Solon Chase Papers
Scope and Content Note
Papers of a newspaperman, school master, politician, and member of the Greenback Party in Maine. Included are a handwritten autobiography, a typescript copy, and handwritten articles by Solon Chase debunking the Church, on the conduct of life, on his candidacy for the governorship, on the decoration at the Grange Hall, and on fruit and potato farms. Included also are typescript copies of those handwritten articles. Included also is a handwritten speech to the Chase-Coll Family Association, Thursday, Sept. 4, 1902 at Salem, Massachusetts. Included also are letters to Solon Chase in 1887 when his house burned down in Chase's Mills. Correspondents are James G. Blaine, William Frye, Eugene Hale, and D. D. Stewart. Included also are letters and articles concerning the presentation in 1929 of Solon Chase's portrait by Ethel Chase-MacColl to the Maine State House. Included are newspaper clippings about Ethel Chase MacColl, clippings of articles by Solon Chase in various newspapers, a photographic portrait of Solon Chase, a photograph of a watercolor of Them Steers by his eldest granddaughter Ella Chase (photograph by Hearn of Portland), and a photocopy of the list of contents of the papers of Solon Chase owned by Ethel Chase and being given by her to the library of the University of Maine at Orono.
Dates
- 1887-1963
- Majority of material found within ( 1887-1931)
Creator
- Chase, Solon, 1822-1909 (Person)
Language of Materials
English
Access Restrictions
No restrictions on access.
Use Restrictions
Information on literary rights available in the repository.
Biographical Note
Solon Chase, son of Isaac and Eunice Chase, was born on a farm at Chase's Mills in the town of Turner, Maine, January 14, 1822 and died there in 1909. He attended Gorham Seminary and in his 19th year he was admitted to West Point, but after a month he was pronounced physically unfit and dismissed. He was twice elected to the Maine State Legislature representing the town of Turner. In 1874 a post office was established at Chase's Mills and Solon Chase was appointed postmaster, an office he held until 1897. He established a Greenback paper and in 1876 helped form the Greenback Party in Maine. The Greenback party (also called the National Greenback party) was organized in 1876 to campaign for expansion of the supply of paper money ("greenbacks") first issued by the federal government in 1862 to help pay for the Civil War. He gained much of his fame with "them steers," a pair of steers which he drove about the country in his campaigns for the party. He also published a weekly political paper The Chase's Mills Chronicle from 1875 to 1879 when the paper was moved to Portland and the name changed to Greenback Labor Chronicle. It suspended publication about a year later. He also published a paper Them Steers which continued from 1882 to 1883. The Greenback Party collapsed in 1884 and he returned to work on his farm. A portrait of him painted by his granddaughter Mrs. Ethel Chase MacColl hangs in the State House in Augusta, Maine.
Extent
2 Folders
1 folio folder (1 item)
Abstract
Papers of a newspaperman, school master, politician, and member of the Greenback Party in Maine. Included are a handwritten autobiography, a typescript copy, and handwritten articles by Solon Chase debunking the Church, on the conduct of life, on his candidacy for the governorship, on the decoration at the Grange Hall, and on fruit and potato farms. Included also are typescript copies of those handwritten articles. Included also is a handwritten speech to the Chase-Coll Family Association, Thursday, Sept. 4, 1902 at Salem, Massachusetts. Included also are letters to Solon Chase in 1887 when his house burned down in Chase's Mills. Correspondents are James G. Blaine, William Frye, Eugene Hale, and D. D. Stewart. Included also are letters and articles concerning the presentation in 1929 of Solon Chase's portrait by Ethel Chase-MacColl to the Maine State House. Included are newspaper clippings about Ethel Chase MacColl, clippings of articles by Solon Chase in various newspapers, a photographic portrait of Solon Chase, a photograph of a watercolor of Them Steers by his eldest granddaughter Ella Chase (photograph by Hearn of Portland), and a photocopy of the list of contents of the papers of Solon Chase owned by Ethel Chase and being given by her to the library of the University of Maine at Orono.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Ethel Chase, granddaughter of Solon Chase in 1963.
- Authors, American -- Maine Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893
- Chase's Mills (Me.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Clippings Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Frye, William P. (William Pierce), 1831-1911
- Greenback Labor Party (Me.)
- Hale, Eugene, 1836-1918
- Letters (Correspondence) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- MacColl, Ethel Chase
- Maine -- Politics and government Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Stewart, D. D. (David Densmore), 1823-
- Turner (Me.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Typescipts Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Guide to the Solon Chase Papers
- Status
- No Additional Box Or Folder List For This Small Collection
- Date
- 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English.
Repository Details
Part of the Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Repository
5729 Raymond H. Fogler Library
University of Maine
Orono ME 04469-5729 United States
207-581-1686
