Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The River Flowing, Bailey Storm

English Literature | Senior Theses

This piece is set in Kittery Point, ME, where my cousins lived, a place in which I spent many summers growing up. I define these summers as pinpoints in my youth that helped me discover the first touches of independence away from my home in Pennsylvania. All of the time I spent alone was prominent for what I remember of this time. I was incredibly shy and detached from my cousins' friends. Though I loved being a young teenager in Maine, I could never quite grasp the social life similar to Wyatt when he is back home in Kittery from …

Bound By Print: The Baptist Borderlands Of Maine And The Canadian Maritimes, 1770-1840, Brittany P. Goetting

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Asynchronous communication was essential for the development of the cross-border and global identities of Baptists in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes between 1770 and 1840. Religious print, especially published association meeting notes and periodicals, extended the reach of itinerant preaching and molded a cross-border community in the Northeast Borderlands between 1790 and 1810. It allowed Baptists to discuss theology, share news about local churches, and expand their community. American Baptists formed international institutions focused on the spread of Protestantism after the War of 1812, and Maine Baptists actively engaged this more global community through financial donations to the new institutions …

High Tide: A Novella, Anna Davis

English Honors Theses

High Tide follows Dan and Sam, a married couple who go to an island off the coast of Maine where Sam grew up as a kid after a trauma as they try and reconcile their relationship. Dan finds out that Sam has been keeping big pieces of her past from him and Sam underestimates just how much going back to the island will affect her. She has been running away from her past for so long that she can’t distinguish between the stories she’s told herself and the reality. Sam and Dan will have to confront her past in order …

Jigs, Reels, And “Realness”: An Investigation Of Ideas Of Authenticity And Tradition In New England French Canadian Music, Lowell Ruck

Honors Projects

Franco-American culture is increasingly recognized as an integral part of the heritage of Maine and New England, and has attracted growing academic attention in recent years. But while many scholars and cultural promoters focus on the French language in their work on this subject, few studies have considered the position of traditional music in Franco-American communities in the 21^st century. This thesis examines French Canadian traditional music as it is played in New England and the ways in which musicians think about authenticity and tradition in their art. Using material from ethnographic interviews, it illuminates how musicians draw from …

Ethnicity And Education: College Attendance Patterns Among Early 20th-Century Maine's Immigrant Community, Jacob M. Nash

Honors Theses

I examine the college attendance patterns of second-generation Russian-Jewish immigrants in Maine in the early 20^th century relative to other ethnic groups using individual-level Census records. I employ the Abramitzky, Boustan, and Eriksson (ABE) algorithm to track second-generation Jewish, Italian, French Canadian, English Canadian and European immigrants from the 1910 Census to the 1940 Census. My logistic regression analysis indicates that second-generation Jewish immigrants in Maine attended college at significantly higher rates than their peers of similar background in every other ethnic group. While I cannot evaluate them, I also discuss potential explanations for the disparity in college attendance …

Separating God's Two Kingdoms: Regular Baptists In Maine, Nova Scotia, And New Brunswick, 1780 To 1815, Ronald S. Baines

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The trans-national Regular Baptist tradition in the northeastern borderlands of Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick grew rapidly from 1780 to 1815. The spiritual imperatives of this Calvinistic group with its commitment to believer’s baptism of adults and closed communion churches made them distinctive, and a central argument here is that the worldly implications of “Two Kingdom” theology, founded on the strict separation of religious and civil realms, was central to Regular Baptists’ success in the region in this period. Three leading ministers whose actions as authors, itinerants, and as organizational leaders receive especially close attention: Maine-based ministers Daniel Merrill …

Give Me A Choice: Perceptions Of Freedom And The Anti-Vax Movement In Maine, Louisa Goldman

Honors Theses

While vaccination has proven to be an incredibly effective method of disease prevention, the growing ‘anti-vax’ movement threatens the population-level benefits conferred by widespread immunization. Recent findings indicate that anti-vax beliefs are not, as had been previously assumed, necessarily the result of scientific illiteracy but rather, are likely produced by intertwining social and situational contexts. With these considerations in mind, the goal of this study was to identify potential motivations underlying anti-vax behavior by performing a deep examination of anti-vax rhetoric, coupled with demographic and situational analyses. I focused specifically on the anti-vax community in Maine, with a special interest …

A New Materialist Rhetoric: Theorizing Movement From A Rhetorical Ethnography Of Hiking, Bryan Picciotto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the field of rhetoric, conventional concepts of movement depend on dialectical theories of materiality that posit matter is not rhetorical until acted upon by human sign or symbol systems. New materialist philosophy, which considers the dynamism of matter without situating materiality in dialectical relationship to language, provides a theoretical context for reconceptualizing the rhetoricity of movement. Working from a nondialectical approach to materiality, this dissertation theorizes how movement functions rhetorically, specifically within cultural practices of hiking. For this project, I participated in 15+ hikes at state and national parks in Maine, and generated a multimodal archive of 1,000+ audio, …

Leadership From Within: Founders, Advocates, And Organizational Networks Operating In Maine's Immigrant Community, Samuel Robert Kenney

Honors Projects

Much of the discourse surrounding African immigration to Maine has centered on the provision of public services that facilitate community development and integration. This project investigates different types of leadership strategies employed by African individuals in Maine that advance community objectives. When African immigrant leaders are empowered to affect public policy, they re-frame traditional conceptions of aid-dependency and vulnerability commonly applied to African immigrants in media and popular culture. Through leadership in nonprofit and civic spheres, African immigrant community leaders translate grassroots connectivity with informal networks into meaningful influence in the realm of public policy. This project focuses on the …

Party Development And Political Conflict In Maine 1820-1860 From Statehood To The Civil War, Lee D. Webb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a history of politics in Maine during the state’s formative period, the years from statehood until 1860. The history focuses on party conflict and on the development of organized political parties, particularly the Democratic and Republican parties. It concentrates on the structures and processes that politicians built, including party newspapers, county conventions, state conventions, legislative caucuses, and ultimately state committees and the office of state committee chair – all to compete effectively for power. During this 40-year period, parties also develop powerful new messages, campaign strategies, and developed leaders with the skills to accomplish these tasks.

I …

I Remember It Like This: Essays, Robin C. Lewis

Honors Theses

This thesis is composed of eleven personal essays. As an Environmental Policy senior, I wanted to write down some of my formative stories—not just any stories, but those that may reveal the environmental thread in my life, which, I believe, was somehow instilled in me by my parents. This thread has followed me from Texas to Maine, from childhood to almost twenty-three. It has been supported and tested by various characters along the way, sometimes growing faint, other times stronger. As I prepare for something new, I’ve found it valuable to look back on the people and landscapes and stories …

The Editor And Les Travailleurs: How Albert Tenney Championed The Rights Of The French-Canadian Mill Workers During The 1886 Diphtheria Epidemic In Brunswick, Maine, Laura Mosqueda Almasi Ma

All Student Scholarship

This thesis explores the devastating diphtheria epidemic that rocked the small Midcoast community and how Albert Tenney, through his weekly editorials, championed for the French immigrants and called attention to not only the shocking living conditions of the Cabot Mill‟s housing, but also convinced the Maine Board of Health that there was in fact an epidemic decimating the population. It is a story of passion, courage and partnership in acting upon what is right regardless of race, religion or nationality.

Wabanaki Access To Sweetgrass (Hierochloe Odorata) Within Coastal Maine's Diminishing Open Land Tradition, Amanda Marie Ellis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nontimber forest products (NTFPs), refer to a class of resources (i.e. moss, fungi, mushrooms, plants, etc.) gathered in both rural and urban landscapes. NTFPs are utilized by a variety of cultures all over the world and are a critical part of medicinal, spiritual, dietary, and economic practices. In fact, some NTFP species are so critical to people that they are considered ‘cultural keystone species’ (Garibaldi and Turner 2004). This designation means that without access to the NTFP, cultural survival is at risk. This is the case in Maine where the Wabanaki, a confederacy of four tribes (Passamaqouddy, Penobscot, Mikmaq, and …

On Becoming A Homesteader, Tasha Raymond

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project/thesis is a combination of personal reflection on my family's work towards building a homestead and the research that has driven, and been driven by, our homesteading goals and desires. The history of homesteading is included to situate our homestead into the larger homesteading history in Maine and in the country. Recalling our own motivations to control our food security and food sovereignty that is traditionally tied to commercial agriculture, I integrate the topics of genetically modified organisms and concentrated animal feeding operations and the reasons we chose to avoid both. Our concern for the environment, distrust in food …

Reverend Jonathan Fisher: One Thread In The Web Of Early American Education, 1780-1830, Brittany P. Cathey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Jonathan Fisher was a remarkably gifted man with a passionate interest in the education of the future generations of Maine citizens. No historian, however, has yet to examine Jonathan Fisher’s connection to American educational trends. Primary and secondary schools had existed in colonial America since the 1630s. Fisher witnessed and participated in the transformation of American schooling through his involvement in the local schools, libraries and education within his home, his establishment and maintenance of the Blue Hill Academy and the Bangor Theological Seminary and the publication of his juvenile works The Youth’s Primer and Scripture Animals.

The first …

Issues Of Sovereignty In Wabanaki Communities And Impacts On Health Outcomes, Ralph E. Cammack

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The purpose of this capstone is to explore how Wabanaki communities of Maine experience sovereignty as it relates to the dominant culture of Maine and how this interaction has led to current health outcomes and disparities. I do this by examining how the communities view sovereignty and understanding how internalized anger impacts these communities.

Following The Androscoggin, Molly I. Parent

Senior Theses and Projects

Following the Androscoggin is a historical fiction novella that takes place during one summer in the 1950s. It follows a fifteen-year-old named Tommy and his parents after they’ve moved from Massachusetts to the mill town of Lewiston, Maine. It is told in retrospect by a much-older Tommy, who reflects on the oppressive elements that were at play in the structure of his family, particularly during the summer when they all tried to find their way in a new town. Through Tommy’s recounting of his story, we also learn about the ethnic tensions of ‘50s Lewiston concerning the Franco-American population, and …

"The Struggle For The Supremacy Of The Coast": Baseball And Identity In Boothbay Harbor, Maine, Christopher G.F. Hoffman Ma

All Student Scholarship

During the summer months of the first decade of the twentieth century, the Boothbay Harbor region was invigorated with baseball fever. By 1900, Americans had come to understand baseball as its national game, and Boothbay Harbor discovered and nourished the game in the final decades of the nineteenth century. But as the twentieth century began, baseball became more than a game: it was a business, a spectacle, and an opportunity for inhabitants of the region to define themselves based upon the team they supported.

Building Bridges For Women Through Service-Learning: Bringing Students And Communities Together To Combat Domestic Violence In Honduras, Darlene Metcalf-Bergeron

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis defines service-learning and domestic violence, while describing how bringing students and communities together through service-learning courses can build and has already built bridges for victims of violence against women. Collaboration is essential in the quest to raise awareness about domestic violence through education. This thesis will demonstrate through data and photojournalism this collaboration between students of SPA/MLC Service-Learning Classes of UMaine from 2006 through to and including 2011.

As the themes in this thesis develop the reader will also begin to question what lies just beyond our borders and behind closed doors for women of the twenty-first century. …

Almost, Maine: A Director's Journey, Adam S. Crandall

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

“A Sufficient Number": The Historic African American Community Of Peterborough In Warren, Maine, Kate E. Mcmahon Ma

All Student Scholarship

Warren, Maine is located in the midcoast region of southeastern Maine. The small town has a long history that is intrinsically linked to the maritime activities of the region, which began in the mid-seventeenth century. Sometime around 1782, Sarah Peters was brought to Warren as a slave on a ship owned by Captain James McIntyre. After slavery was outlawed in Massachusetts in 1783/1784, Sarah successfully sued for her freedom and married a man named Amos Peters. Together, they raised a large, mixed-racial family, and settled near South Pond, a good distance away from the main village. By the 1820s, they …

The Life And Origins Of Paul Bunyan: Part One, Michael Ryan Croker

Theses and Dissertations

Master of Fine Arts This novel is a chronicle of the early days of Paul Bunyan, an important figure in American folk culture. While Paul Bunyan is a central figure in the tale, the story itself is told through the eyes of Clay Filinger, a young man from the backwoods of Kentucky who leaves his home on a journey of American exploration. Clay reaches Boston, where he hires on to work for John Patrick, a wealthy merchant headed to Maine in search of pirate treasure. John is travelling with his nephew, Randolph Bunyan. Along with them are two more hired …

The Sleeping Giant: Revealing The Potential Energy Of Abandoned Industry Through Adaptive Transformation, Wesley A. Bradley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the downfall of industry, cityscapes have become speckled with post-industrial building fragments. Skeletons, left as the evidence of a past generation are waiting patiently for their chance to reemerge as active elements. Furthermore, they are ever-present but remain out of touch within the thriving urban organism that has engulfed their surroundings. These condemned giants, rich in history, location, aesthetics, and vigor sleep underneath the growth. Their post-industrial urban sites are generally discarded and forgotten. On these sites the fragments of the massive and extraordinary crumble. These large industrial buildings have become a burden to their communities. Not realizing what …

Demon Rum, Devious Politics: The Lessons Of Neal Dow’S Crusade For The Maine Prohibition Law, Andrew J. Herrmann

Honors Theses

One of the fundamental conflicts in American political history is the one that pits the need to guarantee personal liberty against the desire for the government to pass legislation that will benefit the overall good. Dating back to the very founding of our nation and the deliberations over the ratification of the Constitution, this debate has played itself out over and over again through the course of American history as politicians decide how to balance each of these important considerations. One such manifestation of this debate was the campaign for alcohol prohibition1 in the mid-nineteenth century, a battle which raged …

Short History Of Waterville, Maine, Stephen Plocher

Honors Theses

If we were to simplify the story of Waterville to the lightest exploration possible, a good strategy might be to look at the city’s names. True, a good number of important events might be overlooked, but examining the names and name changes in the city’s history offers a unique view into the essence of its identity. Waterville has a rich history when it comes to names. The city itself went through a number of them in its early days, and these changes reflect the city’s continual reinvention of itself. The first people we know about who lived here, the Canibas …

Lutheranism In Maine 1741-1986, Ingo Dutzmann

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

My purpose in this writing is very simple. First, to tell the story for the first time. Second, to establish and comment upon basic demographic data for Lutheranism in Maine and to provide brief overviews of every Lutheran congregation in Maine to date. And third, to make some observations about the practical and theological state of the Lutheran denominations in Maine especially with reference to the establishment of the new Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, as it may relate to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

House Burning And Other Poems, Julie D'Amico

Senior Scholar Papers

No abstract provided.

Dancing With Mr. Penrose And Other Stories, Geoffrey Becker

Senior Scholar Papers

Stories:

Fallen Angel

The Inheritance

Schlog's Dance

The New World

Dancing With Mr. Penrose

Maine And The Hartford Convention: The Impact Of The War Of 1812 On The Politics Of Maine And Massachusetts, Alan S. Taylor

Senior Scholar Papers

The question of why the New England Federalists failed to force a confrontation with the national government has been a continuing historical controversy. I feel that the vigorous stance of the New England Democratic-Republicans particularly in Maine (then a part of Massachusetts), to radical Federalist schemes acted to restrain their

opponents. In the final analysis my argument is that New England could not act without Maine. To paraphrase Federalist George Herbert of Ellsworth, on such a slender thread do the destinies of nations hang.

Eyes On The Branches: Poems, And An Essay On Contemporary Poetry, Richard Cass

Senior Scholar Papers

The thirty poems collected here were written durin 1972-197. They begin as rather imagistic pieces, but the imagist tendencies are tempered with a preoccupation with the process of emotion. The poems progress through a middle period of finding a poetic voice by combining elements of other styles with the stylistic tendencies that rise out of myself. The subject matter is deliberately varied. The poems emerge, in the last few pieces, as the beginnings of a voice which combines a preoccupation with man in the unity of the world, the state of natural world and the nature of its retaliation for …