Franco-American Pathways

Concluding this two-episode series, Anna tours the Biddeford Mills Museum and the larger Pepperell Mill Campus.

Our tour guide, David Bishop, worked at the former Pepperell Mill for more than three decades. He has volunteered with the museum for many years and shares many of its secrets in this episode.

Welcome, and happy listening! Merci, et très bonne écoute!

Interviewee: David Bishop

Interviewer: Anna Faherty

Narration & edits: Patrick Lacroix, Anderson Smith & Anna Faherty

Music: Robert Sylvain

With this episode, we are happy to introduce a new member of the Pathways team, Anderson Smith. A New Hampshire native, Anderson serves as the archivist at the Acadian Archives in Fort Kent.

In this two-episode series, Anna tours the Biddeford Mills Museum, a historical interpretation center located in a historic mill building that overlooks the Saco River.

Our tour guide, David Bishop, worked at the former Pepperell Mill for more than three decades. He has volunteered with the museum for many years and shares many of its secrets in this episode.

Welcome, and happy listening! Merci, et très bonne écoute!

Interviewee: David Bishop

Interviewer: Anna Faherty

Narration & edits: Patrick Lacroix & Anderson Smith

Music: Robert Sylvain

In this episode, Anna and Maureen sit down with Joe Boucher.

Joe is an accomplished songwriter, musician, and performer. In this interview, we learn about his life journey, his musical influences, and the history and Franco-American heritage of Biddeford.

Joe kindly shared songs that we are including at the beginning and end of this episode. We hope you will enjoy his pieces and take a moment to explore his music.

Welcome, and happy listening! Merci, et très bonne écoute!

Interested in checking out Joe's music? Follow this link.

Interviewee: Joe Boucher

Interviewers: Anna Faherty & Maureen Perry

Narration: Patrick Lacroix

Editing: Anna Faherty & Patrick Lacroix

Music: Joe Boucher

In this episode, Anna sits down with Denis Ledoux. A well-established writer, Ledoux is the author of French Boy: A 1950s Franco-American Childhood and the editor of Lives in Translation: An Anthology of Contemporary Franco-American Writings. His most recent work, Here to Stay: Lives in 17th-Century Canada, appeared in the fall of 2025. Denis is the founder of the Memoir Network, which guides everyday people through the process of creating rich, insightful, and compelling memoirs.

In this conversation, Denis shares his story and provides insights about the memoir-writing process.

Welcome, and happy listening! Merci, et très bonne écoute!

Interviewee: Denis Ledoux

Interviewer: Anna Faherty

Narration: Patrick Lacroix

Editing: Anna Faherty & Patrick Lacroix

Music: Rob Sylvain

In this episode, Pathways takes you along on a visit to the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, Maine. Curator of Collections Nicole Potter shows Anna and Madeline artifacts of Senator Smith's life, work and family, and discusses her Franco-American heritage.

Interviewee: Nicole Potter

Interviewers: Anna Faherty & Madeline Soucie

Music: Robert Sylvain

Narration: Patrick Lacroix

Editing: Patrick Lacroix & Anna Faherty

Today we bring you the second part of our exploration of Franco Madison! Our apologies for the delayed release, this tape needed a lot of editing due to background noise. We begin this episode with a tour of the Madison Historical Society with  Shirley Vigneault, discuss Vigneault and Acadian genealogy, thanks to the research of Darcy Vigneault Beery (Shirley’s daughter) and take a stroll in downtown Madison with Shirley, Jo Leblanc, and her grandson Joey. 

Welcome, and happy listening! 

Bienvenue et très bonne écoute!

Interviewers: Anna Faherty, Maureen Perry & Corra St. Pierre

Interviewees: Shirley Vigneault, Jo Leblanc, Joey Leblanc

Music: Robert Sylvain Narration and Editing: Anna Faherty

Join us as we explore Madison, Maine in our “Mapping Franco Madison” episodes, recorded with Shirley Vigneault from the Madison Historical Society, and Shirley’s relative, Joey Leblanc. Today, we are presenting you with the first part of our adventure: a sit down interview with Shirley Vigneault and her sisters: June Vigneault Orcutt, Sandra “Sandy” Vigneault Welton, Beverly “Bev” Vigneault Megill, and Theresa Vigneault Hanson, as well as their cousin David Leblanc, his wife Jo, and their grandson, Joey. The group discusses what it was like growing up Franco in Madison.

Bienvenue et très bonne écoute!

In this episode we’ll explore Franco-American theatre, particularly community theatre here in Lewiston.  We’ll hear from three Francos in community theatre today: John Blanchette, Paul Caron, and Roger Philippon.  In The Archivist’s Corner Anna will share theatre programs, a desk from a local Franco-American author,  and a local French-language translation of  Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore. Merci, et très bonne écoute!

Read More About It

Dumas, E. (1975). Mirbah: Un roman.  National Development Center for French.

(Original work published 1912)

Though the title character is a Franco-American actress from New England, she

 is very different from Eva Tanguay (mentioned below).  The story is as much a survivance narrative as it is a theatre story.

Erdman, A.  (2012). Queen of vaudeville : The story of Eva Tanguay. Cornell University

Press.

Eva Tanguay was an outrageous real-life vaudeville star, the Madonna or Lady

Gaga of her day–and a New England Franco-American.

Saucier, R. P. (1961, September 14). Le théâtre Franco-américain de Lewiston.  Le Messager, 7. 

This is the article I reference at the beginning.

Salvas-Coulombe Theatre Collection (McArthur Library, Biddeford)  

https://mcarthur.pastperfectonline.com/archive/C4BD3DEB-F9AE-487B-BD3A-758900883829

In season three of our show, we are finally able to release our anticipated “Mapping Franco Brunswick” episodes, recorded with David Vermette, author of A Distinct Alien Race, and Larissa Vigue-Picard, Executive Director of the Pejepscot History Center. These two episodes were originally recorded all the way back in 2022. 

Today, in our second part of this series, we are excited to bring you our  “Archivists Corner” for Brunswick: a visit to the Pejepscot History Center. Larissa, as the Executive Director of Pejepscot, will provide us with a peek into their collections–mill histories, music, textiles and more.

Thank you to David and Larissa for interviewing with us, and to WMPG for letting us use their studio space. 

Music: Robert Sylvain

Featured speaker: Aimée L. Keithan

Interviewers: Anna Faherty, Maureen Perry, Julia Rhinelander and Corrali St. Pierre

Socials: Corrali St. Pierre

In season three of our show, we are finally able to release our anticipated “Mapping Franco Brunswick” episodes, recorded with David Vermette, author of A Distinct Alien Race, and Larissa Vigue-Picard, Executive Director of the Pejepscot History Center. These two episodes were originally recorded all the way back in 2022. 

Today, we are presenting you with the first part of our Brunswick adventure: a historical walk around Brunswick with David. David discusses his research into the broader Franco history of Brunswick, as well as specific stories and locations important to his family’s experience of Franco Brunswick. As someone non-Franco who grew up in Brunswick, and has always been fascinated by local history, it was great to be able to share what I love about my hometown, while also learning something new. 

Special thanks to David Vermette for interviewing with us,

Correction: The Brunswick newspaper David mentions was called the Brunswick Telegraph and not the telegram.

Interviewers: Anna Faherty,

Music: Robert Sylvain

Socials: Corrali St. Pierre