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Bureau Of Labor Education (University Of Maine) Records, 1847-2018, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University Of Maine

Finding Aids

The Bureau of Labor Education (BLE) at the University of Maine is a state-funded department of research and advocacy for Maine laborers and their issues. First established in 1966 by the Maine Legislature, the original aim of the Bureau was to foster education about the history and current issues of labor in today's techno-capitalist society, as well as advocate on behalf of labor. The Bureau teaches courses in Labor studies, contributes to and facilitates publications in labor studies and economics, and has retained robust relationships with some of Maine's most important labor allies, like Maine AFL-CIO. Some remains of this …

The City With A Bathtub Ring: A Century Of Shared Industrial Identity In Belfast, Maine, Michael Munson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Belfast, Maine, is a small, visitor-friendly city of approximately 6,700 residents located on that state’s picturesque mid-coast. Founded by Ulster Scots descendants in 1770, Belfast’s rich history has allowed its sense of place to evolve as the community’s identity changed from a frontier settlement to a commercial seaport, then an industrial city, and currently a host city for several prominent customer call centers. While now charming, increasingly gentrified and popular with tourists, the city earlier prospered for more than a century as a blue-collar industrial community, which eschewed tourism well into the 1980s. This paper addresses Belfast’s sense of place …

The Rise And Decline Of The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation In Ontario And Quebec During World War Ii, 1939 - 1945, Charles A. Deshaies

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was one of the most influential political parties in Canadian History. Without doubt, from a social welfare perspective, the CCF helped Canada build and develop an extensive social welfare system across Canada. The CCF’s major contributions to Canadian social welfare policy during the critical years following the Great Depression has been justly credited to the party. This was especially true during the Second World War when the federal Liberal government of Mackenzie King adroitly borrowed CCF policy planks to remove the harsh edges of capitalism and put Canada on the path to a modern welfare …

A "Real Social & Political Revolution": Nativism, Class Conflict, And Urban Reform In Portland, Maine (1840-1923), Thomas R. Macmillan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1923, Portland, Maine voters approved passed a ballot measure that jettisoned the nearly century-old Council-Mayor plan in favor of a Council-City Manager form of governance. This dramatic alteration was supported by the Portland Chamber of Commerce and the Ku Klux Klan; it allowed the centralization of political power in the hands of an appointed City Manager and a City Council dominated by business interests. Taking this campaign as its focus, the following study incorporates nativism, class conflict, and urban reform in Portland, Maine with a focus on the period of 1840-1923. It blends ethnic, political, and urban history to …

Approaches To The Land, Joseph Linscott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Approaches to the Land is a collection of interrelated stories centered on a small Maine mill town. These stories have several recurrent narrators who are in many phases of moving – some come while others leave, etc. These stories have an immense interest in the identification of loss and hope, and this in turn plays heavily on the identities of the characters embodying the stories. As a whole, these stories capture the only way this author knew how to document his hometown.

Republican Ascendancy: The Gubernatorial Career Of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain And Its Consequences, 1866-1881, Michael Bailey

Maine History

Joshua Chamberlain is a revered hero of the Civil War, an icon for both scholars and the broader public. His life after the Civil War, however, remains largely unexplored. This article uses Chamberlain’s addresses, legislative records, and other primary sources to explore his four-year career as governor of Maine. Reflecting an interesting national parallel, this article reveals Chamberlain’s rise, his policies, and the consequences of those policies. Having risen to political prominence with the Republican Party thanks to the popularity of the Civil War, Chamberlain and his party enacted a number of policies designed to promote industrialization and economic growth …

The Bodwell Granite Company Store And The Community Of Vinalhaven, Maine, 1859-1919, Cynthia Burns Martin

Maine History

From the late 1850s to the late 1910s, Bodwelll Granite Company on Vinalhaven Island operated a Company Store from which employees could purchase a wide variety of consumer goods. In the early decades of its existence, the Company Store was generally popular with the company’s employees and the island community. Because of certain competitive advantages, and because the company was guaranteed a profit through federal contracts, the company store often had lower prices than its competitors. But by the late nineteenth century, the store’s prices were often higher than its competitors and the store became part of the growing rift …

A Company Of Shadows: Slaves And Poor Free Menial Laborers In Cumberland County, Maine, 1760 – 1775, Charles P.M. Outwin

Maine History

Although slaves and poor, free menial laborers were by no means a majority of the population in late colonial-era Maine, they represented a culturally and socioeconomically significant part of commercial society there, especially at Falmouth in Casco Bay (now Portland) and in coastal Cumberland County. This essay uncovers the lives of the Falmouth’s small slave population and its larger poor menial laborer population from 1760 up to the port city’s destruction by the British in 1775. The author was granted a Ph.D. in history from the University of Maine in 2009. He is a member of the Maine Historical Society, …

“I’Ve Got A Million Of These Stories”: Workers’ Perspectives At The Eastern Fine Paper Corporation, 1960-2004, Amy Stevens

Maine History

Maine’s modern history is punctuated by factory closings — the textile mills in the 1950's, the shoe factories in the 1980's and 1990's, and most recently the paper mills in various corners of the state. Although numerous studies document the economic impact of these unfortunate events, we have little recourse to understanding the human impact — the stories of the men and women whose lives were so closely entwined with the mills and the communities they so often founded and supported. In this article, Amy Stevens weaves together the documents and the stories that provide a multifaceted picture of the …

Norman Wallace Lermond And His Quest For The Cooperative Commonwealth, Charles Scontras

Maine History

Norman Wallace Lermond was Maine's premier socialist leader from 1900, when he first appeared on the state party ticket, until his death in 1944. As such, he represents both the persistence and the frustration of radical politics in a state renowned for its individualism and political conservatism. Lermond's career entailed a series of compromises and contradictions as the socialist leader navigated the shoals of reform and revolution—endorsing political action but eschewing its practical “step-at-a-time" agenda. Through all this, Lermond remained committed to his utopian vision of a classless and harmonious society, in which the failings of capitalism would be swept …

“Hard Work To Make Ends Meet”: Voices Of Maine’S Working-Class Women In The Late Nineteenth Century, Carol Toner

Maine History

In 1887 the Maine legislature responded to pressures from the Knights of Labor and an increasingly agitated industrial labor force by instituting the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics. The bureau’s job was to examine the state's workplaces and provide information to guide the legislature in making labor law. Reflecting the ideals of the popular Knights of Labor, the bureau initially focused its investigations on female as well as male workers. When the bureau requested that workers fill out questionnaires about their work, hundreds of women responded, leaving a rare first-hand account of women’s attitudes toward their working and living …

To ‘Make This Port Union All Over’: Longshore Militancy In Portland, 1911-1913, Michael C. Connelly

Maine History

n 1853 the Grand Trunk Railroad connected Portland to Montreal and to the grain trade of the Canadian interior. Some three decades later, the city's predominantly Irish longshoremen formed a Benevolent Society and, in an ongoing search for job security in this volatile trade they voted, just before World War I, to affiliate with the International Longshoremen’s Association, hoping “to make this port Union all over." Michael Connolly's article explores the decisions and actions that led up to this important event in Maine's labor history. Dr. Connolly is the grandson of a charter member of the Society. He is Associate …

The Tournament Careers Of Top-Ranked Men And Women Tennis Professionals: Are The Gentlemen More Committed Than The Ladies?, Douglas Coate, Donijo Robbins

Bureau of Labor Education

We ask whether top-ranked male tennis professionals are more dedicated or committed to their careers than the top-ranked female professionals. We find no evidence that this is the case in the 1979-1994period. Despite substantially lower real earnings, the women pros competed for as many years as did the men and just as intensely in terms of annual number of tournaments played.

Non-Adversarial Labor Relations In Nineteenth Century Maine: The S. D. Warren Company, Charles A. Scontras

Maine History

Like industrial corporations all across America, the S. D. Warren Company searched for a policy that would maintain labor peace at the company's mills. Founder Samuel Dennis Warren's solutions helped set the themes for Progressive-era experiments in “welfare capitalism. " While there was no mistaking of promoting a new morality for American industrial society. Charles A. Scontras, professor of political the hierarchical nature of decision-making at the company, the Warren family saw itself in a larger role science at the University of Maine and research associate at the university's Bureau of Labor Education, has written numerous books on organized labor …

Franco-Americans And The International Paper Company Strike Of 1910, Anders Larson

Maine History

In 1910 International Paper Company workers in Livermore Falls successfully engineered a thirteen-week strike. Meanwhile, the same effort in Rumford Falls failed dramatically. Historically, Franco-Americans have been characterized as conservative and reluctant to join labor unions. This holds true for Rumford, but those in Livermore Falls stood behind the strike effort. Anders Larson explores this stereotype as he analyzes the strike experience in the two communities.

The Padrone, The Sojourners, And The Settlers: A Preface To The "Little Italies" Of Maine, Alfred T. Banfield

Maine History

The article provides a history of Italian immigration to and settlement in Maine.

Franklin Muzzy: Artisan Entrepreneur In Nineteenth-Century Bangor, Carol Toner

Maine History

This article provides an overview of the life of an artisan and business man during the 19th century in Maine.

Maine Lobstermen And The Labor Movement: The Lobster Fishermen’S International Protective Association, 1907, Charles A. Scontras

Maine History

This article provides a history labor union organization among lobster fishermen in Maine.

Vinalhaven Lobstermen’S Co-Operative, 1938, Edward M. Holmes

Maine History

The author describes his experience helping the lobstermen of Vinalhaven to form cooperative buying and marketing club, in 1938.

Perspectives On Children In Maine’S Canning Industry, 1907-1911, Jane E. Radcliffe

Maine History

This article discusses the role of young children in the canning and preserving of local fruits, vegetables, and shellfish in Maine during the latter part of the nineteenth century.

The Greenback Party In Maine, 1876-1884, Everett L. Meader

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Greenback party was the strongest third party movement to make its appearance in Maine during the half-century following the Civil War. The party was founded on debtors demand for an inflated currency during the hard times caused by the Panic of 1873.

The heavy taxation policy necessary to liquidate Maine’s large Civil War debt proved most burdensome to the farmers and other holders of real estate and led many of the agrarians to throw in their political lot with the new party. Many Republicans also joined their ranks when they became disaffected with, the machinations of the Grant and …

Maine Labor Journal Containing Proceedings Of The Fourth Annual Convention Of The Maine State Federation Of Labor, Held At Portland, June 4, 5, 6, 1907, Maine State Federation Of Labor

Maine History Documents

Proceedings of the 1907 Maine State Federation of Labor convention in Portland, Maine. Printed in Maine Labor Journal, Vol. 1, No. 3, E. J. Graham, Editor and Publisher, Millinocket, Maine.