History Commons^™

Witches On The Wind: Weather Magic In New England Folktales, Zephyros Quinn Craven

Thinking Matters Symposium

The English language folktales collected from coastal New England in the 19^th and 20^th centuries display a prominence of weather magic motifs compared with folktales from other regions of the United States. This paper aims to explain the success of the weather magic theme in New England folklore collections and to serve as a starting point for scholarly discourse on the subject, which has hitherto been sparse. This study utilizes climate research, both scholarly and popular collections of folktales, local travel guides, and colonial and labor histories. Through a combination of historical analysis, comparative study, and textual analysis, …

Doris Provencher-Faucher Research Library Bibliography, Usm Franco-American Collection

Collection Aids

Doris Provencher-Faucher Research Library Bibliography

Gardner, Ed, Ethan Bent

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Ed Gardner is a 62 year old gay male currently living in Falmouth and working in Portland. He grew up in Lewiston Maine and moved to Portland as a young adult. Starting from scratch, Ed was able to buy and sell buildings and found tremendous success over his long career as a real estate agent. Over the course of his life, Ed has fundraised and donated to a variety of Maine’s LGBTQ organizations. He was involved directly with the establishment of the Equality Community Center by first hosting LGBTQ tenants in his office space, and then helping to raise money …

Roan, Alex, Paige Ravenscraft

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Alex Roan is a 42 year old trans masc individual who uses he/him pronouns. He was originally from Stoughton, Massachusetts where he grew up with his family before moving to Central Maine for college and living in the Portland area through adulthood. Alex shares his experience with growing up in a Catholic family and finding himself as a trans person in college. He details what it was like to come out to his family, who was in denial at first but later in life became his biggest supporters.

Alex Roan is the founder of MaineTransNet. This interview captures the story …

Smith, T. Love, Kassey Kreer

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

T Love Smith is a 46 year old born in Lincoln, ME, who identifies as non-binary and queer. After coming out to their mom at age 19, who had also come out as gay when T was 5, they were met with an unsupportive, negative response. Going through a tough childhood filled with alcohol abuse and no community for T to confide in about their gender/sexual identity, T found themselves in toxic relationships in their early adulthood. Eventually they were able to come to terms with their identity and came out as non-binary. T discussed their time in the military …

Burdin, Johannah, Samantha Rouillard

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Johannah Burdin shares her story as a lesbian/queer woman experiencing southern Maine in the 1990s. Her story touches on topics involving coming out, relationships, a traumatic incident that left her disabled, activism, and much more. She was active in her youth in spreading awareness on the AIDS/HIV crisis, education on safe sex, and spent her evenings at popular Portland gay bars, like Sister’s Bar and Limelight/The Underground. Although she is not much into drinking, she recognized these were some of the few spots queer people could go to make community and relationships. Johannah also shares her story of becoming a …

Spadafore, Sampson, Benjamin Lachapelle

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Sampson Spadafore is a 27-year-old queer, transmasculine person who currently lives in Westbrook, Maine. They are originally from Syracuse, New York, and attended Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. They graduated with a degree in musical theater. Spadafore discusses shifts in their gender self-presentation and gender fluidity as well as media erasure of trans men. They then moved to Portland, Maine, to work for Maine Boys to Men and have also worked with Speak About It; Maine Renters United; and Democratic Socialists of America. A political current focus is using social media and art to raise awareness about Palestine. Writing …

Murray, Evan, O'Connor Matthew

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Evan Murray is a 45 year old nonbinary transman. They were born in Boston, Massachusetts and moved to Windham, Maine. Within the interview, Murray discusses the problems with going to a school that is too small, identity challenges within family, and the love of political activism. He had also discussed how his identity had changed over the years, as a young adult, coming to the identity of nonbinary, and later embracing their more masculine aspects. He attended USM and then later a college in Washington, State. He also discusses the importance of chosen family including his relationship with his three …

Bilodeau, Richard, Maggie Powers

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Richard Bilodeau is 54 years old and identifies as a gay man. He grew up in Portland, attending Deering High School. He is married to his partner Scott and they went on their first date in 1988. He studied applied clinical chemistry at the University of Vermont and began his career in the Maine Medical Center lab. He earned his bachelors and master's in business from the University of Southern Maine. Currently, he works as a professor in the School of Business and Honors Program. Over the years, he also had ownership in alternative health and TV programming businesses. He …

Michaud, Jim, Angelli Bishop

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Jim Michaud, (he/him), was born in 1964. Jim is a local Mainer, born and raised in Lewiston, Maine. He was born into a middle-class family with his siblings, was raised Catholic, and even attended Catholic school in his earlier years. Since the late eighties, Jim has identified as a gay man. He is a USM alumnus and attended the USM Gay Men's Alliance, which was his first ever encounter participating in an LGBTQ-organized environment. Being proactive in his political activism, Jim annually attends the Pride Parades in Boston, New York, and Maine. He stresses the importance of creating open space …

Hua, Donovan, Megan Molloy

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Donovan Hua is a queer, non-binary artist and advocate in Portland Maine. Donovan was born in China and was adopted when they were two years old. They moved to Portland and have lived in the area since. They were raised primarily by a single mother who greatly influenced their relationship with Catholocism and spirituality. Donovan later attended Casco Bay High School where they came to terms with their gender identity and sexual orientation. Hua speaks about their chosen family of friends and the sense of community they offered through their navigation of both their identity and their disability.

Hua discusses …

Smith, Betsy, Kayla Graffam

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Betsy Smith is a 63 year old lesbian woman who was born in Bangor and grew up in Exeter Maine. She was raised by her mother and father on a potato farm with her three siblings. She attended Jacksonville University, where she came to terms with her sexual identity and received a degree in physical education. She eventually was hired as a math teacher in Vermont and later Portland, Maine. After moving to Portland, Smith became involved in volunteering for gay rights activist groups like the MLGPA. She was involved in multiple campaigns, including the various Maine Won’t Discriminate campaigns …

Barkley Roy, Jill, Rachel Gilbert

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Jill Barkley Roy is a 42-year-old woman from Sault, Ste. Marie, Michigan who moved to Maine in 2004. A self-described “democrat from birth”, Jill grew up in a small conservative town with her sister older sister Christine. She attended the University of Michigan Ann Arbor as a women’s studies major. Jill found herself surrounded by new and exciting opportunities in college, becoming involved in several LGBT organizations that would eventually bring her to the East Coast. At age 23, Jill began working with Family Crisis Services, now known as Through These Doors, a domestic violence resource center. Upon working as …

Brodack, Jason, Emily Cook

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Jason Brodak is a 44 year old man of Polish heritage, currently working at the University of Southern Maine and living in Bath, Maine, with his husband. Brodak discusses living in Detroit Michigan, Chicago Illinois, and New York. He attended Michigan State University and later received his bachelor's degree in Interior Design from an arts school in Chicago. He discusses his childhood, coming out, briefly joining the Navy, the role of gay bars and gay chatrooms in his life, gay marriage, and the HIV AIDS epidemic.

Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, …

Lg Ms 052 Sage Hylton (-Lemons) Papers, K A. Perry

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Sage Hylton-Lemons grew up in Portland, Maine. In high school, Hylton-Lemons found sanctuary as a gay teenager in the youthdriven group Outright, where his involvement progressed from attending weekly meetings to being a member of the Board, then President of the Board. As an Outright member and activist, Hylton-Lemons spoke at schools and events, became a peer-advisor, and helped other communities organize their own Outrights. He was instrumental in conceiving and organizing Outright's first annual prom in 1998. He was profoundly influenced by Christian T. Chenard, a nurse practitioner for the City of Portland Public Health Positive Healthcare Program. …

Poulin-Burrage, Edward "Teddy", Brendan Mcbrine

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Edward “Teddy” Poulin-Burrage is a biracial queer man who has lived in the Portland area for just about his entire life. Teddy has been deeply involved in the world of activism for more than half his life at this point, including with the Southern Maine Workers Center, Sexual Assault Response Services, Portland Racial Justice Congress, Pride Portland, Equality Maine, and other groups. Teddy has mostly done behind the scenes work for these organizations, usually focusing on coalition-building and forging relationships with other organizers. On top of this, Teddy has been a regular in the local gay bar scene for quite …

Morril, Ren, Zorica Andric

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Ren Morrill shares personal experiences of his childhood, coming out, relationships, and the influence of his chosen family. During the conversation, Ren talks about his family dynamics, struggles with gender identity, and societal expectations, offering insights into the complexities of being gay. Ren reflects on the loneliness that many gay men experience and references influential figures like Walt Whitman and Anne Rice. He emphasizes the importance of his chosen family, specifically friends from the roleplaying games community, highlighting their significant impact on his life. The interview then moves on to Ren's views on pronouns, self-discovery, and the challenges that gay …

Cadwallader, Megan, Gretchen Thiele

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Meghan Cadwallader was born in 1976 in a small, rural town in Upstate New York. She grew up with a stable family and surrounded by the Catholic religion. Cadwallader realized she was lesbian around her junior year of high school. However, her sexuality was never a huge deal, more just another part of her. She went to college at Holland’s University, and all-girls school, in which she initially came out to people resulting in mixed responses. Meghan then went to Bucknell University In Pennsylvania. She received a degree in French and English with a concentration in creative writing. She talks …

Leighton-Cory, Jocelyn, Bella Shannon

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Jocelyn identifies as a Queer woman but also aligns with the label Gender-Queer. They are 40 years old and currently live in the city of South Portland where they serve as a member on the City Council and also work as a managing director at Space Gallery in downtown Portland. Jocelyn was born in Bangor, Maine, and lived there for a year before moving briefly to South Princeton, Maine, and eventually settling in Princeton, Maine, where they grew up. Jocelyn was raised by their single mother along with their older brother and younger sister. They received their B.A. in Arts …

Marcous, Dana, Robben Harris

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Dana Marcous is a spiritual, successful and fascinating man who at times lives in the extremes, but always seems to maintain his balance. His life story and his spiritual path are so closely intertwined, it might appear as if he has eclipsed the spiritual and physical world. From being a world-class hairdresser and opening one of the most successful hair salons in Maine, to pursuing a career as an actor in L.A., Dana is a person who always follows his dreams and looks for the signs. This interview contains stories of Dana’s early life, including his process of coming out …

Parker, Heidi, Tegan Bryne

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Heidi Parker is a 47-year-old lesbian, who uses she/her pronouns. Heidi Parker grew up in the South and Seventh-Day Adventist. One of her favorite parts about living in the South and still one of her favorite things today is the mountains. Heidi Parker has moved to a few places around the United States; including New York, Maine, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Morrow Beach. Heidi Parker worked as a PE teacher before getting a higher degree in Sports Management. After getting her degree, she moved to New York and worked at Syracuse and then moved to Maine to work …

Neal, James, Wendy Chapkis

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Jim Neal is a 65 year old gay man born and raised in Galesburg, Illinois. Following his parents’ divorce at age 7, he moved with his mother and brother into their grandmother’s home. Neal discusses how, throughout his childhood, he witnessed predatory men in positions of power abusing boys; this served to inform his early perception of homosexuality. Those experiences also presented an internal struggle for Jim Neal between his own identity as a gay man and his perception of adult gay men. As a child, he found support in his family and closest community for his non-traditional gender interests …

Gen Ms 60 Albert Howard Print Ephemera Collection, Jill Piekut Roy, Mickey Mcconnell

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Description:

Albert A. Howard was a book collector and cataloging librarian at University of Southern Maine. Collection contains materials related to Howard's rare book collection and collecting interests, including correspondence with publishing houses, such as Püterschein-Hingham and the Anthoensen Press, and their invitations, announcements, dinner menus, newsletters, prospectuses, advertisements, and thank-you cards. Old and rare book fragments, typesetting and calligraphy samples, and book arts ephemera serve as examples of early printing and typography in English, Latin, Greek, and German, and include works by William Addison Dwiggins and Bruce Rogers.

Date Range:

approximately 1450 to 2016

Size of Collection:

0.5 Linear …

Lg Ms 079 Steven G. Bull Papers, Jill Piekut Roy, Jeremy Rundstrom

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Papers include correspondence, photographs, publications, and ephemera documenting the beginning of the gay liberation movement in Maine and Steve Bull's participation in the movement both in Maine and nationally, especially through his involvement with the founding of the Wilde-Stein Club at University of Maine Orono in 1973 and his chairmanship of the first Maine Gay Symposium in 1974. Letters received by Bull and his friends, both personally and as Wilde-Stein Club officials, are evidence of the attitudes of both supporters of gay liberation and its opponents in the 1970s. Bull's research papers document the University of Maine's reaction to …

Aa Ms 29 African American Oral History Collection, Jill Piekut Roy, Lex Lecrone

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Description

The Center for the Study of Lives was established in 1988 by Robert Atkinson, professor emeritus of human development, multicultural studies, and religious studies at University of Southern Maine. Collection includes recordings and documents related to oral histories conducted by Jill Cournoyer and other students of Joseph Conforti. Interviewees are Eugene Cummings, Rev. Margaret Lawson, Ronald S. Lynch, Leola Marshall, Dana Richardson, and Gerald E. Talbot. Also includes a speech by Eugene Jackson. Interviewees speak about their lives and histories as African Americans in the United States, particularly in Portland, Maine.

Date Range:

1985-1996

Size of Collection:

0.25 Linear …

Gen Ms 44 Doris Roberts Humphrey Papers, Jill Piekut Roy

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Description:

Doris Mae Roberts Humphrey (1907-2002) of Gray, Maine, was a teacher educated at Gorham Normal School. Papers contain a a teaching contract for East Gray School dated September 1926, and notebook labeled "Drawing Grade 8" from Gorham Normal School 1928 with lessons and drawings.

Date Range:

1926-1928

Size of Collection:

2 File Folders

Gen Ms 73 Brenda Plummer Ration Book, Jill Piekut Roy

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Description:

Brenda Plummer was born in Westbrook, Maine in 1958 and grew up in the area. Collection consists of a War Ration Book Four issued by the United States Office of Price Administration during World War II. The book belonged to Etta J. Mayberry, a family friend who lived in the donor's childhood home. The book has several partially used pages of stamps for coffee and unidentified food stuffs.

Date Range:

approximately 1943

Size of Collection:

1 File Folder

Lg Ms 160 Dale Mccormick Gay Side Story Interview, Jill Piekut Roy

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Description:

Collection includes two copies of an oral history interview (one edited) and an automatically generated transcript.

In the edited version of the interview, Dale McCormick recalls her role as producer of "Gay Side Story," an adaptation of the musical West Side Story, with Diane Elze, Miles J. Rightmire, Cheryl Ring, and others. The play was performed for two nights in Luther Bonney Hall at University of Southern Maine during the 10th Maine Lesbian & Gaymen's Symposium in May 1983. McCormick discusses her work on the writing team, the set design, and the positive reception of the production during a …

Quote Transcript, We Exist Series 5: Stories Of Education And Employment In Maine, University Of Southern Maine Digital Projects

Quotes

Accompanying materials for We Exist Series 5: Stories of Education and Employment in Maine.

Auger And Laflamme Family Group Record, Unknown

Alphonse Auger

Family Group Record for Virginie LaFlamme [d. December 1, 1935] and Louis E. Auger [d. February 15, 1906].