HAT is a hero, after all? Conventional wisdom battlefield, too, serving four terms as Maine tells us that history’s heroes are ordinary men governor and a decade as president of Bowdoin, and women thrust into circumstances that lead where he advocated admitting women, a reform them to perform extraordinary feats. One person’s that would not come for more than a century. hero, however, may be another’s deadly enemy, But one might not have seen Chamberlain in as so often was the case during the Civil War. so heroic a light if one had been present at the Historians now ask who these people really were Battle of Gettysburg. Bowdoin historian Patrick and why they are still lauded long after their Rael’s talk “What Really Happened at Little deaths. This is not just an exercise in deconstruc- Round Top?” presented six different accounts, FINDING tion; it is an effort to understand the influences some written immediately after the battle and that shape a society’s concept of the heroic. some many years later, including one dismissive THE HERO During a lovely summer week this July, of Chamberlain’s actions that day. “Did anyone Wa group of 21 high school and middle school actually remember what had happened in the IN HISTORY students gathered at Bowdoin College to discuss confusion of battle?” Rael asked. The students what makes a hero. They focused on Joshua were invited to compare these often conflicting BY DIANE MAGRAS Chamberlain, the college professor from Maine texts and to determine which writer was the who became a celebrated Union general. They most reliable witness. were taking part in the Maine Humanities A major focus of the History Camp was on the Council’s first History Camp, which gave use of primary sources, drawing on the archival promising pre-college students the kind of research techniques used in the Council’s intellectually rich summer experience the biography institute for teachers earlier in the Council has long made available to its teachers. Many of the students had read Michael FALL Shaara’s novel The Killer Angels or seen the film Gettysburg. Both works influenced their notions of who Chamberlain really might have been. A cadre of historians and archivists helped them determine how much fiction was indeed fact. INSIDE The real Joshua Chamberlain certainly did not look like a heroic figure. He was under HUMANITIES PRIZE average height for his time, with gentle eyes and a large nose. He was also an academician who ASHLEY BRYAN had had only limited combat experience before finding himself in command of the 20th Maine BORN TO READ: regiment atop Little Round Top at Gettysburg. VOLUNTEER READER His troops were expected to anchor the far left flank of the Union Army on the crucial second BARN AGAIN! day of the battle. Exactly what happened is still disputed. The Chamberlain legend maintains WINTER WEEKEND that when his overstretched Mainers ran low on ammunition, he ordered “Fix bayonets!” and POETRY IN caught the attacking Alabamians by surprise with a dramatic charge down the hill. MAINE LIBRARIES Just the premise of this story sets the stage for a hero’s arrival, and who better than the bookish GRANT AWARDS Chamberlain? But it was more than this that made Chamberlain heroic to his contemporaries, Historian Tom Desjardin describes the battle on Little Round Top. explained Dennis Edmondson (history teacher photo: diane hudson at Mt. Ararat High School), who directed the summer: studying documents, noting consisten- camp. Edmondson—the 2005 Gilder-Lehrman cies and discrepancies, trying to figure out where Maine History Teacher of the Year—spoke the truth really lay. about other ways that Chamberlain could be Speakers included Charles Plummer, who, perceived as a hero. He was an example to his in Civil War uniform, presented a “living men in bravery, persistence, and cleverness. He history” account of Chamberlain’s life. Historian fought in 24 battles, and his six wounds testified Tom Desjardin, author of Stand Firm Ye Boys to his insistence on putting himself in the line from Maine: The 20th Maine and the Gettysburg of fire. He had a distinguished career off the Campaign and These Honored Dead: How the

Continued on page 3 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chair Richard E. Barnes Kennebunk

Vice-chair Robert L. McArthur Auburn F life is short, why waste your time wondering if Elizabeth Bennet will Treasurer Douglas E. Woodbury marry Mr. Darcy? You could be spending your time in school far more Orr’s Island Secretary profitably by learning something useful instead of reading Jane Austen. Jean T. Wilkinson Cumberland That seemed to be the message from the director of a local technology Peter J. Aicher center quoted recently in the Maine Sunday Telegram: “In today’s world,” Falmouth Charles B. Alexander he said, “high school students must speak and communicate effectively, Ellsworth Marcus C. Bruce not be able to dissect the plot and characters of a great novel.” He Lewiston

complained of a “terrible mismatch” between traditional humanities Sheila Jans Madawaska courses and “the skills students need to be thinkers, inventors and Theodora J. Kalikow innovators.” If schools continued as they were, he warned, we would Farmington Lincoln F. Ladd Inot be competitive in the global economy. Wayne The speaker had every good intention, but he falls into a trap that Lois Lamdin Brunswick

goes back at least as far as the ancient Greeks: the urge to privilege Thomas K. Lizotte Dover-Foxcroft know-how over understanding. On the contrary, we learn how to Stephen Podgajny be citizens by studying history, and we may learn some valuable lessons Brunswick Patricia D. Ramsay about how to live our lives by studying—and discussing—imaginative Yarmouth literature. ( Jane Austen may be of some assistance there.) Of course Joel H. Rosenthal A LETTER Fairfield, CT there are different types of intelligence and different styles of processing Thomas Schulten Cumberland FROM THE information. And obviously “old” subjects can be taught in interesting Ann Staples Waldron new ways. But to dismiss the humanities tradition in favor of “practical” Southwest Harbor EXECUTIVE Marli F. Weiner education raises troubling issues. It suggests that art, literature, music, Carmel drama, history are the playground of a leisured few. Two hundred Robert L. Woodbury DIRECTOR Harpswell years ago, that was largely true. But the American ideal—however inadequately we’ve been able to realize it—is based on the radical STAFF Dorothy Schwartz notion that all young Americans deserve an education of the highest Executive Director [email protected]

possible quality. Victoria Bonebakker Associate Director As a printmaker, I certainly value “hands on” learning. I’ve spent Director of the Harriet P. Henry Center for the Book hours exploring the complicated, time-consuming techniques of getting [email protected] The Maine Humanities Erik Jorgensen ink onto paper—with the help of brush and burin, knife and printing Assistant Director Council brings people [email protected] press. Yet for all the technological skills that artists acquire, there would and ideas together Diane Magras be something lacking in their work if it were created in a historical Director of Development to encourage a deeper Newsletter Contributor understanding of ourselves vacuum. We need to learn the many ways in which other artists, past [email protected] and others, fostering Trudy Hickey and present, have used their medium to express their concerns and Office and Grants Manager wisdom in an age Newsletter Contributor [email protected] of information, providing responses to the world around them. Is this know-how or understanding? Tricia Currie Hunt context in a time I think it’s some fruitful combination of the two. Administrative Assistant [email protected] of change. As for competing in the global economy, I’d like to suggest that you speak to teachers who have taken the Council’s annual Views of the PROGRAMS Charles Calhoun East professional development seminar. This intense, 30-hour program, Teachers for a New Century Newsletter Contributor undertaken in partnership with the World Affairs Council of Maine, [email protected] Denise Pendleton focuses on China, Japan, and Korea, including their economic and Born to Read [email protected] technological development. But it also introduces the history, religions, Elizabeth Sinclair Let’s Talk About It arts and crafts, and Confucian world view of these countries—and it Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the suggests that some knowledge of all these inter-related things is the Heart of Health Care® Newsletter Contributor beginning of wisdom when it comes to understanding East Asia. Why [email protected] Carolyn Sloan don’t we apply the same lessons closer to home? Let’s Talk About It Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health Care® New Books, New Readers [email protected]

Julia Walkling New Books, New Readers Stories for Life [email protected]

Dorothy Schwartz Brita Zitin Born to Read Executive Director Newsletter Contributor [email protected]

ADDRESS 674 Brighton Avenue Portland, ME 04102-1012 T 207 773-5051 F 207 773-2416 [email protected] www.mainehumanities.org The Maine Humanities Council is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Editor: Diane Magras Design: Lori Harley THE 2005 CONSTANCE H. CARLSON PUBLIC HUMANITIES PRIZE On September 22, the Maine Humanities Past recipients of the Constance H. Carlson Council awarded the Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize include Tabitha King, Public Humanities Prize to historian Neil Rolde Billie Gammon, and Karan Sheldon and David of York for his extraordinary contributions Weiss of Northeast Historic Film. to the interpretation of Maine history and his Neil has been an active figure in Maine’s encouragement and support of the humanities historical, political, and leadership worlds. Unsettled Past, Unsettled Future: The Story of in Maine. Given in memory of Constance H. To start, he is the author of nine books: York Is Maine Indians; and So You Think You Know Carlson, a founder of the Maine Humanities Living History; Sir William Pepperrell of Colonial Maine. His topics have ranged broadly, from Council, the award is presented to an individual, New England; Rio Grande do Norte; An Illustrated prehistory to the present. Neil is also publisher institution or group in recognition of exemplary History of Maine; A Narrative History of Maine; at Tilbury House Press in Gardiner, Maine, contributions to the public humanities in Maine. The Baxters of Maine; The Interrupted Forest; which specializes in books about Maine and children’s books on culturally diverse topics. For 16 years, Neil served as a Representative in the State Legislature (District 106, serving York and Kittery). He was also Assistant to Governor Kenneth M. Curtis for six years. His public and private board service represents a wide swath of interests and commitments. A pattern of deep civic involvement, historical study, and philanthropic support characterizes the gifts that Neil continues to give to Maine. The Maine Humanities Council is pleased to recognize the significant contribution he has made to the people of this state.

Above: Richard Barnes, Neil Rolde, Lois Lamdin, and Robert Woodbury (all are current MHC Board members but for Neil, a past Board member). Top Right: With a straight face, Lincoln Ladd tells the audience members that they must memorize Neil Rolde’s book titles, board activities, and other accomplishments or be subject to a philanthropic request to a non-profit of Neil’s choice. photos: erik jorgensen

“Finding the Hero in History,” continued from page 1

Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory, Maine Central Institute (Pittsfield) high schools. described in detail how Civil War battles Most had been recommended by teachers actually were fought. Deborah Smith, former participating in the Council’s American Lives: director of the Pejepscot Historical Society, Teaching History Through Biography institute, which owns the Joshua L. Chamberlain House a collaboration with MSAD #11 in Gardiner, Museum, spoke about the revival of interest funded by a Teaching American History grant in the almost-forgotten Chamberlain and how from the U.S. Department of Education. his legend grew in the late 20th century. Clearly, the students were bright, sensitive, Students also visited Chamberlain’s house, outgoing people, and they seemed to thrive on Special Collections at Bowdoin’s Hawthorne- being in a room with other equally sharp history Longfellow Library (where they examined buffs. It was not an experience they had often original documents from the time), and Pine had in school, but one they treasured, as they Grove Cemetery, where Chamberlain is buried made clear in the final program evaluation. under a small, undecorated stone. At the end of the week, no one doubted Charles Calhoun, who directs the Council’s Chamberlain’s status as a hero. Students said it teacher programs, explained his philosophy had been helpful to study the steps that led to for the camp: “The idea is to take them beyond that recognition. Perhaps the whole nature of thinking of history as battles and the names heroism was summed up best by Jeffrey Sullivan, of generals and to help them understand how a History Camp faculty member who teaches history gets written. History is not just facts, at Lewiston High School. Sullivan knows the but the way those facts are interpreted.” Gettysburg battlefield well. He described to Students came from Gardiner Regional, a group of students what it felt like to look out Biddeford, and Bath middle schools; and over the rocky terrain and think of the 20th Mt. Ararat (Topsham), Freeport, Edward Little Maine and the exhaustion and pressure they Students examine artifacts at the Joshua L. Chamberlain House Museum. photo: diane hudson (Auburn), Catherine McCauley (Portland), faced: “Anyone in a battle like that who isn’t Deering (Portland), Boothbay Regional, and running away in terror is a hero.”

MHC: FALL 3 THE HEART OF LANGUAGE: ASHLEY BRYAN

BY BRITA ZITIN

Ashley Bryan does not “recite” poems. Recitation implies monotony and rigidity; Ashley’s delivery is riveting and athletic, occasionally cathartic. Nor does he “read” them: he holds a book in one hand, shaking it occasionally and jabbing at the page with his other hand for emphasis, but he never looks at the printed poem. Perhaps the poem is not even on that page; perhaps it’s in a different book entirely. It doesn’t matter: the poem is inside him. “Poetry is at my center as a human being,” he once remarked in an interview. “I believe that poetry lies at the heart of the wonder and mystery of language.” As the creator or co-creator of almost forty picture books, Ashley Bryan has captured the mystery of language in volumes that are cultural records as well as works of art. He has interpreted African legends and popular songs (his illus- trated version of What a Wonderful World is one “ H U M A N I T Y of the most popular books used in the Maine Humanities Council’s Born to Read early literacy AS IT IS ROOTED initiative). He has compiled an ABC of African- American Poetry and several volumes of spirituals, IN ALL CULTURES about which he writes, “Wherever I travel, people sing these songs. Often they do not know IS THE AIM that they are singing spirituals [that] come to us from the time of slavery in the United States.” OF EDUCATION.” But Ashley is an educator, not a historian. Even as he preserves cultural artifacts in his books, he adds new contours and colors and tones. When he performs poetry by such masters as Langston Hughes and Eloise Greenfield, he pulls each word from within and lets it travel through him, gathering meaning as it goes. He imbues the poems with the voices of their - ASHLEY BRYAN creators, so that to hear him is to read them, to watch him is to know them, to join in with him is to become them. The volume of his voice ranges from a whisper to an unabashed holler, according to the exigencies of the language. We are not used to hearing words stretched and tossed around in this way. “We take language for granted,” Ashley has said. “I would like the

4 MHC: FALL reader to be shaken out of the doldrums of just from the Maine College of Art (both accolades is not unusual. Wherever he travels—South decoding and for the work to become alive, received as graciously as if they were his first, Africa, San Francisco, his parents’ island of meaningful.” although he has also received the Coretta Scott Antigua—he wins the devotion of the people he In May 2005, Ashley shook a small swath King Award, the Arbuthnot Prize, the Lee meets. Revealing what he called “his secret” to an of the Portland community out of the doldrums Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Virginia interviewer, he has said, “whether with a child or of a drizzly night when he appeared at the Born Hamilton Literary Award, and the Maine an adult, I am striving for an exchange.” Ashley to Read conference, “Early Literacy in a Changing Library Association’s Katahdin Award). He was born in Harlem, grew up in Brooklyn, and World.” The children in the audience spent most had also spent time with students at Reiche began visiting the Maine coast in the 1940s. of the program squirming, poking each other, Elementary School and met friends for a tour He returned to, and eventually chose to live and and peering under their seats, as children in an of the Portland Museum of Art, and was work on, Little Cranberry Island, which “reminds auditorium are wont to do. No one thought to scheduled to address another Born to Read me very much of the neighborhood in which I make them sit still. After all, Ashley was in motion audience the next morning. Despite careful was raised.” Ashley sees no dissonance between too, clutching at his podium and dancing about planning, the booksellers who brought Ashley’s his island and the New York City borough the stage. During his call-and-response readings, books to the event sold out of their stock long because he has connected with the people who the children echoed his words intuitively from before the book-signing crowd showed any signs inhabit both communities. “If you are in the their perches on laps, armrests, and carpet. of waning. Any other 80-year-old might have moment,” he once said, “you are stretching out Even the adults in the audience showed little been grateful for this excuse to head to dinner, to reach that which you recognize in others.” self-consciousness. They surprised themselves but Ashley requested a stack of blank bookplates Ashley’s message to fellow educators is that by shouting and murmuring and swaying along and kept on signing. When they left that night, children are more likely to become joyful readers with Ashley, and emerged looking rapturous, his grateful fans carried stickers with the author’s if they find meaning in stories. He explains that dazed, slightly exhausted. scrawled signature, their palms still tingling he holds a book even when he doesn’t need to It was Ashley who ought to have been from his warm handshake, poems still coursing see the text because he wants children to connect exhausted. In the space of twenty-four hours, through their hollow places, then settling like poem to page, sound to symbol. (Incidentally, he had accepted a key to the city of Portland sediment at their centers. specialists in early childhood development are and an award for Leadership in Arts Education Ashley’s connection with this Portland audience trying to promote the same connections, except they refer to them as “concept of print” or “alphabetic principle.”) The teachers and librarians who heard Ashley in May have told Born to Read that he gave them the courage to share poetry with children for the first time. Thanks to the wisdom of a Maine master, these children are discovering that books contain enough volume and motion to fill an auditorium, enough meaning to last a lifetime. Ashley Bryan has recently been nominated by the International Board on Books for Young People for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition given to one author and one illustrator of children’s books. Only one illustrator from the United States is nominated each year. The winners will be announced in March 2006. The Council looks forward to bringing Ashley Bryan to more Maine audiences next year—please watch our Opposite, top: A lovely treat: a book just signed by Ashley Bryan, bottom: Ezra Lamdin, Joan Leitzer, and Lois Lamdin react to one of Ashley’s lighter website for specific engagements. moments. This page, top: Ashley Bryan presents for a packed audience in Portland, bottom: two pages from The Night Has Ears: African Proverbs. photos: diane hudson

MHC: FALL 5 BORN TO READ VOLUNTEERS, ACTIVE SINCE JUNE 2004!

HealthReach RSVP RSVP of Southern Maine Serving Northern Kennebec, Serving York and Cumberland Counties Somerset, and Franklin Counties Contact Ken Murray, 207 396-6520, Contact Ruth Saint Amand, 207 873-1127, [email protected] [email protected] THANK Alice Abbott Deborah Driscoll Joyce Martin Estelle Sanders Ida Bailey Beverly Pillsbury Kate Arcand Claudette Fearon Julie McCabe Valerie Scanlon Marge Beckler Faith Rankins Cynthia Archibald Joyce Freedman Janet Michaud Donna Schlieper Roberta Carlstrom Louise Ritchey Robert Arsenault Mary Guy Dorothy Miller Dorothy Seibert Anne-Marie Dacosta Raymond Rogers Beatrice Asken Becky Hamblin Florence Morrison Aline Serabia Linda Davidson Joseph Ross Terry Baird Edward R. Hanley Anne Mosey Claudia Sienko Linda Davis Jeanne Sawyer Dee Barker Phyllis Hayward Micheline Neveu Sarah Spector Dorothy Dickman Len Siebert Julie Bennett Lorraine Hepler Joan R. O’Toole Maria Staples Joan Esterbrooks Jane Simoneau Tim Boston Jean Hill Sharon Parent Evelyn Tarantino Lois J. Fletcher Kathleen E. Slater Barbara Brown Richard Horner Louise Patterson Deborah Taylor Rose Golden Marjorie Spencer Katie Capetta Barbara Hutchins Carolyn Pease Sharon Theofrastou Cynthia Hughes Janet Tarbuck Louis Clarke Esther Kelly Lois Ann Peterson Linden Thigpen Sandra C. Hunter Doris G. Thorson Arlene Clow Ann Marie Kenney Maggie Poulin Wayne Walls Victor Jepson Judy Townley Lynn Coffey Anne Crockett King Jacqueline Price Louise Way Theresa King Glennis Veilleux Thomas Coffey Barbara Knowles Kenneth Read Virginia White Katherine Lavoie Leona Villa Edith Countaway Larry Koch Renee Crockett Rehn Marie White Frank LeClair Nancy Weiner Deadra D’Addeo Rita Kohl Marilyn Russell Nancy Worthington Helen McKendry Joan Wing Sylvia Davis Barbara Crockett Korn Mary Ryder Virginia Wylie Diana C. Oliver Patricia L. Wurpel Gloria Day Virginia Kurtz Betsy Saltonstall

Aroostook RSVP Coastal Community UMaine Center on Aging RSVP Serving Aroostook County Action Program RSVP Serving Penobscot, Piscataquis, Hancock, Contact Eleanor Reese, 207 764-3396, Serving Knox, Lincoln, and Waldo Counties and Washington Counties [email protected] Contact Jennifer Hill, 207 596-0361, Contact Paula Burnett, 207 581-4412, [email protected] [email protected] Corris Coffin Harrison Roper Rosemary Hede Marilyn Roper Owen Appel Bruce Faulkner Joan Beckford Carol Mower Barbara Knowles Rhoda Thombs Joanne Borden Flora Shorey Eileen Cox Louise Park Jean Cummings Ann Smarrella Linda Gamble Norman Powell all born to read volunteers are important and much appreciated. please accept our apologies Adrien Deschenes Jane Sternberg Evelyn Goodridge if we accidentally did not include you on this list. Bob Ehmann Debbie Mitchell

T’S easy to recognize long-distance grandparents. like Joan Beckford of Bangor, are retired early They’re the ones reaching for their photo albums childhood educators themselves, while others at the slightest provocation, researching the have virtually no experience with children. Some best telephone rates, and honing their e-mail visit small, home-based child care programs like and digital picture-viewing skills. Perhaps you Rubber Ducky Daycare. Others, like Adrien even recognize yourself in this description. Deschenes of Rockland, read at Head Start or If so, you’re not alone. Linden Thigpen of Cape other community-based centers. Volunteers like Elizabeth “was missing her grandchildren Roberta Carlstrom of Jay have been active since terribly” after they moved to North Carolina. the program’s first year, while new recruits like MUCH MORE In 2000, she stumbled upon the Born to Read Barbara Korn of Parsonsfield, who just discovered volunteer program, and ever since, she has spent the program in December, help satisfy the THAN BOOKS: an hour or two every week at Rubber Ducky constant demand for readers. But every Born I Daycare and Preschool. Many of the children to Read volunteer shares a love of books and THE BORN in this program, run by Peg and Joe Campbell a commitment to the well-being of children. in a wing of their South Portland home, have When new volunteers first enter the program, TO READ known Linden since they were infants. They they are trained in early literacy practices and squeal with delight when she arrives, eager given a volunteer manual and a set of four books VOLUNTEER to show off their newest toys and T-shirts, their to take to the site they’ve been assigned. The local most impressive scrapes and bruises. When she RSVP volunteer coordinator will often accom- PROGRAM turns to her special bag of books, they vie for pany them on their first visit. These coordinators the honor of sitting on her lap and clamor to do everything they can to ensure that the BY BRITA ZITIN see what stories she has brought them. Linden volunteers, teachers, and children feel comfort- treasures this time as her weekly “little kid fix,” able together—Linden calls the Cumberland and calls it one of the high points of her week. County coordinator, Priscilla Greene, “a genius Linden is one of about a hundred participants at setting up matches.” RSVP provides ongoing in the Born to Read volunteer program. In 1998, support and recognition to all volunteers, while Born to Read formed a partnership with the Born to Read offers volunteer trainings and Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) to enrichment opportunities. For instance, a series recruit and train seniors interested in reading of workshops in 2004 featured Gratia Banta, aloud to children and offering other forms of a Portland resident who will chair next year’s literacy support to early childhood educators. Caldecott Award committee for the American Since then, a network of volunteer readers has Library Association. grown, quietly but steadily, from Caribou to Every year, Born to Read provides a new hard- Kittery. Through reading, singing, playing cover book for every site with a volunteer reader, games, and other activities, volunteers bring as well as a new book for every child to take the kind of stimulating early literacy experience home. Since the program began, approximately that all children need in their formative years. 15,000 books have been distributed. But even It’s difficult to describe the Born to Read this reliable supply can’t satisfy the hunger for volunteers, for they are a varied group. Some, books, and once volunteers have exhausted their

6 MHC: FALL BORN TO READ VOLUNTEERS, ACTIVE SINCE JUNETHANK 2004! YOU!

supply of Born to Read books, they get creative. Barbara Korn relies on her personal library of over 1,000 children’s books, collected over approximately forty years as a librarian. “I’ve been a public librarian; high school, elementary school, and parochial school librarian; Head Opposite: A typical reaction to a Born to Read volunteer reader. Above: Linden Thigpen reads at Rubber Ducky Start librarian; and Future Farmers librarian. Daycare in South Portland to a rapt crowd. Born to Read nearly satisfies the one job I never photos: brita zitin found: prenatal librarian!” Barbara feels most conductor of the Northern Maine Chamber whether or not they’ve retired—are eager to stay comfortable reading her old favorites, but she Orchestra, leads children in music activities active by volunteering. According to the U.S. also consults the children’s librarians in Parsons- that help them learn about rhythm, sound, and Department of Labor Statistics, people 55 and field and Limerick so that she can incorporate rhyme—all important elements of reading. older contribute about 7.5 billion volunteer hours notable new books. Participating teachers and caregivers consis- each year. When these volunteers connect with Marilyn Roper of Houlton loves reading tently report dramatic, positive changes in literacy young children, as they do in the Born to Read to infants and toddlers, starting at four months, skills (including attention span, book-handling, program, they are bridging a growing gap in our but she has a hard time finding enough books and vocabulary) as a result of these activities. To culture. “Mrs. Park brings us so much more than that are appropriate for this age group. The local take just one example from a survey conducted books,” says Leslie Szydlo of Jumping Jacks Day library has responded by building a fine board this January, 78% of teachers around the state said Care in Bangor. “In a world of hectic households book collection. The books requested by Marilyn that their Born to Read volunteer had made a and disjointed families, Mrs. Park is our extended have benefited the entire community, circulating “significant contribution” or “major contribution” family. She is a grandparent’s shoulder to lean constantly among parents and caregivers. to children’s increased interest in books and on for the children, and a sounding board for Adrien Deschenes spent several months stories, while an additional 9% indicated that the desperate teachers. She is the source of grace reading exclusively from a giant treasury of volunteer was “totally responsible” for the increase. and etiquette in a world of lost manners.” illustrated fairy tales. He used these tales, Volunteers also have a considerable impact For the volunteers themselves, lasting connec- many of which the children had never heard on the development of social and emotional tions like these make the program worthwhile. before, to inspire rich discussion and lead intelligence, which current scientific research The Ropers recognize the names of children the group into related activities. has revealed to be just as important for school they’ve worked with in their morning newspaper. Indeed, most volunteers eschew the books readiness as cognitive achievement. Several When Roberta Carlstrom substitutes at her local that some might think would most effectively teachers have said that all it takes to overcome elementary school, she is greeted with hugs from quell children’s wiggles and whisperings—what the separation anxiety of a toddler is a reminder second- and third-graders who remember her as Joan Beckford calls “those crazy books with that after their parents leave, they’ll see their a reader from their preschool days. “I don’t know Hollywood movies or TV characters”—in favor volunteer reader. Eighteen percent of teachers what I’ll do this summer,” laments Barbara Korn of archetypal characters and classic themes, surveyed said that the volunteer was “totally after her last visit to the Alphabet Preschool in captivating language and high-quality illustra- responsible” for increased self-expression among Limerick. “I’ve seen the children change and tions. The stories they choose actually encourage children. As one elaborated, “I see children grow just since I started reading last year. Trying wiggles and whisperings, which Born to Read relating to the books. Children have come out to describe them is like trying to put your finger volunteers recognize as signs of engaged and talked to me about things going on in their on mercury. I come out of there on Thursday imaginations and growing minds—symptoms lives because they could relate to a story. It also afternoon thinking the world is a better place. of readers in the making. helps them to ask questions to learn more about You’d have to throw down a brick wall to keep But volunteer readers don’t stop at books. a topic of interest to them.” me from coming back in September.” All volunteers learn finger plays and songs But by far the most frequent observation If you are one of Maine’s many long-distance in their Born to Read training, and they trade made by teachers and caregivers concerns the grandparents, or you simply want a weekly “kid activity ideas whenever they meet. Linden’s connections forged across generations. Statistics fix,” please consider becoming a Born to Read annual gardening project has become such released by the U.S. Census Bureau early this volunteer. Contact Born to Read or your local a vital part of the Rubber Ducky Daycare spring revealed that Maine has surpassed West RSVP office (see contact information on page 6) year that one little boy starts inquiring about Virginia as the oldest state in the nation, with a to get started. it in late February. Harrison Roper, former median age of 40.6 years. Many older residents—

MHC: FALL 7 THE SMITHSONIAN AND THE MHC by Trudy Hickey, Project Director, Barn Again!

This year the Maine Humanities Council did (known as Museum on Main Street or MoMS) something it has never done before. From April has provided information and encouragement to October, it brought one of the Smithsonian to help things along. Special thanks should go Institution’s traveling exhibits, Barn Again! to Don Cyr, Director of the Musée culturel Celebrating an American Icon, to Maine for a du Mont-Carmel, who also served as Project tour that visited three sites: the Saco Museum, Scholar; to Christi Mitchell from the Maine the Musée culturel du Mont-Carmel in Lille, Historic Preservation Commission; to Deanne and the Bethel Historical Society. Herman from the Maine Department of When Deedee Schwartz, our Executive Agriculture; and to the tireless workers at Director, first asked me to coordinate theBarn all three museums. Again! tour, I was rather stunned. Although The Smithsonian Institution has a unique born and raised in Maine, I am certainly no arrangement with the state humanities councils authority on barns or farming. At the same to provide these traveling exhibits for state tours. time, it sounded like an intriguing project Besides their obvious goal of reaching a broad I might enjoy and a wonderful opportunity segment of the public, the Smithsonian hopes this for the Council to work with museums on an program will provide opportunities specifically entirely different level than usual. for smaller museums which otherwise might not Since then, I am happy (and relieved) to have the chance to host a significant exhibit of report that everything has worked out beauti- such high quality. fully. We pulled together a wonderful group Barn Again! itself provided general information of advisors to serve on our planning committee, about barns across the United States including and the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibit branch styles, historical uses, and preservation issues. Above: Mariah the cow greets visitors to Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon at the Saco Museum. Below: Live music is part of the festivities at the Barn Again! grand opening in Saco. Opposite: Mary McVey and daughter Heather Kraft give expression to the atmosphere at the grand opening. photos: diane hudson Barn Aga

8 MHC: FALL To that foundation, we added our own panels with information specific to the history of barns in Maine, and each site added its own local stories and artifacts. In the process of organizing the exhibit, we found several themes that deserved highlighting. Of particular concern to us was the question of how to preserve some of these structures which are very old and threatened, not just by age but also development pressures and changes in current farming needs. We also wanted to shine a spotlight on farmers in the state and applaud their efforts in a difficult line of work. We hope Barn Again! has provided enough information to encourage the public to continue discussions on these topics. For me, it’s been a joy to work with the museums, plus a wonderful opportunity to learn so much more about the history of barns and farming in Maine. Barns are something I’ve seen around Maine all my life, but I’ll never look at them in quite the same way after this. in!

THE SMITHSONIAN AT THE SACO MUSEUM by Andrea Strassner, Director, Saco Museum

The Smithsonian. For many people those two By establishing an Advisory Committee, we were at our disposal for this exhibition. words bring instant name recognition and an were able to tap into firsthand knowledge of The Smithsonian exhibition kiosks were association with prestige and respect. Hosting the farming in the greater Saco area, garner wonder- as easy to assemble as touted in all the written Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibition ful “farm profiles” for inclusion in the exhibit, materials. (Yes—one did have to follow the Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon at the as well as great generosity in loaning objects directions. As the first site in the state to host Saco Museum this spring proved that being which enhanced the local component our of our the exhibit, we benefited from many people aligned with such a well-known institution is exhibition. People were eager to participate in being on hand to learn and assist in assembly.) a great advantage for a small museum like ours. the exhibit, because, in part, of the Smithsonian Our staff of one-and-a-half, along with a couple Barn Again! benefited our museum in several ways: connection. of volunteers, were readily able to disassemble ° I t presented us with the opportunity As we all know, we cannot simply “install it” the kiosks and store them in their proper crates. to cultivate relationships within and wait for people to come to the museum. All in all, the Smithsonian experience in Saco a new segment of our local area— Marketing is becoming an increasingly vital was tremendous! We exceeded our visitation the agricultural community. component of a museum’s budget. The quality numbers for the previous year for the same time ° I t attracted new visitors to our museum, and quantity of marketing materials available period and our outside family program had both local residents and tourists. to us was one of the greatest advantages of people asking if this was going to be an annual ° I t generated great press for our institution partnering with the Maine Humanities Council event. Well...now there’s an interesting idea. It and thus, greater visibility. and the Smithsonian Institution on this project. was a great experience to work with the Maine ° I t challenged us to experiment with A full-color brochure, web site links, public Humanities Council and the Smithsonian new programming, such as an outdoor relations assistance, and gorgeous posters are Traveling Exhibition Service. We’re already family event. examples of the superb marketing tools that looking forward to the next one!

MHC: FALL 9 ELIPE III of Spain looked out the window one a 1,000-page novel—which, after all, is about day and saw a young man laughing wildly. He’s a man who reads far too much for his own good. either insane, the king remarked to a courtier, or And there were interesting echoes from earlier he’s reading Don Quixote. Winter Weekends. Paolo and Francesca, for ervantes The second half of the novel had recently example, from Canto V of Dante’s Inferno. C been printed, and already Cervantes’s work had Reading together a romance about Sir Lancelot, become not just another tale, but an enduring they slip into adultery and eternal damnation. cultural phenomenon. Four centuries later, 100 Or who could be as deluded, as obsessional, as of the world’s most distinguished writers were Captain Ahab? At the point in her life when polled as to what they considered the best novel Mary Shelley was writing Frankenstein, she read of all time. Don Quixote was easily the winner. aloud to her husband Percy from Don Quixote. But tell me the truth: have you actually read And was not Beowulf, in his shaggy sort of way, F it? It’s one of those books we all feel we know, the first in a long line of knights errant? Don or at least recognize, through such familiar Quixote mistakes sheep for armed men; Odys- incidents as the hero’s tilting at windmills or seus turns his armed men into sheep, as it were,

ust mistaking a tavern maid for a princess or through to escape from Polyphemus’s cave. the antics of his earthy companion, the original Harold Bloom says that Don Quixote is the Pro of all sidekicks, Sancho Panza. The appearance first and still the best of all novels. For Winter of a new translation by Edith Grossman pro- Weekend 2006 (March 10-11, Bowdoin Col- WINTER vided an opportunity to see if Don Quixote lived lege) we take up what some would argue is an up to its reputation; by a nice coincidence it was even greater novel, Marcel Proust’s In Search WEEKEND— also the much-celebrated 400th anniversary of Lost Time. We won’t tackle the entire 3,000 of the publication of the first half of the novel. pages, but only the first of its seven parts, PAST AND (Cervantes and Shakespeare were contempo- Swann’s Way, a mere 444 pages in Lydia Davis’s raries, and 1605 also saw the first performance new translation (far more straightforward and BEYOND of King Lear, another study in self-delusion.) concise than the earlier, more florid attempts As with previous Winter Weekends, we to put Proust into English). BY CHARLES CALHOUN assembled a distinguished array of scholars, Not much “happens” in Proust: a young man feasted in a style Cervantes might have recog- (who may or may not be the author) grows up, nized, heard some very good Spanish music, falls in and out of love, meets some more or less and argued about the book for a day and a half. interesting people in the upper reaches of French Was it brilliant? Or almost unreadable? Was it society, travels a bit, falls ill, thinks his life has a comic masterpiece? Or the saddest, most been squandered. (A loose translation of the title cruel book ever written? Or all of the above? might read: How Did I Waste So Much Time?) There was a tinge of irony in asking 125 serious At the end, however, he has an epiphany that readers to devote a good chunk of their winter to changes his perception of his life, of everyone’s

SELECTED MHC GRANTS MADE BETWEEN SE

bucksport dover-foxcroft farmington jackman madawask a norway

Invisible: “What is it Civil War Day, Share Your Heritage Kennebec-Chaudière A Cultural Stewardship One Book, to be an Indian in the 20th Maine at Roundtop $1,500: This grant supported Audio Tour Workshop for Museums One Community 21st Century?” $500: Dover-Foxcroft one of four “Share Your $4,900: This project will and Cultural Groups $1,000: This grant supported $500: This grant supported Historical Society presented Heritage” workshops produce an interpretive $500: This grant supported book discussions, events, a screening and discussion a program centered on the presented nationally by the CD which will use personal a workshop on museum and activities for all age with James Eric Francis of a 20th Maine regiment, and National Trust for Historic and community narratives, interpretation, cultural groups, centered around 60-minute video documen- its role in the battle of Little Preservation to encourage soundscapes and audio tourism, docent training, the community’s reading tary on the historical and Round Top at Gettysburg. appreciation of nature and art to explore Maine’s and communications for the book Ernie’s Ark contemporary experience > Dover-Foxcroft the local history and culture Kennebec-Chaudière museums and cultural by Monica Wood. of Maine’s Indians. Historical Society of a region. This one focused International Corridor. groups on the St. John Valley > Norway Memorial Library > Northeast Historic Film on heritage tourism issues in > Kennebec Chaudière International Cultural Route.

Winter Writers Western Maine. International Corridor > Maine Acadian ogunquit cal ais Series - 2005 > Mountain Counties Heritage Committee Heritage Council $1,000: This program Memories of WWII - The Laramie Project brought a series of published Reading Revolutions: livermore St. John Valley Photographs from the $500: This grant supported a authors to Piscataquis Great Minds, International Cultural Associated Press local production and related county, where they read Great Thoughts Washburn-Norlands Route Website Archives programming around The and discussed their work $2,000: This grant Humanities Seminar - $5,000: This grant will $1,500: This grant supported Laramie Project, a play by in a series of events at the supported an exhibition and 2005 support planning and a photography exhibit Moises Kaufman. Using the Center Theater. programming relating to the $1,000: This annual seminar development of a website featuring 121 black & white play, students discussed > Center Theatre Remnant Trust Collection, brought together scholars for the St. John Valley photos from the files of the diversity issues and the need a travelling collection of and lay people around International Cultural Associated Press during for tolerance in the school the topic of the historical World War II, both from eagle l ake original or early editions Route, which will showcase and local community. of seminal texts that will New England identity. the region to a worldwide the theaters of war and > Calais High School Oral History be in Farmington through > Washburn-Norlands audience. the home front. Residence with Eagle fall 2005. Living History Center > Maine Acadian > Ogunquit Museum Downeast Hidden Arts Lake Elementary School, > University of Maine Heritage Council of American Art $1,500: The Downeast Northern Maine General, at Farmington lovell Heritage Museum presented & Community new gloucester orono Signs of the Times: a workshop/demonstration $1,500: Jennifer Armstrong, hinckley series focusing on traditional a musician and storyteller, Collaborative The Second Annual Somali Narrative Project downeast crafts, with provided a 3-day residency Bernd Heinrich: Programming Fiddlehead Art & $500: This project recorded participants producing with students grades 3-8 at The Naturalist As Artist for Deaf and Hearing Cultural Festival - 2005 stories of Somali immigrants finished products to be Eagle Lake Elementary $1,500: This grant supported Audiences $1,500: This grant supported to document their experi- featured in a final exhibit. School focusing on folklore, an exhibit and public in Western Maine portions of the Fiddlehead ences for use within the > Downeast Heritage Center oral history, and the programming on the life $750: This grant supported Art and Cultural Festival. Somali community and for performing arts. and career of renowned a public storytelling festival > Fiddlehead Center those interested in Maine’s > Northern Maine General author, illustrator, and field in both American Sign Language for the Arts immigrant history. biologist Bernd Heinrich. and English. > University of Maine > L.C. Bates Museum > Charlotte Hobbs (Good Will Home Association) Memorial Library

10 MHC: FALL life, and he begins to write the novel we are POETRY COMES TO LIFE IN MAINE LIBRARIES reading. Along the way we find some brilliant set pieces from Belle Epoque France and distant On June 13 and 14, 2005, the Maine Humanities This was one of the first Poets House rumblings of politics and social change—the Council brought together twenty librarians trainings in the nation to take place outside Third Republic, the Dreyfus Affair, the Great from around the state at the Bangor Public of New York City. Maine Poet Laureate War, the arrival of telephone and aeroplane. Library. They gathered to learn ways of Baron Wormser and poet Dave Johnson Proust’s novel has much to say about the expanding poetry programs and services at joined Lee Briccetti and Marsha Howard virtues of friendship and the corrosive effect their libraries, and to share their programming of Poets House to work with the Maine of jealousy, but it is also very much a book about ideas, through Poetry in the Branches, a training librarians. MHC organized a poetry reading how to write a book. If Cervantes invents the created by Poets House and sponsored by the in conjunction with the program to give novel with Quixote—a narrative that combines Maine Humanities Council, Tom’s of Maine, participants both the pleasure of hearing close observation of everyday life with an astute and the Maine State Library. Maine poets Kathleen Ellis, Wes McNair, grasp of human nature—Proust re-invents it, Poets House is a literary center and poetry Candice Stover, and Kate Chappell read by intensifying that power of observation and archive in New York City that developed the from their work, and the opportunity to making the writer himself the object of scrutiny, Poetry in the Branches training to increase poetry meet poets who have worked with libraries. within a framework that jettisons traditional awareness and poetry-related programming in All in all, Poetry in the Branches was notions of chronology and plot. He is to prose public libraries. enthusiastically received. As one participant what Picasso is to painting. said, “I think this program will add vitality Too often dismissed as a gossipy, frivolous to our libraries—and help reach people on piece of self-absorption on the part of an inveter- a deeper, delight-filled level.” ate snob, Proust’s novel is in truth the most devastating account of snobbery ever written. Like a skilled surgeon, Proust (the son of a doctor) peels back layer after layer of society I see the boy alert to reveal the fatuity at its core. His book is also very funny. And far more readable than the In near darkness, head back to see the sky— author’s meandering, page-long sentences might at first suggest. A veil laid over an ancient earth, I would not go so far as Alain de Botton’s claim that Proust can change your life (a rather The truest irrelevant guide. Mme. Verdurin-like remark), but I do think Proust can change the way you perceive the Four lines from Baron Wormer’s “Swayed” from his book entitled When (Sarabande Books, 1997) world. He is like Wagner: you either love him, or hate him, and next March you can find out for yourself.

PTEMBER 1, 2004 AND SEPTEMBER 14, 2005

In September 2005, the MHC funded a symposium portl and searsport south portl and in decorative arts as part of the 250th anniversary of the Tate House Museum. The program sought insight Henry David Thoreau, Waymouth 400: History The Concept of Liberty on what influenced decorative arts in the northeast American colonies during the Tates’ early years in their Surveyor of the Soul Symposium in American Life F a l m o u t h ho me , 1755 -1776 . $3,000: This scripting grant $5,000: This grant under- $1,500: This grant allowed a Clockwise from top: A guest studies a silver salver will assist in the development wrote a history symposium group of academically at-risk that was custom-made as a wedding gift during the of a two-hour documentary at the Penobscot Marine Middle School students to time that the first occupants lived in the Tate House; Sally Lombard presents copper plate engravings of about the life and writings Museum, one of several analyze what liberty means George III and his Queen Charlotte; the Tate House of Henry David Thoreau and different projects comprising for new immigrants as well (from behind). his influence on American the celebration of the as long-term residents; photos: diane hudson culture. 400th anniversary of George create a website; and lead a > Maine Alliance of Media Arts Waymouth’s exploration public forum on the subject. of the Maine coast. > South Portland School System Look at ME > Penobscot Marine Museum $5,000: This grant will support a curriculum development program with a group of art historians, public school teachers, arts educators, and parents working to encourage reading and arts literacy skills in children K-2. > Portland Museum of Art

MHC: FALL 11 AWARDS The Maine Humanities Council recently funding for national expansion, with plans received two National Endowment for the to bring four more state councils into the Humanities grants totaling $400,000. These program over the next three years. The MHC grants were awarded to fund the MHC’s supports the national program with training nationally recognized program, Literature institutes, conferences, regional meetings, & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health an online newsletter, program materials, and Care,® and a Teachers for a New Century program, technical assistance. In addition, the grant Hawthorne and Longfellow: A Literary Friendship. will provide funding for a training institute NEH awards are highly competitive and in 2006 and funding to continue Literature involve a rigorous review and evaluation & Medicine programming in Maine. process leading to the selection of the highest The second grant, for $133,798, is an NEH quality projects in humanities research, Institute for School Teachers grant, awarded education, preservation and public programs. for Hawthorne and Longfellow, a three-week The special projects grant awarded for interdisciplinary summer institute for 30 school Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart teachers from across the country. The program Te a ch e r s of Health Care,® was one of only six granted explores the personal and professional relation- for a nationwide. The MHC was awarded $270,000 ship between Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry for this national hospital-based reading and Wadsworth Longfellow. Participants will N EW discussion program for health care professionals, engage with scholars in close reading of texts, a program created by the MHC that influences discussion of historical context and new scholar- Century the way health care professionals understand ship, and guided field trips to relevant historical their work and their relationships with patients sites. The NEH has designated Hawthorne and and each other. Longfellow as a “We the People” project. The Twenty-five hospitals throughout Maine have NEH defines “We the People” as an initiative participated in Literature & Medicine over the that seeks “to encourage and strengthen the last 8 years, with 17 hospitals and over 300 teaching, study, and understanding of American health care professionals expected to participate history and culture through the support of in 2005. In addition, the MHC works with projects that explore significant events and other state humanities councils throughout themes in our nation’s history and culture and the U.S. to implement their own Literature that advance knowledge of the principles that & Medicine programs. The grant will provide define America.”

FALL HISTORY CAMP | HUMANITIES PRIZE | ASHLEY BRYAN | BORN TO READ: VOLUNTEER READER BARN AGAIN! | WINTER WEEKEND | POETRY IN MAINE LIBRARIES | GRANT AWARDS

T 207 773-5051 F 207 773-2416 [email protected] www.mainehumanities.org

IT’S TIME TO SIGN UP FOR WINTER WEEKEND...HURRY! Winter Weekend continues on March 10 and 11, cruelty, and the corrosive effects of jealousy. admission include a Proust-inspired dinner, 2006, with Lydia Davis’s new translation of To all who have read it, the book’s characters breakfast and lunch, background materials, and Swann’s Way. The first of seven volumes from come alive at the very mention of their names: a copy of the Lydia Davis translation of Marcel Proust’s immortal A la recherche du temps the narrator’s great-aunt Léonie, the red-haired Swann’s Way. perdu (initially translated as In Search of Lost Gilberte, the writer Bergotte, the odd yet Winter Weekend Time and later as Remembrances of Things Past), intriguing Baron de Charlus, the musician seats are limited Swann’s Way is regarded by many audiences as Vinteuil, the alluring Odette de Crécy, and, and go very quickly. Proust’s most definitive work. Published at the of course, Charles Swann himself. Davis’s is a If you are interested author’s own expense in 1913 as Du côté de chez more literal translation than those previously in attending or have Swann, Swann’s Way contains the fateful moment published and has received great acclaim. questions about the when a taste of a madeleine dipped into linden Winter Weekend brings together people program, contact Tricia blossom tea evokes the narrator’s childhood in who love great literature to discuss and Currie Hunt at the Maine Combray. It is a story of beautiful memories and hear talks on a definitive fictional text. Humanities Council: early loves. It is also a tale of idol-worship, social Tickets are $200 per person and with 207-773-5051.

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