What is happening in this picture?
What do you see that makes you say that?
What more can you find?
L'Oiseau de Neige, Lewiston, 1927
Item Contributed by
Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries
Snowshoeing was quickly adopted by French-Canadian immigrants who moved into Maine mill towns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
Snowshoe clubs have been important parts of Franco-American Maine communities as well as French-Canadian communities in Quebec since the late 19th century.
Pictured here is a women's group, L'Oiseau de Neige, of Lewiston, 1927.
Les Diables Rouges, Lewiston, ca. 1935
Item Contributed by
Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries
This men's snowshoeing team, Les Diables Rouges, of Lewiston, is pictured outside of their clubhouse, ca. 1935.
The first Canadian snowshoe club was Le Montagnard, established in Montreal in 1895. Le Montagnard was later the name of the first snowshoe club in the United States, founded in Lewiston, Maine in 1924.
The man pictured is a "raquetteur," wearing a Le Montagnard sweater in Biddeford in 1927. French-Canadian and Franco-American snowshoers came to be known as "raquetteurs" due to the shape of the snowshoe, which looks like a tennis racket.
Snowshoe convention program, Lewiston-Auburn, 1929
Item Contributed by
Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries
In addition to snowshoeing as a recreational activity enjoyed by French-Canadian and Franco-American communities, teams formed and conventions were held. This English-language program advertises a snowshoe convention in 1929. Most of the first convention programs were printed in French.
Children took up snowshoeing as well. This pair of child's snowshoes from Fort Kent, ca. 1920, is whimsically decorated around the edges.
Snowshoeing became popular in Scandinavian immigrant communities in Maine, as well. This photograph comes from a Theodore Johnsen Company advertisement. The Theo. Johnsen Company sold winter gear such as snowshoes and skis, and was the first to print a guide to skiing as a sport, marketed toward wealthy clients, which showed a woman in fancy dress on the cover wearing skis atop a mountain. The Johnsen guide was published in 1905; this photograph is ca. 1905 as well.
The Maine climate is similar to the climate in Sweden and Norway. Swedish and Norwegian immigrants settling in northern Maine during the latter part of the 19th century brought skiing with them.
This group of New Sweden young adults is preparing for a day of skiing in 1931.
Skiing in Scandinavia dates back at least 5,000 years, and was traditionally used for utilitarian purposes: long before skiing was a sport, it was a useful way to travel over snow.
Note that these New Sweden residents are using only one ski pole each as they traverse over the snow in 1922. The common use of two poles evolved in the early to mid 20th century.
William Widgery Thomas, an American man in charge of immigration recruitment to Maine, looked to Sweden for new Mainers to populate the northern part of the state. In 1871, he wrote about seeing children skiing to school.
These New Sweden students continue that tradition into 1931.
Skis were traditionally cut at different lengths for traveling over snow: a shorter pushing ski, and a longer gliding ski.
Olof Anderson's motor vehicle is shown here outfitted with skis for ease driving over the snow to deliver mail in New Sweden, ca. 1922.
Downhill skiing was developed as a sport in the Midwest and Western United States some time before it came to Maine.
Skiing in Maine was still primarily utilitarian at the beginning.
This photograph, ca. 1914, shows two early ski racers.
Winter sports in Maine prior to the popularization of downhill ski racing mostly involved tests to see whether one could move faster on skis or snowshoes over the snow.
This photograph shows a ski race in Augusta in 1923.
Alanson Mellen "Mellie" Dunham was a well-known snowshoe maker and fiddler who lived in Norway, Maine. He is shown here in his workshop in 1924. Residents of New Sweden and Norway eventually took up snowshoeing in addition to skiing.
An advertisement for Dunham's snowshoe business, ca. 1907. Snowshoeing continued to be a long-practiced tradition throughout Maine.
Another of the most popular sports in Maine is baseball.
Baseball was developed in America through the adaptation of a few different English sports.
This Houlton baseball club team is pictured with their treasurer and president/manager in 1907, along with a dog (front, center).
Children preparing to play baseball, Portland, 1927
Item Contributed by
Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media
Maine children have been playing a form of a bat-and-ball game since around 1828, but the first documented baseball game in Maine occurred in 1860.
This photograph shows a group of children getting ready to play a game of baseball in 1927. The two boys at the center are having a contest to see which team will bat first: whoever's hand ends up at the top of the bat at the end of the contest wins.
This video shows spectators and participants at a Richardson Field (later Hadlock Field) baseball game ca. 1940.
What are some similarities and differences that you notice between this video of a baseball game and baseball games you might have watched recently?
One of the most famous baseball players from Maine was Louis Sockalexis (Penobscot). Sockalexis (1871-1913) is often credited as the first non-white man to play baseball in a national league - 50 years before Jackie Robinson was signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers, Louis Sockalexis was a star player for the Cleveland Spiders.
His gravestone in his hometown of Indian Island commemorates his baseball career. Pictured next to the stone is his nephew, Chris Ranco, in 1980.
Louis Sockalexis also played baseball for several Maine regional teams before his professional career, including the Squirrel Island (off of Boothbay Harbor) team, and at resorts such as the Poland Spring Hotel, pictured here.
Sockalexis moved back to Indian Island after his professional career and coached baseball there. He proudly sent five more Penobscot players to the national league.
Louis Sockalexis's cousin, Andrew Sockalexis, was a track and field athlete - he placed fourth in the 1912 Olympic Games in Sweden, running track. Andrew Sockalexis also placed second in two consecutive Boston Marathons, in 1912 and 1913.
This Wabanaki ash and paper cord trophy cup basket, created ca. 1930, was likely based on one of Andrew Sockalexis's track trophies.
Maine's various baseball leagues have historically provided avenues for multiple communities to come together over a shared sport.
Wabanaki leagues and Black leagues were formed in addition to town, school, and other organizational teams.
Pictured here is John E. Gaskill, ca. 1925. Gaskill, more commonly known as "Pete," worked for Central Maine Power for 45 years, he also served as the Portland Harbor safety inspector for 20 years. He was part of the small but strong Black community in Portland in the early 20th century.
Pete Gaskill played for a number of semi-professional Maine teams. Known as a prolific home run hitter, he was inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.
Baseball teams were also commonly formed at Maine's many mills. Textile and pulp mills were employers of several of Maine's French-Canadian and Irish immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Pictured here is a men's team from Cabot Mill, Brunswick, ca. 1930. Mills such as this one had both men's and women's teams.
Union candlepin bowling women's league, Biddeford, ca. 1955
Item Contributed by
Biddeford Mills Museum
Bowling was another popular mill league sport. Pictured here is the Union candlepin bowling women's league in Biddeford, ca. 1955.
Candlepin bowling has historically been popular in Maine, and throughout New England and Maritime Canada.
What are the differences and similarities between candlepin and ten-pin bowling?
Bowlers with trophies, Winslow, ca. 1940
Item Contributed by
Winslow Historical Preservation Committee
Members of one of the Hollingsworth & Whitney mill bowling teams of Winslow are shown with their trophies, ca. 1940.
Intra-mill teams would play against each other, in addition to playing teams from other mills.
Hockey game, Hill Mill, Lewiston, ca. 1940
Item Contributed by
Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries
Hockey, also popular in Canada, was another team sport played by mill teams. This game is taking place outside of Hill Mill in Lewiston, ca. 1940.
Pictured here is the Sanford Mills girls' basketball team, ca. 1904. Most sports had both men's and women's teams.
How have basketball uniforms changed since 1904?
Donald Rosenberger, Maine General Hospital baseball game, Portland, 1950
Item Contributed by
Maine Historical Society
What do you think this sport is? What do you wonder about this photo?
David Carlson getting ready for donkey softball, Swan's Island, 1978
Item Contributed by
Swan's Island Historical Society
Novelty games, such as donkey softball, were sometimes played to raise money for communities or organizations, such as Maine General Hospital in the previous image.
This Swans Island donkey softball game took place in 1978. The Swans Island donkey softball game followed the same basic rules as baseball - but played while riding donkeys.
How have popular games changed over time? What has stayed the same?
What do sports look like in Maine today?
Pictured: the Brunswick High School baseball team, ca. 1900.
Note the similarity to the catcher's net (pictured at front) to a lacrosse stick. Lacrosse was developed from a traditional Wabanaki sport. What can we start to wonder about how communities make contributions to different sports?
Maine continues to benefit from immigrant contributions to team sports and community recreational activities.
Jose Castaneda, an immigrant from El Salvador, pictured here in 2009, is the founder of the Portland Soccer League.
This shirt from 2004 is from the "Many and One Coalition" in Lewiston. Following Lewiston Mayor Raymond's 2002 address asking that Somali refugees stop coming to Lewiston because the town had reached capacity, the majority of the town showed their support for the Somalian community.
The high school soccer team in Lewiston brought together students who had lived in the town for years and students from immigrant and refugee communities. The team won the high school state championship in 2015.
Skiing and snowshoeing have remained popular, but have also changed a lot over time.
Pictured here: a skier being pulled by a horse and rider in Fryeburg, 1936.
Snowshoeing and cross-country skiing still serve utilitarian purposes, as well!
Pictured here is Leslie Cain with his snowshoes in Fairfield, ca. 1920. Snowshoes are especially helpful during Nor'easters and in Maine's mountains and northernmost towns.
Ice skating has endured along with skiing and snowshoeing as a winter sport and activity.
This 1868 illustration shows the skating rink in Bangor. This was drawn by Bangor accountant and shopkeeper John Martin (1823-1904).
Another of John Martin's illustrations shows Canadian star skater Charles Perry in 1868.
Martin's illustrations are helpful tools for historians - they show different skating positions as practiced in the late 1860s.
Ice skating, Deering Oaks, Portland, ca. 1924
Item Contributed by
Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media
Ice skating in Deering Oaks Park, Portland, ca. 1924.
Skating on Mallye's Pond, Swans Island, 1987.
What is similar and different about the ice skating images from these different eras?
Twin City Cyclones, Lewiston, 1929
Item Contributed by
Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries
Winter sports are especially popular and enduring in Maine, including hockey.
Pictured here is the Twin City Cyclones team of Lewiston, a Franco-American team, in 1929.
What activities do people enjoy in Maine in the summer?
Some of the first summer tourists were called "rusticators." Rusticators came to the mountains, parks, and coast of Maine to enjoy the summer weather.
Pictured here are two rusticators climbing Newport (Champlain) Mountain in 1886. Mount Desert Island was a popular rusticator destination.
Wabanaki communities, settler and immigrant communities, and rusticators and tourists have also historically hunted and fished in the woods and rivers, and along the coast of Maine.
One of the most popular outfitters for outdoor recreation and sports in Maine is L.L. Bean. After inventing the Maine Hunting Shoe in 1911, Leon Leonwood Bean's shop opened in 1912.
This L.L. Bean fishing creel dates to ca. the 1940s.
While canoes were helpful for the Wabanakis to navigate river highways, hunt fish, and more, rusticators took to canoeing as a recreational activity.
Wabanaki guides could be hired by summer tourists, especially along the coast, to help visitors navigate local waters and give information about the area. Hunters could also hire Wabanaki guides.
Shown here are rusticators canoeing at Bar Harbor in 1886. Note the steamship in the background as well. What does this make you think about?
In addition to communities who live in Maine enjoying sports and activities, Maine has also welcomed several visiting teams over the years.
This British relay team won first place in a Portland competition during the centennial games in 1920.
What other sports have Maine residents enjoyed over the years?
Pictured here is a team of cheerleaders in Fairfield, ca. 1955.
Boxing in Lincoln, ca. 1930.
Boxing had enduring popularity throughout Maine in the first half of the 20th century. Pictured here is Johnny McIntire, a welterweight boxer, in 1924. He was knocked out 5 times and knocked out his opponents 5 times.
Islesboro High School girls' basketball team, 1928.
Farmington High School football team, 1909. How have football uniforms changed over time?
EMCS field hockey team, Bucksport, 1933.
Lawn tennis in Saco, 1888.
Jack Lawrence, "Champion of Maine," and a member of the York County Wheelmen, shown here on his 2-wheel cycle in Saco, ca. 1900. This cycle replaced the high wheel "bone breakers" around 1900.
How have bicycles changed over time?
Buzzell's Pool, Boothbay, ca. 1938.
Ada Martin gymnastic costume, Bangor, 1864
Item Contributed by
Maine Historical Society and Maine State Museum
Another of John Martin's illustrations from 1860s Bangor shows his eldest daughter Ada's gymnastics costume. She is shown holding a dumbbell.
Several different types of racing have occurred in Maine as well.
Pictured here: harness racing in Bangor, ca. 1915.
A Stanley Steam Racer at Old Orchard Beach, 1911.
Golf at the Belgrade, 1911.
Madawaska Training School students playing volleyball, Fort Kent, 1927
Item Contributed by
Blake Library Special Collections
Volleyball at Madawaska Training School in Fort Kent, 1927.
Croquet on Harmony Hill, Cousins Island, ca. 1920.
Women's Tennis Club, Bucksport, ca. 1900.
Sports have commonly been enjoyed as club activities.
Clubs such as the YMCA and YWCA have been headquarters for several different kinds of activities, especially for youth, since the mid-19th century.
The first YMCA was founded in England in the 1840s as a bible study group to help young men off the streets. The first YMCA in America was founded in Boston in the 1850s. Shown here is Bangor's first YMCA, ca. 1895.
The first gymnasium in a YMCA appeared in the 1860s.
YWCAs were equally as likely to have business classes as physical activities.
Shown here is a gymnastics class from 1927. How are these uniforms different from Ada Martin's gymnastics uniform from 1868?
Which sports and activities do you think will continue to be popular in Maine in the future? What new sports and activities do you think Maine communities might develop?
Pictured here: skiers at Pleasant Mountain, Bridgton, 1963.
