SPRING 2020 CIRCA

MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY EST•D1822

MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY | CALENDAR 1054 PAID SMITHSONIAN MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR

Permit No. MAGAZINE May 9 Portland, ME U.S. Postage Non-Profit Org. Non-Profit MUSEUM DAY 10:00 am – 4:00 pm April 4 10:00 am - 5:00 pm MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR CONNECTING MAINE'S CAPITALS BY STAGECOACH Talk with Leland Hanchett BICENTENNIAL April 11 EDITION 1:00 - 2:00 pm

REPRESENTING RACE IN CONGRESS AT WAR MID-CENTURY MAINE Book launch STATE OF MIND: Becoming Maine Film Screening/Discussion of With Fergus M. Bordewich Exhibit Lost Boundaries May 12 March 13, 2020 to January 30, 2021 With University of Maine 6:00 - 7:00 pm April 30 THE HEALTH OF MAINE'S COASTS 6:00 - 8:00 pm FREEDOM'S WOODS: Panel Talk with Portland Ovations The African American Community of March 14 FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK Peterborough in Warren, Maine Time TBD May 1 Talk with Dr. Kate McMahon BLACK GUARDS June 30 Special Curator Tours exhibit opens with 6:00 - 7:00 pm STATE OF MIND: Becoming Maine Asasta Radcliffe March 18, April 15, May 20, June 17 (see below) 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm 5:00 - 7:00 pm CIRCA— SPRING 2020 EDITOR: Elaine Tselikis MY ISLAND HOME: Recollections of A CONVENIENT Verlie Colby Greenleaf of Westport SOLDIER: Black DESIGNER: Patricia Cousins Island Guards Protect : Ellen Alderman, Exhibit Maine Railways CONTRIBUTORS Steve Bromage, Brittany Cook, Tilly Through April 25 Exhibit With Laskey, Kathleen Neumann and Guest Curator Asasta Radcliffe Jamie Rice REDACT: Obscuring the May 1 to August 30 Maine Constitution PRINTING: JS McCarthy Printers Exhibit FOLLOW US April 3, 2020 to January 31, 2021 COVER PHOTO: Detail from Maine State Militia Flag, 1828. MMN MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY HISTORICAL MAINE 489 Congress Street 489 Congress Maine 04101 Portland, MaineHistory.org #105596 MAINE'S BICENTENNIAL: A Historic Happy Birthday to Our State

200 Years of Maine By Steve Bromage Executive Director t is here! The long-anticipated Bicentennial of Maine Statehood. This will be a special year at MHS and beyond. You have heard me say that the Bicentennial isn't simply an opportunity to "celebrate" I200 years of Statehood; it is an opportunity to explore how 13,000 years of history shapes Maine. Holding Up the Sky laid the groundwork—it helped fundamentally reframe how many are thinking about the Bicentennial. Holding Up the Sky made people more aware of the experience of Wabanaki people, of their stewardship, contributions, and enduring presence, and to understand why the Bicentennial is not something to simply celebrate. This year, we will turn to Statehood itself. We have wonderful offerings: ❚ A new Bicentennial Education Initiative on Maine Memory Network features lesson plans, extensive content, and a platform developed with the Maine Bicentennial Commission for teachers to share and download lessons created by their peers; ❚ The exhibit State of Mind: Becoming Maine will explore Maine's separation from Massachusetts, the Missouri Compromise, and how communities perceived and experienced the Statehood debate; ❚ Public programs and Scholarly forums will discuss Statehood, the Imperial Crisis, and land use; Map of Maine for the United States Gazetteer by Joseph Scott, 1795. MMN #9359 ❚ The fall issue of Maine History devoted to the Bicentennial. In partnership with the UMaine Department of History; ❚ The Magical History Tour will feature Bicentennial- related sites; StateBy Tilly Laskey of Mind: Becoming Maine ❚ Republication of Ronald Banks' book Maine Becomes Curator a State with the play-by-play of the Statehood movement; arch 15, 2020 marks the 200th anniversary of Maine separating from Massachusetts. ❚ Publication of a new book, Up for Grabs, about Maine Historical Society recognized Maine's Public Reserved Lands by Thomas Urquhart. that it would be impossible to consider Maine’s Co-published with Down East; MBicentennial without first acknowledging the 13,000 ❚ Publication of Dr. Jeremiah Barker’s 1820 Medical years of Wabanaki history in Maine, and planned two history of Maine Before Statehood annotated by Dr. complementary and Richard Kahn. Co-published with Oxford University successive exhibits, Press; starting with Holding ❚ Maine Memory Network offers vast resources to Up the Sky in 2019. learn about Statehood and all aspects of Maine On March 13, 2020, history. MHS will open our By now I trust you have been getting your daily dose second Bicentennial of Maine history through the feature "This Day in Maine exhibition, State of History" which MHS is producing with Maine Public. Mind: Becoming Maine. You can listen live and go to Maine Public's website to We explore Maine catch up on segments you miss. statehood through the experiences of We are excited to be working with the Maine Office of the Wabanaki, and Tourism (MOT) to develop a series of travel itineraries the earliest settlers— Freedom Trail plaque, 2007 by Daniel Minter, MMN #105597 that encourage people to discover new places in Maine Acadien-French, Black, and English-speaking they might not have known about, experienced or communities. visited. Organized around Maine rivers, the itineraries We explore Maine statehood —launched this spring—will provide information to Working with collaborators — including James help travelers plan day trips that introduce them to the Francis, Bob Greene, Deborah Cummings Khadroui, through the experiences of history and identify of local communities. Lise Pelletier, Darren Ranco, and Donald Soctomah —­ we grounded our curation in these questions: the Wabanaki, and the earliest The Bicentennial is going to draw much fanfare this year. Nonetheless, MHS is equally focused on what ❚ What was Maine before it was a state? settlers—Acadien-French, comes next: the role that history can play in ensuring ❚ How did Maine separate from Massachusetts? Black, and English-speaking Maine's vitality in its third century. ❚ How has the Maine we experience today been communities. We are honored to provide the foundation—the shaped by thousands of years of history? stories, information, and context—that will help ❚ How did Statehood affect existing communities? ensure the Bicentennial is a meaningful moment and Brown, James Francis, Daniel Minter, and Thérèse L. experience for people throughout Maine. As you might expect, State of Mind features MHS’s 3 Provenzano, as well as a grosse tête (giant head) used —­ Steve outstanding collection of documents, maps, and in Acadien tintamarre parades, and a diorama of an correspondence about statehood and the Missouri 1820 parlor. Be sure to come and experience State of Compromise. There are many surprises, too, Mind: Becoming Maine which will be on display through including contemporary artwork by Decontie & January 30, 2021. 3 COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS | Maine Suffrage Centennial with Images from the MHS Collections

ABOVE: Votes for Women, ABOVE: Bylaws, Maine Association Opposed to Maine Centennial Parade Suffrage for Women, 1914. Just before the Maine Centennial Parade The Maine Association Opposed to Suffrage for Hard Won. Not Done. at Portland in 1920, a group of residents Women began in Portland in 1913. It gained nearly held the “Parade of Horribles,” a popular 2,000 new female members between 1913 and parade genre that often included humorous 1917. Many of these women believed in a Victorian The Fight for Suffrage Continues costumes. This photograph appeared in "cult of womanhood," and the sanctity of the home. the Portland Evening Express with the title MMN# 5475 By Ellen Alderman, Chair, Maine Suffrage Centennial Collaborative "Indicative of What the Camera Can Stand— Views of Monday's Parade of Horribles." Anti-Suffrage Stamps, 1918. This woman, dressed in a mask and These stamps represent anti- 2020 MARKS THE CENTENNIAL patterned jumpsuit, carried a pennant suffrage for women sentiment. of the 19th amendment declaring women produced by the Women's Political Union, The stamps were produced by have the right to vote. At the Maine proclaiming "Votes for Women." The the Maine Association Opposed Suffrage Centennial Collaborative, we national woman suffrage amendment was to Suffrage for Women, which believe the anniversary is as much about only about a month away from ratification at included male and female the future as it is about the past, because the time of this parade. Collections of MHS/ membership. MMN# 5470 to understand the suffrage movement is MaineToday Media MMN# 31527 to understand why we are where we are Casting a Vote Ballot, ca. today, and how to move forward. 1935. BELOW: Signing of Women Suffrage A woman submits her voting ballot, perhaps Proclamation,1917. Since the nation’s founding, American for the 1936 presidential election. Collections women have agitated for their rights. Yet On Sept.10, 1917, Maine Governor Carl E. Milliken of MHS/MaineToday Media, 2005.061.1305 Suffrage Symbol signed a legislative resolution to hold a special at the time of the first Women’s Rights election for a state constitutional amendment to Convention in Seneca Falls in 1848, August 18, 1920, it retained barriers to Blooms in Maine grant women the right to vote in Maine. At the women had almost no opportunity for the right to vote that were not based on signing ceremony were (left to right) Mrs. Henry education or employment. Those who sex. It would be decades more before The daffodil was the flower symbol Cobb, Emma Chase Milliken, Gov. Carl E. Milliken, married became legal nonentities – their Native Americans, Asian Americans and for Maine suffragists. With the Deborah Knox Livingstone, Florence Brooks assets became their husband’s property, others were enfranchised, and it took the help of dozens Whitehouse, Charles Milliken, Anne Macomber they couldn’t have custody of their Voting Rights Act in the 1960s to ensure of volunteers, Gannett, Katherine Reed Balentine and Gertrude children, and it was not a crime to beat African Americans the right. the Maine McKenzie Pattangall. After 40 years of effort, Maine or rape your wife. Suffrage Centennial And still, new obstacles to voting are suffragist forces got the resolution to the Maine Collaborative has Winning the vote required a seismic thrown up every year, especially for those Legislature, but the amendment was defeated. planted thousands shift in society’s ingrained view of in already marginalized communities. However, a woman suffrage amendment passed at of daffodil bulbs all women, a shift we and our daughters are So too, some of the suffragists’ other the national level on August 18, 1920. MMN# 5471 still reckoning with today. around the state. The causes—violence against women and flowers will bloom Change did not come easy. unequal opportunities in education and this spring during the Women arguing for the vote were work—remain today. Centennial, and every year shut down, ridiculed, harassed, Despite the titanic victory of the suffrage thereafter, as a living, lasting and later, arrested, jailed and movement, the fight for universal tribute to the right to vote. horrifically force-fed when suffrage and true equality continues. We hope Mainers will they waged hunger strikes. The That’s why the slogan for the Maine continue to plant daffodils in tribute, movement roiled from within as Suffrage Centennial Collaborative is or post signs in support during the well, with divisions practical and "Hard Won. Not Done." blooms. For more information visit pernicious. Coalitions splintered mainesuffragecentennial.org. over tactics and divided along racial The Maine Suffrage Centennial Collaborative lines. A century later, those same is a group of diverse organizations divisions threaten to derail the from around the state dedicated to women’s marches of today. commemorating the Suffrage Centennial. mainesuffragecentennial.org Even when the 19th amendment 3 finally was ratified into law on OBJECT LESSON | Maine State Militia Flag

By Tilly Laskey STATE OF MAINE MILITIA Curator FLAG SYMBOLISM DEFINED his Maine State Militia flag DIRIGO: (circa 1828) featured potent symbols of Maine lifted from Latin "I direct" or "I lead" is the state seal, namely, the white pine the state motto of Maine. tree,T a moose, and the North Star. NORTH STAR: After separating from Massachusetts Because Maine is the most in 1820, Maine Adjutant General Northern State in the Union. Samuel Cony was tasked with supplying flags for Maine's BOW: approximately 100 militia companies, A luminous bow similar because the Articles of Separation to the twisting light of the required Maine to return all of Aurora Borealis seen in Massachusetts’s militia flags. Maine, especially during Needing a thrifty solution, Cony had October 1819 when framers this design engraved onto a copper were writing the Maine plate and printed onto silk, the first Constitution. known mass production of a militia WHITE PINE: flag. The process created “blank” flags that each regiment could later Stood as a symbol of all forest customize. trees, and was eventually designated the Maine State Ironically, the design, printing, and Tree in 1945. finishing of the flags took place in Boston. Printed during 1822 to 1861, MOOSE: only about 12 of these flags are known Reflected the abundance to still exist – including two that and independence of Maine. reside in the Maine Historical Society Designated the Maine State collections. 3 animal in 1979.

Maine State Militia Flag, 1828. MMN #105596

IN THE GALLERIES | Showcasing Collaborative Stories of Maine Islands, Redactions, and Convenient Soldiers By Tilly Laskey Curator This installation looks at In addition to State of Mind: Becoming Maine, MHS has a the day-to-day lives of robust and diverse rotating exhibition schedule featuring community collaborations. loyal citizen-soldiers who stood watch during a time MY ISLAND HOME: of a racially segregated Recollections of Verlie Colby Greenleaf of Westport Island MHS Showcase Gallery country and military. Through April 25 This collaboration with the Westport Island History Committee is first in the series of MMN Contributing Partner exhibitions. It centers around the recorded words and photographic collections of Verlie Greenleaf (1891-1992), who bore witness to The Constitution of the over a century of State of Maine, 1825, Westport Island's Black Guards including Officer Leonard Parks, center, Pvt. MMN #101558 history during her 100-year life. Arthur Williams, and Pvt. Richard Sullivan, on duty in 1942. MMN #18993

A CONVENIENT SOLDIER: Black Guards Protect Maine Railways REDACT: Obscuring the Maine Constitution MHS Showcase Gallery MHS Shettleworth Gallery May 1-August 30 April 3, 2020-January 31 A collaboration with artist and scholar Asata Radcliffe. Here we examine the redaction of Maine’s 1820 The Black Guards were African American army soldiers Constitution in 1875. Working with James Francis sent to guard Maine railways from terrorist attacks from (Penobscot), Darren Ranco (Penobscot), Donald Verlie Colby, circa 1909, 1941-1945 during WWII. This installation looks at the Soctomah (Passamaquoddy) and Catherine Burns, Collections of Westport Island day-to-day lives of these loyal citizen-soldiers who stood we explore the ramifications that ceasing to print History Committee/MMN #101524 watch during a time of a racially segregated country sections 1, 2, and 5 of Article 10 had upon Wabanaki and military. communities and public lands. 3 EDUCATION | History In and Beyond the Classroom MHS and the Impact of Learning Maine History By Brittany Cook s we commemorate Maine’s Bicentennial Fellow Bicentennial of Statehood and [EDITOR’S NOTE: MHS received a grant reflect upon the past 13,000+ from Jane’s Trust to hire a Bicentennial years of human history in this region, MHSA is also connecting with teachers Fellow and work with the Maine Department of Education and Maine Bicentennial statewide through an online database of Commission to meet an important need: create Bicentennial-inspired lesson plans. Some a new and participatory history curriculum units developed have been presented in resource for all Maine teachers. Brittany classrooms and are ready to download Cook has been collaborating with teachers to from the Bicentennial Education Initiative Brittany Cook Photo: Patricia Cousins create Maine history lesson plans, free to all web page of Maine Memory Network. Maine students and teachers with an Internet They include: Maine Statehood and the Bicentennial Fellow connection. This project aims to have a lasting Missouri Compromise; Maine's Acadian A DAY IN THE LIFE | With Brittany Cook, impact on student learning and dialogue about Community; Sporting Maine; and a World War I Newspaper Project. Q:  Tell us about your background Q: How will you know the Initiative is Maine’s past, present and future. in history and museum education. succeeding and meeting needs? Now available on Maine Memory Network, The goal is to provide diverse resources on Maine history topics to K-12 educators A: History has always been a large A: When we see more lessons submitted the Bicentennial Education Initiative part of my professional and personal to the Bicentennial Education site supports Maine’s Pre-K through adult that align with each strand of the new Learning Results for Social Studies. K-12 interests. My background includes and track how people interact with educators in sharing ideas and best practices working at the Bowdoin International materials. I’m grateful for the interest and for implementing effective lessons that and postsecondary teachers are also encouraged to share their own lesson Music Festival, Children’s Museum feedback in my classroom visits, as I share commemorate Maine’s Bicentennial. Teachers & Theatre of Maine, and Victoria new materials teachers can reuse in can search the web page by grade, topic, plans by visiting mainememory.net/ bicentennial/education. Mansion. In my museum work, future lessons. Some school visits coming standard, and other fields for incredible ideas 3 I've engaged with the public up this spring have great local history tie- to engage learners of all ages.] through interpreting, designing ins that can be re-utilized. and delivering programs. I’m very Q: What other experiences can you share passionate about museum relevancy about the project? and accessibility and am working toward my Master’s in Museum Education at A: It’s always fantastic to facilitate Tufts University. dialogue in classrooms and hear how students and teachers react to Q: What compelled you to apply for the the material and make connections MHS Bicentennial Fellow role? to what they’ve learned or to something A: I think the Bicentennial will generate in their community. A real challenge is a lot of interest in Maine history. I was distilling thousands of years of history drawn to the fact that what I would into one- to three-day lessons. Maine be creating would help educators history is full of thought-provoking find resources and make connections stories and impactful movements, people, between Maine’s past, present, and and events – it’s hard not to include it all! future. Previously, I volunteered for MHS Q: Personally, why do you feel this project and appreciate the dedication that goes is so important to Maine teachers and into their exhibitions and programs. I’m students – and anyone else? very grateful to MHS for this opportunity, and to Kathleen Neumann and A: History can be a nebulous topic in Tilly Laskey for their guidance. schools. During my own K-12 experience, classes covered the ancient world and Q: What are your responsibilities some U.S. history through the Civil and some goals for the Bicentennial War, but then became electives in high Students at Maine Historical Society Photo: Patricia Cousins Education Initiative? school. I never had the opportunity as a A: I’m creating lesson plans for K-12 class- student to learn about Wabanaki history rooms aligned to Maine’s Learning Results, and contemporary culture. related to various Bicentennial themes and An event like the Bicentennial Maine history. puts the State of Maine at the MHS Public Programming Lessons I design utilize Maine Memory forefront of a lot of people’s minds By Kathleen Neumann Network (MMN) collections, gathered into and can prompt conversations with Manager of Education and Public Programs a new page of that site, which educators neighbors about local, state, and regional s part of Maine Historical Society’s mission to preserve and share and students can access throughout 2020 history. I want to try to answer some Maine’s story, we provide programs that make history meaningful, and beyond. I also present lessons I’ve of those questions in the lesson plans accessible and enjoyable, and that empower others to preserve and created throughout Maine classrooms, at I’m designing, and point teachers toward interpret the history of their communities and our state. We are committed no cost to teachers/schools. more resources. toA providing diverse and high-quality public programs for our audiences The MMN Bicentennial Education With so many great resources available throughout the year. Initiative website not only hosts these online, in print and other media – along Maine's Bicentennial (1820-2020) offers the unique opportunity for MHS to lesson plans but also serves as a hub for with, more regrettably, inaccurate help lead a participatory statewide commemoration and reflection of 13,000 Pre-K to postsecondary teachers or outdated ones – it can be hard to years of history. Bicentennial programming will explore a wide range of topics statewide. They can upload their own know where to begin. The Bicentennial in Maine history, including the path to Statehood, slavery, the environment, lesson plans to the site, and search for Education Initiative hub will hopefully and stories of the diverse communities of Maine including Wabanaki people, lessons for their classrooms. It provides provide a starting point and community Acadien, African American, and English-speaking people. As we move resources for teaching and learning about for teachers to share resources, such forward, MHS will also focus on opportunities and partnerships that bring the countless aspects of Maine history. as activities based on primary source community together no only to learn, but also to foster connections and engage I look forward to seeing what teachers documents or a deep dive into a town’s in meaningful discussion and exchanges. contribute to this project, to fostering history. 3 more learning opportunities when State of As a museum educator, I want people Mind opens, and presenting more lessons to feel connected to history, especially in classrooms. stories that surround them where they live. I think starting students off interacting with primary sources and discovering how Maine fits into the LEARN ABOUT MAINE STATEHOOD & YOUR COMMUNITY ON MAINE MEMORY NETWORK history of the United States and the world can help them see the past as MMN is a unique and growing digital resource administered by Maine Historical Society that hosts approachable rather than daunting, and thousands of historical items submitted by over 270 contributing partners. Learn about the origins hopefully provide educators with material of your community, enjoy online exhibits, discover Maine History Online, and contribute your for great teachable moments in the My Maine Stories mainememory.net classroom. experiences on the forum. Visit to explore a treasure trove of 3 knowledge about Maine history! THE STATE OF FASHION Evening Attire of

SallyBy Jamie Rice Brookseleven-month Holmes State of Mind exhibition. Director of Collections & Research The dresses will be switched every aine Historical Society is three months, starting with a circa 1820 currently undertaking an embellished evening gown, followed by historic costume initiative, two gowns worn by Sally Holmes during supported by the Institute of Museum the later years of her husband’s senatorial Mand Library Services (IMLS), which terms. includes processing, photographing, The three dresses demonstrate evolving researching and preserving historic fashion trends, such as sleeves and fabric clothing within its collection. In relation choice, as well as Sally Holmes’s changing to the Bicentennial exhibition State of tastes. The two demurer dresses from Mind: Becoming Maine, the project allowed the later years (closer to 1830) are both for inclusion of three dresses owned by a reflection of trend and Mrs. Holmes’ Sally Holmes. preferences. All three pieces were Sarah Brooks Holmes (1773-1835), known donated to MHS in 1947 by Mary Wilcox, as Sally, lived in Alfred with her husband, a descendant of Sarah Ann (Holmes) Goodnow. John Holmes who was instrumental in 3 Maine’s separation from Massachusetts and was one of Maine’s first US senators At right: Cream silk gown with a heavily em- after statehood. The couple also lived bellished bodice, trimmed with silver metallic in Washington, DC through Senator ribbon threads, silk chenille, and beaded Holmes’ two non-consecutive terms leaves. Dress dated between 1820 and 1824. between 1820-1833, during the presidency A86-154 of James Monroe. Far right: White satin dress with “vandyked” One of their daughters, Sarah Ann sleeve caps over puffed sleeves, and embel- Holmes, also lived in Washington with lished skirt. The skirt has a subtle a-line shape them. Fashion was on the mind of typical of the late 1820s and early 1830s. 18-year-old Sarah, who wrote in 1823, A86-736 “high life and fashion are such a thief of time.” She described the bi-monthly Photos: Gail Dodge “levees” at the White House that she attended with her mother, Sally. Because historic clothing is fragile, MHS decided to rotate three of Sally Holmes’ dresses over the course of the

SAVE THE DATE! Join MHS as a member of the 1822 Leadership Circle during Magical History Tour Maine’s Bicentennial year! - 1822 Leadership BICENTENNIAL CIRCLE EDITION

Help lead the way in supporting MHS’s work SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2020 to preserve and share Maine stories to enrich our ★ 10 am – 4 pm communities today. NEW! 8:30 – 10 am ★ Breakfast for Patrons and Sponsors

Join MHS for our sixth annual Magical History Tour — an amazing self-guided experience of historic sites in Greater Portland that aren’t usually open to the public. This year brings new excitement with Maine’s Bicentennial!

★ Look for sites connected to Portland life in the early 19th century at the time of Maine Statehood as well as a special Breakfast for Patrons and Sponsors featuring Maine historian Earle G. Shettleworth. ★ mainehistory.org/1822Circle For more information or to register, For more information, contact Christina Traister, Director ★ visit mainehistory.org/mht. of Institutional Advancement, at 207-774-1822 ext. 231 or Early Bird ticket discounts through March 31! [email protected].