Maine Historical Society - Programs Podcast

Recorded March 25, 2021 - Only a few sportsmen went to Maine to hunt and fish before the advent of railroads. After the coming of the railways, thousands of hunters and fishermen came to Maine each season, creating a need for hotels, sporting camps and guides to accommodate them. Learn from author Steve Pinkhham about how they got here and how the Rangeley Lakes and Moosehead Lake became the favored sporting resorts of Maine.

Recorded November 16, 2019 - Listen to historian James E. Francis Sr. (Penobscot) who shared stories about the origin and meaning of geographic place names in what is now known as Maine, from a Wabanaki perspective. Wabanaki, part of the Algonkian language group, is the first language of Maine, and each tribe has a distinct language that expresses worldview. The original words of this land – Casco, Katahdin, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Pemaquid – surround us. As settlers colonized Maine with a dominant English language system, they named towns after their founding fathers or English homelands, resulting in a situation where Wabanaki people are now living in a deeply familiar place populated with foreign words.

Recorded November 7, 2019 - Listen to editor William C. "Chuck" diGiacomantonio as discuss a fascinating book that features a selection of letters, writings, and remarkable anti-slavery speeches by George Thatcher (1754-1824). Many of the letters are drawn from Maine Historical Society's manuscript collections. Copies of the book are available for purchase in our Museum Store. George Thatcher served as a U.S. representative from the Maine District of Massachusetts throughout the Federalist Era (1789-1801) which was the most critical and formative period of American constitutional history. A moderate on most political issues, he was a maverick in matters relating to education, the expansion of the slave interest, the rise of Unitarianism, and the separation of church and state. Following Thatcher's journey as a New England Federalist, abolitionist, religious dissenter, and pedagogical innovator can add depth to our understanding of the early American Republic. Written over his 40-year career as a country lawyer, national legislator, and state supreme court justice, selections in The Insurgent Delegate serve as an encyclopedic resource on the Founding Generation as it was lived and experienced in Maine, Boston, and the three capitals where Thatcher served (New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.). Historians, lawyers, legal scholars, teachers, and genealogists will find this book compelling, as will all readers who are captivated by the dramatic immediacy and authenticity of Thatcher's personal letters. About the Author: William C. diGiacomantonio, Chief Historian of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, spent most of his career on the editorial team that recently completed the twenty-two-volume Documentary History of the First Federal Congress.

Recorded October 2, 2019 - There's something irresistible about an anniversary. Maine's Bicentennial, the Centennial of women's suffrage, the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence -- all invite public commemoration. But what are we doing when we mark these anniversaries? Celebrating our past? Interrogating it? Something else entirely? Listen to National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Jon Parrish Peede, on the purpose of historical commemoration in our current age. Presented in partnership by the Maine Humanities Council, Maine Suffrage Centennial, and Maine Historical Society.

Recorded July 26, 2019 - A gift to MHS, donated through the Grime family descendants of Capt. William G. Kair (Kjar) and his wife Rebecca Orde, offers a glimpse of Scandinavian families new to Maine during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Kair gift includes a sublime painting by Portland artist George M. Hathaway of The Bark Alice , Capt. Kair's vessel. Created by one of Maine's foremost marine artists, the painting speaks to both her Danish-born captain and his family life in Portland. The Kair collection is one of many fine examples of Scandinavian heritage within the MHS collections. This talk by MHS Research Historian William Barry featured exhibited highlights within a companion mini-exhibit "Recreating Hygge: Scandinavians in the Pine Tree State."

Tilly Laskey; Recorded May 16, 2019 - Listen to Tilly Laskey for a fascinating talk of her book PRECIOUS AND ADORED: The Love Letters of Rose Cleveland and Evangeline Simpson Whipple, 1890–1918. Co-edited with Lizzie Ehrenhalt, with a Foreword by Lillian Faderman, the book presents captivating letters, published in their entirety, that document nearly 30 years of love between two women of the Gilded Age. In 1890, Rose Cleveland, sister of President Grover Cleveland, began writing to Evangeline Simpson, a wealthy widow who would become the second wife of Henry Whipple, Minnesota's Episcopal bishop. The women corresponded across states and continents, discussing their advocacy and humanitarian work—and demonstrating their sexual attraction, romance, and partnership. In 1910, after Evangeline Whipple was again widowed, the two women sailed to Italy and began a life together. After Rose Cleveland's death, Evangeline Whipple described her as "my precious and adored life-long friend." This collection, rare in its portrayal of nineteenth-century LGBTQ history, brings their poignant story back to life. Purchase the book from the MHS Store .

Carol Gardner; Recorded May 23, 2019 - Author Carol Gardner will discussed the lives of some of Maine's earliest European settlers: prisoners of war who were sent to Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts against their wills, in 1650 to 1651. As forced laborers and later, as free men, these soldiers left their marks on early New England society, and evidence of their existence is with us today. Dr. Gardner's latest historical narrative, THE INVOLUNTARY AMERICAN: A Scottish Prisoner's Journey to the New World , chronicles the life and times of Scottish foot soldier Thomas Doughty. Captured at the Battle of Dunbar, Doughty was shipped to Boston, sold to a Puritan industrialist in New Hampshire, and eventually established his own milling operation on the Saco River in Maine.

with Maine Farmland Trust; Recorded November 15, 2018 - No matter how many seasons they have been with their soil, farmers develop a strong connection with their land. For each farmer, this relationship is unique and therefore, manifests differently into the food we eat and the communities we live in. Maine Farmland Trust hosted three farmers for a live storytelling night at the Maine Historical Society to explore these relationships.

Recorded September 13, 2018 - In conjunction with MHS's yearlong Maine Eats exhibition and in recognition of National Hunger Awareness month, we are pleased to partner with Full Plates Full Potential to present a forum exploring pathways out of Maine's unsavory history of childhood food insecurity. The discussion was moderated by MHS's Executive Director, Steve Bromage and panelists included Jean LaPointe, School Food Service Director for RSU 10, David Turin, Chef at David's Restaurant and hunger advocate, Mike Norton, Director of Community Relations at Hannaford and Justin Alfond, Former President of the Maine State Senate and Co-Founder of Full Plates Full Potential.

Tom Huntington; Recorded July 12, 2018 - The story of Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry on Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg has entered into legend. But there's much more to Maine at Gettysburg than that one regiment. The state's soldiers made their presence felt all over the Pennsylvania battlefield during three days of fighting in July 1863—and during the two years of war before that. In a talk about his book, Maine Roads to Gettysburg , author Tom Huntington tells stories about soldiers from the Pine Tree State who made their presence felt during the Civil War's biggest battle.