Maine Historical Society Coll. 1892 Victoria Society of Maine Victoria Society of Maine Oral History Project 1984 - 1992 Accession #: 1995.273 Processed by: Emily Gendrolis, Intern Access: Unrestricted Copyright: Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the MHS Image Services Coordinator. Size: 2 linear feet Dates: 1984 - 1992 Bulk Dates: 1984 Biographical Notes: The Victoria Society of Maine Women of Achievement was founded by Mae Ford Haviland (Mrs. Foster L. Haviland) and Dr. William Henry Holmes on June 19, 1943, and filed as a Maine General Business on August 31 of the same year. The purpose of the organization was the preservation of the Morse-Libby Mansion – now known as Victoria Mansion – which was built in 1859 for Ruggles Sylvester Morse and subsequently owned by J.R. Libby, whose family resided in the mansion until 1929. Because of the preservation of the Mansion – it has retained its original decorations and furnishings almost completely – it is considered “a national shrine of the Victorian era.” Mae Ford Haviland, originally from Vermont, was an accomplished organist, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music’s Piano Teacher’s Course. She moved to Portland in 1923, where she served as the director of the Rossini Club’s orchestra, Chairman of Church Music for the Maine Federation of Music Clubs, and editor of the “New Hymns and Old” column for the Portland Sunday Telegram. Her extensive collection of early American Hymn books, the oldest dating from 1711, resided in a designated section of the Victoria Mansion Library dedicated to her memory. Dr. William Henry Holmes, a Maine native from Augusta, attended Colby College before embarking on a lengthy career in education, serving as principal and superintendent of schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. After retiring, he and his sister, Clara, purchased the Morse-Libby Mansion in 1940, effectively saving it from demolition; they pooled their resources to restore the Mansion, which they then donated to the organization that he and Mae Ford Haviland founded for the purpose of its preservation: The Victoria Society of Maine Women of Achievement. The Founders Room, a drawing room of the Mansion, was dedicated to Haviland and Holmes in 1948 to honor their work on behalf of the preservation of Portland’s best known historic landmarks. The Victoria Society of Maine Women of Achievement was shortened to the Victoria Society of Maine Women, then to Victoria Society, then reincorporated into Victoria Mansion. In 1968, Cornelia L. Calderwood wrote that Maine Historical Society Coll. 1892 “the Victoria Society of Maine Women, realizing its value as representing an era, is an organization made up of men and women throughout the State [of Maine], who are interested in the cultural, historical, and moral advances made during the reign of Queen Victoria in England, and who seek to commemorate this period through preserving this residence typical of the times. “Victoria Mansion stands today a symbol of past dignity and lasting beauty, and the joy of sharing its loveliness with others is one of the aims of Victoria Society of Maine Women.” The mission of the Victoria Society of Maine Women of Achievement – henceforth referred to in this document as the Victoria Society – as written in Roger Calderwood’s Highlights of the First Thirty Years of Victoria Society of Maine Women was “to foster the cultural arts; to recognize worthy achievements of Maine mothers and daughters; to preserve, and maintain Victoria Mansion as an Historic landmark and as the best standing example of early Victorian Art, Architecture, and Decoration.” The first organizational meeting was held on June 19th of 1943, and on August 23rd the Act of Incorporation and By-Laws were accepted and officers of the organization were elected. There were sixty-five initial Charter Members of the Victoria Society, with more added later. The Victoria Society, at the height of its activity, was a prominent organization that attracted both national and international attention. A letter of response from Buckingham Palace dated 28th November 1944, written and signed by Sir Alan Frederick Lascelles, Private Secretary to King George VI, and later to Queen Elizabeth II, indicates the value of the Victoria Society as an entity recognized internationally. The letter reads as follows: “Dear Sir: “The King was much interested by your letter of August 28th and by the particulars of the Victoria Mansion which you enclosed. His Majesty is very glad to comply with your suggestion that he should present to this Museum a souvenir of his Great Grandmother, Queen Victoria, and has directed me to send to you an oil painting of Osbourne House, executed in 1869, from the collection at Buckingham Palace. This picture is being dispatched immediately to the British Embassy at Washington, and the Ambassador has been requested to transmit it to you on its arrival. “Yours very truly, A. Lascelles (Signed)” On September 24th 1945, Mrs. Horace Hildreth took possession of this painting on behalf of the Victoria Society, as it was delivered by the Honorable Bernard P. Sullivan, the British Consul General in Boston, acting on behalf of King George VI. In 1953 Miss Ruth Olive Roberts attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as the official representative of the Victoria Society of Maine Women. 2 Maine Historical Society Coll. 1892 In addition to their historic preservation efforts, member of the Victoria Society organized social events such as educational lectures, poetry readings and book signings, musical performances, palm readings, floral exhibits, and luncheon meetings. Speakers included Mrs. Sumner Sewall in 1944, the wife of the Governor; Dr. Charles F. Phillips in 1945, President of Bates College; and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana in 1947, grandson of the poet; while musical performances by local musicians and singers had included Lillian Nordica and Elias Thomas III. Since its inception, many readings and musical performances were given by individuals attired in Victorian costumes; in 1960 an evening event was held to commemorate 200 years of Cumberland County for which attendees dressed in period costume. The State of Maine bestowed its annual Historic Preservation Award to the Victoria Society of Maine Women in 1974, and in 1981 the Society was presented with the Preservation Award from the New England Chapter of the Victorian Society in America. With this emphasis on the preservation of Victorian era culture and heritage, it is of little surprise that the Victoria Society should have engaged in the undertaking of collecting memories from the community’s oldest members. The Victoria Society of Maine Oral History Project is comprised of the taped interviews of 36 Maine residents recorded between 1984 and 1992, totaling 51 tapes in all. The recorded memoirs focus on the years between 1900 and 1920, recounting the positives and negatives of daily life in a bygone era. The original description of their oral history project set forth by the Victoria Society is as follows: “The Victorian Era may not have ended in Portland, Maine, in 1901 when Queen Victoria died. Perhaps many of the values, morays, and habits of England in the late 1800s lingered a bit longer in provincial areas such as Maine. This project is designed to tape record interviews with people at least 75 years old to learn about their childhood homes, schools, families, and their parents’ attitudes toward manners, money, politics, religion, health practices, education, and so forth, and the changes that have occurred in Portland as they’ve grown up here in transportation and communication, and various questions that we thought would be of value to people who were listening to these, and most of this information has not been written down.” The recorded memoirs for this oral history project represent a diverse cross-section of Portland’s citizens, who vary in socio-economic class, religion, nationality, education, and profession. The result is a comprehensive historic perspective that is inclusive enough to illustrate the diversity of Portland and its rich cultural tradition in the early 20th century. For further research, please refer to The Story of Victoria Mansion by Cornelia L. Calderwood and Highlights of the First Thirty Years of Victoria Society of Maine Women by Roger Calderwood, both available for viewing at the Maine Historical Society Brown Research Library. Scope and Content: The collection is comprised of the taped interviews of 36 Maine residents aged at least 75 years; content of the interviews ranges from family relationships to education, from attire to attitudes. Each interviewee makes a substantial contribution through the recollection of their childhood experiences at the turn of the century and into the early 20th century. The following brief biographical sketches of each individual can be found in each of their respective folders in Box 1 of the collection. 3 Maine Historical Society Coll. 1892 Anonymous Biography Born on June 30 in 1904, this interviewee, who wished to remain anonymous, was a seventh generation descendant of John and Priscilla Alden. She grew up in the house her grandfather built on Newbury Street in Portland, and recounted her memories of the view of the harbor, the mock orange bushes, and the lilacs, prominent features of her childhood home. She attended the Nathan Clifford School, where, at a dance class while in the second grade, she met her future husband. As the two smallest children in the grade, they were paired together. She and her family spent summers on Peaks Island, where her aunt would buy lobsters – 12 for one dollar – for parties, and in winter went ice skating at Deering Oaks. Her father, who was orphaned at 13 and sent to Portland to live with his uncle, worked for the Maine Central railroad freight department.