When Paul LePage was elected Governor in 2010, members of the state’s Franco-American community recognized the significance of this political milestone. Long treated as second class citizens, and excluded from the halls of power, a member of their community had finally been elected to the most powerful statewide office. Several articles were written marking the […]
In 2019, I’ll be working on a new, additional, project. Every day, I’ll be sharing a story that appeared in the pages of Le Messager (the French paper published in Lewiston) 125 years ago. Day by day, the Tweets in the original French, with English translations, will build a picture of Franco-American life in the […]
There’s nothing quite like the taste of grandma’s cooking. This holiday season, tens of thousands of Mainers will be enjoying mémère’s tourtière, cretons, or perhaps even pets de soeurs. For immigrants of all backgrounds, food is an important link to home and family, as well as a way of maintaining traditions or future generations. That’s why so […]
When news of the end of the World War reached Brunswick on November 11, 1918, people poured into the streets in a spontaneous outbreak of joy. But the good mood was turned upside down when young Rose Bouchard was accidentally shot and killed during the celebration. According to the accounts in the Brunswick Record and […]
There’s been a lot of speculation that 2018 will be the “year of the woman” in US politics, with a record number of women on the ballot, and turnout expected to be high among women. Tuesday’s election results will tell us how true that is, but nearly a century earlier, the women’s vote was certainly […]
On April 29 1892, Solomon Robitscheck wrote to Lewiston’s Le Messager objecting to the newspaper’s characterization of the city’s small population of Jewish peddlers. Two weeks earlier, Le Messager had published an editorial reprimanding Franco Americans who purchased items from the peddlers. Le Msssager’s argument was primarily economic – Franco Americans should patronize Franco owned […]
In 1903, Father Alexandre-Lousi Mothon, the curé of the Dominican monastery in Lewiston, wrote to the community of Dominican Sisters of Nancy, in France, asking them to send a some of their members to Maine to teach the Franco-American children of Lewiston. Initially, the children of the city’s French Canadian immigrants were educated by lay […]
In the late 19th century, progressives and other reform-minded Americans pushed the benefits of the great outdoors to children in the nation’s cities. The impulse to bring city kids to nature led to the creation of America’s first summer camps. Maine soon became a popular destination for children from cities like Boston and New York. […]
A necessary reform to ensure the integrity of the vote, according to proponents. Confusing, un-American, and a waste of taxpayers’ money, according to opponents. These arguments played out in the Maine legislature in 1891, but have echoes of today’s debate over ranked-choice voting. A century and a quarter ago, they were arguing the merits of […]
When Henry David Thoreau made his storied expedition into the Maine woods, he didn’t travel alone. He was accompanied by a series of Indian guides, without whom Thoreau’s trips would never have been successful. One of those guides was Louis Annance, a well-known figure in the Moosehead Lake region. Annance was a member of the […]
