for grades 3-8 as well by modifying instructional language, evaluation rubrics, and targeted Maine Learning Results and by selecting materials for appropriate age level.