Maine Historical Society - Programs Podcast

Christoph Irmscher; Recorded August 8, 2023 - Christoph Irmscher, author of Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science, reflected on Agassiz's legacy, his friendships with Emerson, Henry Wadsworth and Fanny Longfellow and others, and how his own thinking about Agassiz has (and hasn't) changed since he published his biography 10 years ago. The talk addressed Agassiz's scientific achievements as well as his controversial involvement in the production of racist photographs, not only the more infamous daguerreotypes but also the less familiar cache of glass negatives made in Manaus, Brazil, in 1865 (and the responses to this expedition by contemporary Brazilian artists).

Recorded July 11, 2023 - How has the notion of a Maine “fishing community” changed with time? How has the relationship the people of Maine have with natural world changed over thousands of years? When the Island had Fish is the story of a tiny island, Vinalhaven Maine, that offers a close look at the significant history of Maine fishing particularly, but also offers perspective on the impact of industrialized fishing on small fishing villages all over the United States and the world. Vinalhaven’s documented habitation by fishermen dates back over 5000 years, and still today lobstering is the primary source of employment for its 1100 year round residents; islanders currently harvest lobsters at a rate almost unrivaled nationally. When the Island had Fish provides a meditation on America's past and future. Listen to author Janna Malamud Smith explore these topics through a broad lens, shedding light on the way that species, including humans, are impacted by—and at moments contribute to—climate change, environmental degradation, and sustainable and unsustainable uses of natural resources.

Recorded June 27, 2023 - Ever since the early 1600s, when the first Europeans set foot on the peninsula that was to later become the City of Portland, the city's social and economic history has been shaped by national and international events. Some of these events are very well-known while others have been mostly forgotten, but all of them have influenced the city in both tangible and intangible ways. In the podcast Author Paul Ledman discusses historical connections and the history of Portland in the larger context of national and international events.

Recorded June 20, 2023 - Wit and Wisdom begins with the story of an odd discovery in a Maine attic—a discovery that led Joan Radner to uncover a long-lost rural tradition of joyful wintertime gatherings. We might imagine that the long, dark winter evenings and deep snows of northern New England would have isolated nineteenth-century families in their scattered farmsteads. But this was far from the truth: rural villagers saw winter as a "season of improvement," a time not only for home industries and woods work, but also for mental exercise in good company. Neighbors bent on self-improvement created local "lyceums"—they conducted formal debates on current topics and performed aloud handwritten "papers" compiling their homegrown literary compositions. Ordinary people—men and women of all ages, farmers and mechanics, and the few village intelligentsia—wrote poetry, serious essays, witty parodies, and sundry pieces teasing one another. In this podcast Joan Radner discusses what she found in found dozens of these ephemeral lyceum papers, which provide new access to the voices, talents, and concerns of rural New Englanders: their lifelong devotion to mutual "improvement" through face-to-face exchange of ideas, their broad national awareness combined with resistance to the pressures of modernization, their passionate belief in their own model of democratic community, and their abundant, playful humor.

Recorded May 3, 2023 - Commercial fishermen have a front-row seat to the impacts of climate change and are in a unique and valuable position to help craft the response to the climate change crisis. Sarah Schumann is the coordinator for Fishery Friendly Climate Action, a grassroots initiative that provides fishermen, fisheries associations, and seafood businesses with tools, networking, access, and knowledge to advocate for robust climate solutions that work for U.S. fisheries and not at their expense. In this talk, Sarah discussed her work for climate action strategies that restore the health of marine ecosystems while at the same time safeguarding the livelihoods of marine food producers like those in Maine.

Timothy H. Scherman; Recorded June 13, 2023 - Timothy H. Scherman re-introduces modern readers to Elizabeth Oakes Smith, a nineteenth-century Maine writer and political activist whose disappearance from literary history would seem impossible in light of the volume of her published writing and the visceral responses she elicited from readers in her own day. A poet, lecturer, and feminist, Oakes Smith fought for equal access and rights to political, economic, and educational opportunities for women, and is also remembered today for penning the first woman's account of an ascent of Mount Katahdin. In this talk, Scherman reflected on Oakes Smith's work, marking her climb of Katahdin as turning point in her career, and recounted his own attempt to scale the summit in Smith's footsteps, discovering that those who actually do what Oakes Smith have a very different understanding of her text than those who only read it.

Kermit Roosevelt III; Recorded March 9, 2023 - In his book, The Nation That Never Was, Kermit Roosevelt III argues that we are not the heirs of the Founders, but we can be the heirs of Reconstruction and its vision for equality; America today is not the Founder's America, but it can be Lincoln's America. We face a dilemma these days. We want to be honest about our history and the racism and oppression that Americans have both inflicted and endured. But we want to be proud of our country, too. Roosevelt discussed how we can do both those things by realizing we’re not the country we thought we were, opening the door to a new understanding of ourselves and our story. Purchase the book

Recorded February 22, 2023 - When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie, he helped to shine a light on and memorialize an all but forgotten event of historic significance, Le Grand Dérangement—the forced expulsion of Acadians from Nova Scotia. The poem brought recognition for a unique ethnic group and gave the world an enigmatic icon, Evangeline. History, fiction, pride, and poetry have since blended together with each generation. But the universal tenets embodied by Evangeline—love, perseverance, and hope, continue to resonate with people from all walks of life. Veni Harlan, author of Evangeline Reconsidered, discussed her carefully researched book that explores the roots, legends, history, and impact of Longfellow's 1847 poem. Purchase the book

Recorded April 12, 2023 - CODE RED examines topics around climate change by reuniting collections from one of the nation's earliest natural history museums, the Portland Society of Natural History (PSNH) and reflects on how museums collect, and the role of humans in creating changes in society, climate, and biodiversity. Exhibit co-curators Tilly Laskey and Dr. Darren Ranco discussed the new exhibit and some of the featured artifacts, as well as how and why museums collect and the role of humans in creating changes in society, climate, and biodiversity.

In person program; Recorded January 24, 2023 - On a frigid winter afternoon at the height of the Cold War, a Strategic Air Command B-52 Stratofortress departed Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts for a routine training mission. Hours later, the aircraft's smoking wreckage lay scattered across a snow-encased mountainside in Maine's desolate North Woods. Joseph Wax, author of FINAL MISSION The North Woods, visited MHS on the 60th anniversary of that fateful day and related the gripping account of the events and aftermath as revealed by those who miraculously survived and the families of those who perished. Purchase the book at https://www.mainehistorystore.com/fimi.html