Franco-American Pathways

Our archivist, Anna, had the chance to sit down with Cindy Larock a few months ago, and what came out of it is just so special.  For those unfamiliar, Cindy Larock is a Franco-American who grew up in Lewiston, Maine. She has been actively involved in traditional music and dance from Quebec to Maine and all over New England for over 40 years. This month, we present you with Anna and Cindy's conversation, plus some treasures from the collection.

To learn more about Cindy Larock, the Maine Folque Coop, and her Maine Bicentennial Grant, be sure to read our blog post for this month.

Music: Robert Sylvain

Writing: Anna Faherty

Editing and Production: Julia Rhinelander and Corra St. Pierre

Welcome back to Franco-American Pathways! We hope you had a great holiday, however you celebrate. In this longer episode, we present you with an interview we conducted in person, at our collection, with Ryan Fecteau, a young Franco-American and Maine’s Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Anna brought out a bunch of artifacts to share with Speaker Fecteau during our interview and we had a great conversation about his experience growing up as a Franco-American in Biddeford, his career in politics, and his vision for Maine’s future.

Maureen also unearthed some compelling written documents pertaining to the history of Francos in Maine politics for La Collection Parle. Check out our blog for images of the archival materials we shared this week!

Très bonne écoute !

Hosts: Anna Faherty, Maureen Perry, Julia Rhinelander

Special Guest: Ryan Fecteau

Music: Robert Sylvain

Editing and Production: Julia Rhinelander

Welcome to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection. This month, we spoke with Steven Riel, a New England poet of Franco-American descent, who just released his fifth poetry collection, Edgemere. We discussed Riel’s upbringing in Massachusetts, his relationship to his Franco-American heritage, in addition to the themes of memory, identity, and selfhood in his poetry. In The Archivist’s Corner, Anna will introduce the Nandette Poetry book, a collection of poems and ephemera from Fernande Audet. In La Collection Parle, Maureen will read some of Audet’s poetry, in French and English. Welcome and Happy listening!

Music: Robert Sylvain

Production and Editing: Julia Rhinelander

The Archivist's Corner: Anna Faherty

La Collection Parle: Maureen Perry

Welcome to this month’s episode of Franco-American Pathways, the second in our Mapping Franco Lewiston series. If you haven’t heard part one, we suggest going back and giving it a listen. It’ll give you some context for this month’s conversations.

In part one, we focused on connecting the physical and cultural topographies of Lewiston in order to better understand its history; we visited Libby Bischof at the Osher Map Library to look at several different renderings of Lewiston-Auburn throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and then spent a day on foot together in Lewiston to deepen our understanding of the Franco presence there. For this second part, we rounded out our exploration of Franco Lewiston talking with James Myall, co-author of The Franco-Americans of Lewiston-Auburn, historian, and policy analyst for the Maine Center for Economic Policy.

Be sure to check out our blog to take a look at the resources mentioned and stay up to date on all our news.

Music: Robert Sylvain

Host: Julia Rhinelander

Production and Editing: Julia Rhinelander

The Archivists Corner: Anna Faherty

La Collection Parle: Mauren Perry

Merci, et très bonne écoute !

In the first installment of this very special, two-part episode of Franco-American Pathways, we diverge from our traditional format to bring you a multi-faceted history of the Francos in Lewiston. We started by examining several maps of the city with Libby Bischof, director of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, many dating back to the 19th century. We then embarked on a trip into the field for a more personal experience of the city with our co-host, Maureen, a Franco Lewiston native. Stay tuned for the second part in this series, which will include La Collection Parle and The Archivist's Corner. 

Note: We had some technical difficulties while recording in Lewiston, and you'll hear a significant amount of wind interference at times. Our apologies - wind guards next time!

We have several gratitudes to extend for this month’s episode: first and foremost, to Libby Bischof and the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education. Also, a special thank you to our co-host, Maureen, for sharing her personal history with us, and to the Prince of Peace Parish for welcoming us in Lewiston.

A big shoutout, as usual, to Rob Sylvain for letting us use the music from his album, Memère’s Notebook, which you can purchase on his website.

Thanks as well to David Nutty and the USM Libraries staff for their ongoing support.

Be sure to catch our show when it airs on the last Friday of every month starting tomorrow, 8/27, at 1:30PM on WMPG 90.9 Portland. We’re loving collaborating with WMPG and we’ve got some other fun projects in the works.

Merci et très bonne écoute !

This month, we dive into the world of French language radio and newspapers in Maine and New England. We had the pleasure of sitting with Paul Paré, an Emmy award winning Franco writer and journalist, to talk about his life, his writing, and the history of French language news in Franco communities. You'll also hear a clip from a bilingual radio show, L'Heure Française, hosted by Marcel Raymond, a Lewiston native; the show aired for 20 years out of WCUW in Worcester, MA. 

In the Archivist's Corner, we take a look at some special editions of Le Messager, one of the longest running French newspapers in Maine, and Maureen reads from the personal letters and correspondence of local Franco journalist, Charlotte Michaud.

Thanks, as always, to Rob Sylvain for providing us with the music for our show.

Also, we are so pleased to announce our partnership with WMPG 90.9FM, our local community radio here in Portland! They'll be airing our show every month and have opened up their recording facility to us going forward. We are so happy to be a part of the WMPG family, and even have a live show in the works for the fall. We'll be sure to provide details about air times and dates on the blog. WCUW 91.3FM in Worcester will also be airing our show on the first Monday of every month starting in August. 

Merci, et très bonne écoute !

This month on Franco-American Pathways, we put the spotlight on music in the Franco-American community. We’ll listen to some examples of intimate performances that appear in many of our oral histories, and talk about the diversity and importance of music in Franco culture.

We’ll take a deep dive into Acadian musical traditions with Robert Sylvain, who has so generously provided us with the music for our show from his album, Mémère’s Notebook. Then, Lise Pelletier, Director of the Acadian Archives at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, will provide us with some historical context for the evolution of Acadian and Franco music as we know it today. 

After Anna presents the Archivist's Corner, Maureen will present written texts from the collection that deepen our understanding of music as a form of storytelling.

Music featured this week (in order of appearance):

Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde - Boréal Tordu

Dis-Moi Donc - Robert Sylvain (Mémère's Notebook)

Je Me Suis Levé - Robert Sylvain (Mémère's Notebook)

Veux-Tu M'Aimer ? - Robert Sylvain (Mémère's Notebook)

Introducing Franco-American Pathways (Chemins Franco-Américains), a podcast that uses resources available at the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection to celebrate Franco history, culture, and stories.

In this pilot episode, we talk about the work being done at collections like ours to preserve and protect oral histories and artifacts that document the Franco experience. We talk a bit about the history of the Francos in Maine and New England, interview members of the Franco community, and give you a sample of one of our many oral histories. We hope that our collection will not only be a resource for the academic community, but also a means for Maine’s Franco-Americans to connect with their heritage, and with each other.

Please reach out via our website to see photos of the materials discussed in today’s episode, connect about visiting the collection, or just to say “hi” and share your thoughts.

Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!

Guests:

Dr. Mary Rice-DeFosse

Doris Bonneau

Hosts:

Julia Rhinelander

Anna Faherty (The Archivist’s Corner)

Maureen Perry (La Collection Parle)

Music:

Robert Sylvain

Historical Sources:

Owen, Joseph. “On This Date in Maine History: March 25.” Portland Press Herald. 25 March, 2020.

Rice-DeFosse, Mary & James Myall. The Franco-Americans of Lewiston-Auburn. The History Press. January, 2015.

Roby, Yves. The Franco-Americans of New England Dreams and Realities. Les éditions de Septentrion, English Edition. September, 2004.

Vermette, David. A Distinct Alien Race: Industrialization, Immigration, and Religious Strife. Baraka Books. October, 2018.