Archival Collections
- MCC-00026: Richard Pelletier motion picture, 1992
"From Stump to Store": videotape footage of Pinkham Lumber Company logging operations near Saint Froid Lake, Maine (T14 R7 WELS) and mill operations in Nashville Plantation, Maine. Submitted for a course at the University of Maine at Fort Kent in April 1992
- MCC-00060: Alphie J. Clavette motion pictures,
Two videotapes: one, by Alphie Clavette, concerns logging (also includes section on working draft horses in the woods); the second, interviews by Dawn Clavette with the assistance of Annie Conners Dow, on oral history of Castonguay Settlement, Maine, with Eunice Walker, Lucy Gardner, Emily Mullins. Both videotapes submitted for a course at the University of Maine at Fort Kent in Fall 1986
- MCC-00295: John Glenroy Sinclair papers, 1978-2007
ThisThis collection consists primarily of notes and typescript drafts from Jim Sinclair's manuscript, Tote Roads and Memories, which was edited by his wife, Rose Nadeau Sinclair, and published posthumously. Also included are writings by Sinclair on other subjects, correspondence, biographical and personal materials, newspaper articles (some on Sinclair), and photocopies of photographs depicting the Sinclair family
- MCC-00406: Douglas Cyr rustic birch bark containers
This collection consists of four rectangular birch bark containers found in the woods around the Allagash region by lumbermen working for J.D. Irving Fort Kent office located on the Saint John Road. The containers measure between 5” and 8” wide by 11” and 16 “ long. The birch bark is brittle and the containers are in poor to good condition. The four containers are kept together at both ends by a rusted metal clip.
- MCC-00413: Jacqueline Chamberland Blesso interviews
"This collection consists of interviews conducted by Jacqueline Chamberland Blesso for her Master's thesis at Montclair State University, New Jersey. Blesso interviewed a variety of Saint John Valley residents, including Roger Paradis, Ida Pelletier Morin, Catherine Morneault, Don Cyr, Gerard Chamberland, Gilman St. Pierre, Alzared Gagnon, Ida Roy, Alfred Marin, Fernand Sirois, and David Raymond. She also recorded Ida Roy singing a song written by Maria B. Chamberland. Blesso's thesis concentrated on "complaintes" (laments), a form of song, and their relation to the Saint John Valley, particularly St. Agatha, Maine. A large portion of the interviews concern the music of the region and the history of the music. In addition, the recordings include singing by Fernand Sirois, Ida Roy, Catherine Morneault, Gilman St. Pierre, and Alzared Gagnon. The interview subjects also include the history of St. Agatha and the St. John Valley region, including farming, potato harvests, buckwheat, forestry, hunting, the history of the Acadians and the Deportation, and the history of the Maliseet."
- MCC-00468: Robert H. Jones, Jr. log caliper with walking wheel
This collection consists of a log rule with a caliper and a one-foot diameter wheel at the other end. It is made of wood and metal and measures 56" long x 30"wide x 3" depth. The name of the maker, F.H. Greenleaf and the address, 62 Oak Ave. Belmont, Mass, is carved on the log rule near the wheel. An individual called “a scaler” in the lumbering business used this item to measure a log’s diameter and length to find the total board footage a log would provide. This specific item does not have tally holes on the side of the lower jaw like mentioned in the note above.
Ready Reference
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4.2 Partial history of the St. John Valley
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10.4 Agriculture
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10.5 Forests
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15.8 Architecture and Furnishings
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25.3 U.S. (Outside Maine)
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28.1 Land
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28.2 Rivers and Lakes
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28.3 Lumbering
Media Collection
- Acadue des Terres et forets Audio Tour
Audio tour of sites relating to Acadian Culture and history in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, Quebec, and Northern Maine. Appears to have been created in relation to the 2014 World Acadian Conference. Includes the Kedgwick Forestry Museum.
- Allagash logging, 1940's Cunliff operationIncludes footage of a logging operation for William Cunliff in the Allagash; wood drive on the river; logging; bateaux; Fort Kent foot bridge; narrated by Thomas S. Pinkham, Jr.
- The Faces of Maine : [stories come to life]
Narrated by David Morrish ; researched by Thelma B. Ditzel
Tape 5 has a story on the logging industry.
- Franklin 'Foot' Theriault Interview
Footage of an interview with Frank Theriault at his home discussing his job with the Great Northern Company and his water bottling company, Acadian Springs. (Part of Marc Chasse collection)
- Frenchville airshow 2013
Demonstration of drug bust with US Custom and Border Patrol agents; aerial firefighting / waterbombing by forestry department; women sky diving team; interview and demonstration of radio controlled planes and helicopters by Burt Dumond; Dana Beals display of weapons used in Vietnam war; candy drop for kids; glider plane and bi-plane demonstration with Jim Parker; interview with Dan Marcott; Ford Mustang race with plane.
- Interview with Jean Paul DuvalPart of the Marc Chasse video oral interview collection.
- Logging: the way it was, the way it is, and never more to beTwo videodiscs: one, by Alphie Clavette, concerns logging (also includes section on working draft horses in the woods); the second, interviews by Dawn Clavette with the assistance of Annie Conners Dow, on oral history of Castonguay Settlement, Maine, with Eunice Walker, Lucy Gardner, Emily Mullins. Both videotapes submitted for a course at the University of Maine at Fort Kent in Fall 1986
- Logging and lumbering in the 1940s
Videotape compilation of home movie footage of lumber camp and sawmill operations near Eagle Lake, Maine, including scenes shot at First Wallagrass, Rowe, and Ben Lakes. Original footage shot by A. L. LeBoeuf between 1943 and 1952; original videotape compiled by Lucius and Elaine Marin in Spring 1992 for a course at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Narrated by Lou Marin
- Lucius and Elaine Marin compilation film of logging and lumbering in the 1940s, 1943-1952
Videotape compilation of home movie footage of lumber camp and sawmill operations near Eagle Lake, Maine, including scenes shot at First Wallagrass, Rowe, and Ben Lakes. Original footage shot by A. L. LeBoeuf between 1943 and 1952; videotape compiled by Lucius and Elaine Marin in Spring 1992 for a course at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Narrated by Lou Marin
- Shanty Boys : Myths and Realities of the Maine Woodsman and River Driver
In 1976, Maine Public Broadcasting created this multimedia look at the myths and realities of the Maine woodsman and river driver. Tall tales of the life, songs, and film of wood's operations in 1937 are enhanced by actor's portrayals of Henry David Thoreau, the logger and the camp cook.
- Cut and Run film"A debate between Maine paper companies and timberland owners on one side and woodsmen on the other" about the use of Canadian labor. This 40 minute film also includes a history of the forest industry up until the 1970s when this debate took place.
Books/Manuscripts
- Culturally and economically important nontimber forest products of northern Maine by
Nontimber forest products (NTFPs) gathered for food, medicine, craft, spiritual, aesthetic, and utilitarian purposes make substantial contributions to the economic viability and cultural vitality of communities. In the St. John River watershed of northern Maine, people identifying with cultural groups including Acadian, Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, Scotch-Irish, and Swedish use more than 120 wild plant and fungus species. We interviewed both gatherers and land managers about NTFP uses that are significant in this region and about factors that facilitate or limit gathering, including access to gathering sites. This handbook... present[s] our overall study findings as well as in-depth species profiles of 30 nontimber forest products including brown ash, paper birch, blueberries, highbush cranberry, and fiddleheads
- George W. Coffin journal : trip to Madawaska, September-October, 1825 by
"Note: The above draft was transcribed from photocopies by patricia M. Kely for Mr. Leon Guimond, Frenchville, Maine, December 1998" -- last page
The Interrupted Forest by Add to this the thousands of farms that have grown back to woods since the Civil War, and you have the most forested state, by percentage, in the United States. But the "uninterrupted forest" that Henry David Thoreau first saw in the 1840s was never exactly that. Loggers had cut it severely, European settlers had gnawed into it, and, much earlier, native people had left their mark.
This book takes you deep into the past to understand the present, allowing you to hear the stories of the people and events that have shaped the woods and made them what they are today.
Letters from Beauly by During the Second World War, hundreds of New Brunswick woodsmen joined the Canadian Forestry Corps to log the Scottish Highlands as part of the Canadian war effort. Patrick "Pat" Hennessy of Bathurst was one of them. For five years, Pat served as camp cook with 15 Company of the Canadian Forestry Corps near the ancient town of Beauly, Scotland. A middle-aged New Brunswick farmer and lumberman with a third-grade education, Pat saw more of the world than he had ever dreamed of, visiting ancient battlefields he had learned about as a child, travelling to his ancestral Ireland, and attending a course of lectures in British history at Oxford University. While in Scotland, Pat regularly corresponded with his family in New Brunswick. Drawing from this unique collection of more than three hundred letters, as well as hundreds of archival documents and photographs, Melynda Jarratt provides a rare glimpse of what life was like for Canadian servicemen overseas and for their relatives at home. Letters from Beaulyis volume 23 in the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series, co-published with the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society.
- Weeds of the woods : small trees and shrubs of the eastern forest byOriginally published in 1984 by the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, Forest Extension Service as "Weeds of the Woods: some small trees and shrubs of New Brunswick" and as "Arbustes des bois: la flore méconnue du Nouveau-Brunswick."
Haywire by Logging in the northern forest has been romanticized, with images of log drives, plaid shirts, and bunkhouses in wide circulation. Increasingly dismissed as a quaint, rural pastime, logging remains one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States, with loggers occupying a precarious position amid unstable markets, expanding global competition, and growing labor discord. Examining a time of transition and decline in Maine's forest economy, Andrew Egan traces pathways for understanding the challenges that have faced Maine's logging community and, by extension, the state's forestry sector, from the postwar period through today.
Seeking greater profits, logging companies turned their crews loose at midcentury, creating a workforce of independent contractors who were forced to purchase expensive equipment and compete for contracts with the mills. Drawing on his own experience with the region's forest products industry, interviews with Maine loggers, media coverage, and court documents, Egan follows the troubled recent history of the industry and its battle for survival.
