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

English Summary:

In this episode, Robert Daigle shares his experiences with the French language in Maine and beyond. A French teacher at the Fort Kent Community High School and Valley Rivers Middle School, Robert grew up between two languages. As a child, he gradually lost contact with his maternal tongue due to an educational system that did not value French. He nevertheless made a commitment to his ancestors’ tongue through studies in Orono, Maine, and Quebec City. He worked as an interpreter for the U.S. embassy in Paris and returned home to pass the torch to a new generation of St. John Valley residents.

Here, Robert discusses the challenge of honoring the distinct vocabulary, idioms, and pronunciations of the St. John Valley while ensuring that his students can engage with a larger francophone world. He has led an annual exchange with high school students from Cholet, France, for many years and hopes to bring to fruition intergenerational activities that will help young people acquire French. The discussion explores the history of the region especially as a meeting point between the Acadian culture of the Maritime provinces and French Canadians from the St. Lawrence valley of Quebec. The issue of bilingual education is also addressed.

Further, we hear from Robert’s mother, 88-year-old Béatrice (Jacques) Daigle, who continues to live independently in Fort Kent. Béatrice’s Jacques ancestors have their own interesting Franco-American journey through New York State, Massachusetts, and Maine.

Dans cet épisode, Robert Daigle partage ses expériences avec la langue française dans le Maine et ailleurs. Professeur de français à la Fort Kent Community High School et à la Valley Rivers Middle School, Robert a grandi entre deux langues. Il a perdu contact avec sa langue maternelle pendant sa jeunesse en raison d’un système éducatif qui ne valorisait pas le français. Il a repris le fil de la langue de ses ancêtres notamment en étudiant à Orono, Maine, et à Québec. Il a travaillé comme interprète pour l’ambassade américaine à Paris pour ensuite rentrer chez lui et tendre le flambeau à une nouvelle génération de gens du haut fleuve Saint-Jean.

Ici, Robert discute du défi d’honorer le vocabulaire, les expressions et les prononciations caractéristiques de la vallée du fleuve Saint-Jean tout en veillant à ce que ses élèves puissent interagir avec une francophonie plus étendue. Il anime depuis plusieurs années un échange avec des élèves du secondaire de Cholet, en France, et espère concrétiser des activités intergénérationnelles qui aideront les jeunes à apprendre le français. La conversation explore l’histoire de la région en tant que point de rencontre entre la culture acadienne des provinces maritimes et la population canadienne-française de la vallée du Saint-Laurent, au Québec. La question de l’éducation bilingue est aussi abordée.

Nous entendons également le témoignage de la mère de Robert, Béatrice (Jacques) Daigle, âgée de 88 ans, qui continue de vivre de manière indépendante à Fort Kent. La lignée de la famille Jacques a son propre parcours franco-américain intéressant à travers l’état de New York, le Massachusetts et le Maine.

In this episode, join Anna and Maureen as they interview poet Jeri Theriault on her new book, Self Portrait As Homestead. In this book, Jeri explores place, time, and gender as well as familial bonds, and her Franco-American roots. Theriault grew up in Waterville, Maine.

Here's a link to Jeri's website to learn more about her work: https://www.jeritheriault.com/.

Interested in looking more closely at the poetry book Corra and Anna talked about in the archivists corner? Here's where to get a look at it online: https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/fac-marie-jeanne-laurendeau/3/.

Special thanks to Jeri Theriault for her interview with us, and to WMPG for the use of their studio space.

Interviewers:

Anna Faherty & Maureen Perry

Editor:

Anna Faherty

Narration & Socials:

Corrali St. Pierre

Music: Robert Sylvain

Narration: Anna Faherty & Corra St. Pierre

Editing: Anna Faherty

Hello! and welcome back to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection. In this episode of our Voices of Fort Kent series, we present you with footage from our tour of the Acadian Archives with Patrick LaCroix and Madeline Soucie. 

We also have some tape to share of a walk to Fort Kent’s historical Blockhouse. Unfortunately traffic and wind made it a little noisy, but Patrick had some fun tidbits to share about the historic building and the landscape of the town - make sure to look at the blog post that corresponds to this episode for photos! This episode has a more casual feel to it, and I think it would be particularly interesting to folks who already work in archives and libraries - or have a desire to do so! Think of it as a full episode dedicated to our Archivist's Corner segments.

Thank you, and happy listening! 

Merci, et très bonne écoute !

Production Site: WMPG

This podcast is a production from the University of Southern Maine's Franco-American Collection and USM Libraries.

For more from the Acadian Archives, click here!