Vintage Valentines: Maine Memory Network Offers Sweet Inspiration

Soule fabric valentine, ca. 1882, Maine Historical Society

Valentine's Day is behind us, sadly. Now you're faced with those cards that you've received. What to do - toss them or save them? Consider this before you choose the recycling bin. What if all of the generations before us had thrown away their Valentine's Day cards? Can you imagine a world bereft of those frilly, crowded, and seductive vintage Valentines? Nah, don't bother. Thanks to a newly-published online exhibit at the Maine Memory Network, you can peek at the earnest yearnings of yore. Valentines online joins the mind-boggling array of Maine's historical resources available to us digitally.

The Maine Historical Society writes "Postcard valentines were fashionable in early America, often collected and pasted into albums. More elaborate valentines became popular in the mid-1800s. This exhibit explores the evolution of valentines. Perhaps you will be inspired to make your own!"

So hang on to those Valentines you've received; maybe some day they'll emerge from a dusty box, inspiring a future amorist to take heart (pardon the pun).

From Maine to the Arctic 2011

Arctic Conditions on Mt. Washington (Johan Erikson photo)

What better day to talk about the connection between New England and the Arctic than today when a hovering Arctic air mass has Mainers stoking their fires and visitors at the Mount Washington Observatory cowering from 100 mph plus winds with -60 degree wind chill?

Professor Susan Kaplan just shared a blog with me - "From Maine to the Arctic 2011." It documents how faculty from Bowdoin College's Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum traveled to Cape Sheridan, Ellesmere Island last summer. Kaplan and Genevieve LeMoine studied the archaeological remains of over-wintering sites established by Greenlandic Inuit families. These Inuit people lived on Cape Sheridan during the winters of 1905-06 and 1908-09 so that they could work for Robert E. Peary as he tried to reach the North Pole."

Eagle Island shoreline from Peary's office (Patricia Erikson photo)

The blog explains, "Peary was determined to be the first person to reach the North Pole. He spent many years in the Arctic, always learning from his mistakes and refining his plans and techniques to achieve this goal.  He used the best of both Western and local Inughuit technology, from a custom-built steam ship, the SS Roosevelt, to traditional fur clothing sewn by local (Inughuit) seamstresses...While he and his men overwintered aboard the ship, these (Inughuit) families constructed houses and lived on shore. The women sewed clothing for the expedition (in addition to their own families), while the men hunted and drove dog sleds for the expedition."
The Bowdoin expedition found fascinating evidence of this Inuit support camp and the blog details some of the incredibly well-preserved artifacts.

Peary's connections to Maine ran deep. A graduate of Portland High School and Bowdoin College, he spent as much time in Maine as possible throughout his life, especially at the cottage he had built for his family on Eagle Island. Thanks to the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, the ties between the Arctic and Maine remain strong. Check out the "From Maine to the Arctic 2011" blog to see the similarities and differences in Arctic expeditions a century apart.

If you would like to read any of my writing about the Peary family, you can check out the following:

• Meet the Other Pearys (Portland Magazine, Winter 2011)
• Josephine Diebitsch Peary (journal Arctic, March 2009)
• An Arctic Betsy Ross (Heritage in Maine 2010)
• Snow Queen: A Woman in Full (Portland Magazine 2009)

Discover the Newest Chapter in Presumpscot River's History

Footbridges beckon hikers into Presumpscot Preserve

Daunting Rapids on Presumpscot River

Blueback herring & American shad return to Presumpscot Falls (D. Watts)

One of the joys of living in Maine is the opportunity to experience stunning natural beauty without the need for hours of travel. Last weekend, I explored an area rich in both natural scenery and ecological history a mere five miles outside of downtown Portland. Using the Portland Trails system, we entered the forest at Oat Nuts Park and descended down onto wooded river terraces.

Along with other hikers and bikers, we were lured by the roar of the Presumpscot Falls. The original Wabanaki residents and later European settlers found the river offered abundant resources.

If we were to travel back in time to the Presumpscot of the 1730s, we wouldn't hear the impressive roar of the falls. Instead, we would find an early colonial dam interrupting the flow of the Presumpscot River and the free passage of anadramous fish populations. In 1739, the Wabanaki leader Polin described the devastating impact of colonial use of the Presumpscot River:  

"We are most aggrieved that the River Presumpscot is dammed up so that the passage of fish, which is our food, is obstructed, and what Col. Westbrook did promise about two years ago that he would leave a place open in the dam and that the fish should have free passages up said river into the pond in proper season, but he has not done so, and we are therefore deprived of our proper food."

Historic maps available on Maine Memory Network detail the degree of modification that Polin described; the lower Presumpscot riverbanks once hosted various structures, millworks, weirs, and dams. Fast forward nearly three centuries and virtually none of those historic uses remain visible today.

Remarkably, the Presumpscot River Ecosystem Restoration Project removed the Smelt Hill Dam in 2002, uncovering the tumultuous Presumpscot Falls and restoring several miles of the lower Presumpscot River to its natural flow. My advice? Take the time to explore the newest chapter in the Presumpscot River's environmental history. It's a beauty.

Watch Night: A New Year's Eve Reflection on Slavery, Freedom, and Praise for Blessings

Abyssinian Church by D. Minter

Each New Year's Eve is a pause, a moment balanced on tiptoe, waiting for the world either to slide backward to the times that we have known, or lurch forwards into the times that we can only imagine or for which we can hope. It's a liminal, in-between moment where past, present, and future meet. 

 

As you might imagine, for a cultural historian such as myself, this is a magical moment where we celebrate as a society something that I hold dear every day: the power of the past to shape our present. Sometimes, or perhaps always, the past holds not just memories drenched with nostalgia, but experiences from which we want to purge ourselves. Whether its individual or collective, this purging requires that we acknowledge, name, and remember that from which we want to distinguish or define ourselves. Since this Heritage in Maine blog is about "the living connection with Maine's past," I won't rattle on about my individual desire to both define and purge myself relative to my own past, but instead provide an example of how some of us, collectively, pause and recognize the in-between moment, and name the past against which we want to distinguish and define ourselves. 

 

Today I learned that the Green Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church on Munjoy Hill in Portland - also known as AME Zion - holds a "Watch Night Service" on New Year's Eve. What's Watch Night? I quote here from the African American Lectionary (the first online, ecumenical preaching and worship lectionary for African American Christians):

 

"What’s considered Watch Night Service in the black church tradition might be otherwise understood as a church service on New Year’s Eve. But this African American tradition is perhaps one of the greatest cultural touchstones for what it means to be black and Christian in America. Passed down by our ancestors, Watch Night Service is one of the last vestiges retained from chattel slavery by African American Christians. Several accounts are given attesting to the fact that enslaved blacks could not sleep on December 31, 1862, because they were waiting in anticipation all night long, awaiting to receive word of the Emancipation Proclamation — words that would change their status, their lives, and the destiny of their children’s future from the shackles of chattel slavery."

 

Brad R. Braxton, Baptist Minister and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at McCormick Theological Seminary, explains in more detail the connection between the history of slavery and the contemporary tradition:

 

Burial site of some of Maine's Afr. Am. and white abolitionists

"On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation, declaring that one hundred days later, Jan. 1, 1863, slaves would be free in those states rebelling against the Union in the Civil War. On December 31, 1862, also known as "Freedom's Eve," large groups of African Americans, along with white abolitionists, gathered in meeting halls and churches across the country to watch for news that the President had formally enacted the Emancipation Proclamation...More than 140 years later, African American Christians continue to gather in churches on New Year's Eve to thank God for the blessings of the Old Year and to seek God's favor for the New Year."

 

Maine has a long history of abolitionism - one that extends to Portland and my home of Peaks Island. Did African American and white abolitionists in Maine gather together on December 31, 1862 for a Watch Night? Whether they did or not - and a bit of research might reveal the answer - the AME Zion church community remembers that expectant night long ago when our country was a war-torn one. Thanks to this tradition and to local historic landmarks, such as the Portland Freedom Trail and the Abyssinian Church, we can ring in the New Year remembering the past and facing a new year with wishes for remaking our world into a better place.

 

*Thank you Rev. Desi Larson, Ph.D. for bringing Watch Night to my attention.

"Tribal Cannon Returns to Indian Township": Guest Post from Passamaquoddy Cultural Heritage Museum

Donald Soctomah from the Passamaquoddy Cultural Heritage Museum shares the following news:

Revolutionary War-era Tribal Cannon courtesy D. Soctomah

"After the 1776 American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Government gave the Passamaquoddy Tribe cannons from the war. Pleasant Point donated their cannon to the metal drive in World War II. Indian Township kept their cannon until 1960 when it disappeared. 

The cannon was located in 2011 in Maryland, and now its back home. Where has it been?

Apparently, in 1960 a fisherman from Maryland was boating along Long Lake next to Peter Dana Point and noticed a pipe sticking out of the water. He looked at it, and with the help of a couple of other people, loaded it in his boat. The "pipe" was actually the tribal cannon. So he took it home with him to Maryland. 

I've been interviewing people about the history of Peter Dana Point and many remember the cannon but didn't know where it disappeared to. This summer the Maine State Museum got the call from Maryland about returning the cannon to Maine and they called me. Laura Nicholas King was on her way to Maryland to visit her sons and I asked her to pick it up, so she brought it home.

So now it's here on the Township and I'm having a cradle built for it." -Donald Soctomah-

Map of Indian Reservations in Maine

For those who are not familiar with the Passamaquoddy peoples, here's a map of Indian reservations in Maine, courtesy of Maine Public Broadcasting Network's teacher resources. The Passamaquoddy Tribe explains that they are represented by the Joint Tribal Council which consists of the individual Tribal Councils of Indian Township, in Princeton, and at the the Pleasant Point Reservation (Sipayik) in Perry, Maine.  

Many people also don't realize that the British attacked (what are now) Maine communities during the late 18th c. and that many Wabanaki peoples joined with American revolutionaries. Captain Sopiel Soctoma, Passamaquoddy, and 50 men of his tribe captured an armed schooner off Passamaquoddy Bay and delivered it to Colonel John Allan in Machias. You can read more about these tensions and battles at the Abbe Museum or at the Maine Historical Society. Apparently, many historic cannons found their end in the World War II metal drive as this Nebraska story relates.

Information about the Passamaquoddy Cultural Heritage Museum   
Route 1 - Indian Township, Princeton, ME 04668
Hours: Mon. 1:00-3:00 pm; Fri. 1:00-3:00 pm
Email: soctomah "at" ainop.com

Polar Bears, Dog Sleds, and Aviation History in the Arctic: An Ode to Dad

Clyde Walker Pierce, Jr. at Baffin Island

Two months ago, my father, Clyde Walker Pierce, Jr. passed away. I am indebted to him for a fair amount of my love for history. Had my mother known about the grisly tales he told me at bedtime about his adventures as a WWII pilot, she surely would have stopped him. In other posts, I have written about Maine's military history - Revolutionary War, Civil War, and WWII. Here, I share just a slice of my father's memoir - a peek into the life of a Maine pilot flying into the Arctic, a world of polar bears, dog sleds, and endless ice.

Written by Clyde Walker Pierce, Jr. in 2005

"This is a typical trip to Greenland from Presque Isle, Maine via Goose Bay Labrador. We usually used C47 Douglass Aircraft, or C46 Curtiss aircraft. This particular trip we elected to use the C46 because of its superior speed, cargo capacity, and range without refueling. The crew consisted of pilot, copilot, radio operator, and crew chief.

We took off with a ground temperature around 20 degrees below zero and climbed to 6000 feet above sea level. The upper air was crisp and outside temperature gauge reading 32 below zero. We crossed the Saint Lawrence River, near Anticosta Island, where the distance to cross it was 92 miles, and since the weather was mostly free of clouds we could see our checkpoint the Mirigan, PQ airstrip.

Clyde Walker Pierce, Jr.

From now on all the way to Goose Bay, Labrador everything looks the same - snow and pretty pointed green evergreen trees and so after multiple small lakes hidden by the snow we arrived at Goose Bay airport after three hours of flight time for the 400 miles. The airport was jointly operated by the U.S. on south side and Canadian on the north side.

I should have pointed out we were actually civilians flying Army Air Corp planes but employees of the Northeast Airlines. We were greeted by Colonel Fisk Haskoll the Base Commander. We went to the dining hall and had a meal while plane had fuel tanks topped off.

C46 courtesy of ww2.wwarii.com

A new flight plan was filed and we were off to Greenland some 800+ miles across the cold and stormy Atlantic. We were flying between cloud layers most of the way but about 200 miles from destination we broke out clear above and also below. Soon we were able to hear the beacon at entrance to the Ungliavik Fjord and the needle on the ADF radio homed on the beach almost right on the nose. These signals, beam, or whatever project further and stronger over water than land areas. However before we reached the beacon we encountered lower clouds so we let down over the water and go below the clouds around 500 feet. Anyway we started up the Fjord with high mountain ridges on both sides. The passage is narrow and once you get to this point there is no way you have room to do a 180 degree turn. Yes you are then committed to keep going and if visibility disappears you land in the water. I might add at this point that all the land is not covered by snow as the howling winds see to that. Now multiple ship masts ride out of the water, any sailing vessels that found their graves here. I sort of wondered what the history of these ships would reveal. On the high spots on either side of the Fjord were pointed rock cairns in abundance and I later was informed that Eskimo fishermen were buried in them in a standing position so they could look at their favorite fishing area through a slit that was in the cairn.

This day we were lucky as the cloud ceiling did not lower and we broke out into a valley bowl made a hard turn of 40 degrees and there was the rock and dirt strip. We went into a good sized wooden shack, closed the flight plan, and ate some chow. Since we had a large amount of cargo to be unloaded we decided to do a little sight-seeing. At the end of the valley bowl a huge glacier rose and at its base was some clear water - we could look down in the water and see huge salmon. I thought the salmon were 3-4 feet down but the Eskimo who was showing us around explained in very good English that the fish were down over 30 feet - the water was so clear and free of any and all contamination it would fool one.

Walker at 96 with his Greenlandic model kayak

The Eskimo wore muckalucks [sic] on his feet and legs, a beauty of a parka made from seal skin and animal furs with attached headpiece that would protect him from wind and cold. He told us that when we left and reached the ocean that some of his people would be far out at sea fishing and it turned out to be true - they were out in their kayaks 20 or more miles out to sea.

The trip back was uneventful but there would be more trips to Greenland and beyond but that is another story."

Indeed, and many more stories there were. Thanks, Dad.

(Not) Hearing History at Governor Baxter School for the Deaf

Governor Percival Baxter

Quakers enjoy a very long history in Maine, reaching back to the days when our state was still part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thanks to my family's new relationship with Friends Camp in China, Maine, my life's path has crossed with that of Quaker history. For that reason, I found myself on Mackworth Island in Falmouth yesterday, attending a Friends Camp Committee meeting. The Quaker school presence on Mackworth is recent, made possible, I was told, by the shrinking enrollment at the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf. In the 1950s, Baxter deeded his summer island home to the state of Maine and eventually hosted the school that now bears his name.

1922 Portland Press Herald Glass Negative, Maine Memory

By coincidence, yesterday was the day of the Deaf Culture Festival, the 135th anniversary of deaf education in Maine, and the grand reopening of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf Museum. I confess I didn't know this museum existed; it opened in 1995 to exhibit an array of school memorabilia, as well as teletype technology.

Baxter School for Deaf Museum Exhibit

During a break from my Committee meeting I dashed into the museum. Having no personal experience with the deaf community, I was fascinated by Bill Nye's collection of deaf communication devices. Their diverse forms paralleled the innovations in television, radio, phone, and telegram technologies.

Teletype Machine - exhibit at deaf culture museum

Sadly, the museum tentatively represented a more sober aspect of deaf student experience, one that I had not heard of previously. Apparently, like many other residential educational institutions (including those for Wabanaki peoples), the school for the deaf has a history of staff sexually abusing the children. While some apologies and public healing have taken place, many lives have been scarred, even lost.

I returned to the Quaker meeting, finding members in the process of discussing the quest for peace and acceptance in a broken world. Broken world. That was well said. If there's anything that history teaches us, it's that this struggle across centuries has been constant. It remains a quest worth pursuing.