Faculty Records (University of Maine). Professor Highlands (Matthew E.) Records

Record Group

Identifier: UA RG 0011-003

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The records mainly contain textual information created and curated by University of Maine Professor Matthew E. Highlands, but there are also photographs of his family, time in the U.S. Army, and of his mentor Samuel Cate Prescott.

The record series Academic & Family Records contains material related to Highlands’ academic career at the University of Maine (both as a student and professor) and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Massachusetts, including: research notes, recipes, articles, and formulas, degree certificates, membership and award certificates, travel diary and notes, family photographs, and a remembrance program.

The records series Military Records contains material related to Highland’s military career, including identification cards, photographs, certificates and papers, correspondence, and reports from Highland's time in the Subsistence Research & Development Laboratory during World War II.

Dates

Creation: 1800s?-2003
Creation: Majority of material found within 1942-1970

Creator

Highlands, Matthew Edward (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Kept at Fogler Library's offsite storage facility. One week's notice required for retrieval.

Conditions Governing Use

Information on literary rights available in the Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Department.

Biographical / Historical

Matthew Edward Highlands was a pioneer in the food processing industry. He was born on June 19, 1905 in Huntington, Indiana, but would relocate to Maine and attend school in Berwick, Maine. Highlands attended the University of Maine and graduated in 1928 with a degree in bacteriology. In 1943, Highlands earned a master’s degree in food technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During Highlands’ time as a student at MIT he was taught by the renowned food scientist and microbiologist Samuel Cate Prescott who was the head of MIT’s Department of Biology and Public Health. In 1951, Highlands earned a PhD. in food technology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In 1936, Highlands was appointed an assistant professor in bacteriology and food technology at the University of Maine. Highlands would stay in this position until 1942 when he entered the U.S. Army's World War II efforts as a lieutenant and branch chief of Dehydrated Products Branch of the Army's Subsistence Research Laboratory based in Chicago. In 1946, Highlands received an honorable discharge at the rank of major. Highlands would go on to serve in the Army Reserve as a lieutenant colonel.

Following a spell as manager of Friend Brothers, Inc. in Melrose, MA Highlands would return to the University of Maine in 1947 to become a food technologist in the Cooperative Extension, a position he would hold until 1955 when he was appointed the head of the Department of Food Processing. In 1960, Highlands founded the University of Maine's Department of Food Sciences.

In 1970, Highlands was awarded the status of Professor Emeritus of Food Science at the University of Maine and in 1985 he received the University's Distinguished Achievement Award. The Dr. Matthew Edward Highlands Pilot Plant located in Hitchner Hall is named in Highlands' honor. Highland was a member of numerous professional associations, including the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Food Technologists, who he was appointed a fellow of in 1976.

Highlands died in 2003.

Extent

1 box

1 box (Half size box)

1 folder (Oversized folder.)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The Records Group is broken down intellectually into the following record series: 1. Academic & Family Records and 2. Military Records. Physically the boxes are arranged by subject. File names and dates were added and material was separated and divided into multiple sub-folders where necessary. Material was rehoused into archival quality storage.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The records were transferred from Hitchner Hall to Special Collections by retired UMaine Professor of Food Science Alfred Bushway. Bushway worked alongside Highland at UMaine for many years. Accession #2018-0727.

Accruals

Accruals of records regarding Professor Matthew E. Highlands are not anticipated.

Related Materials

For further information on Dr. Highlands' military service, see Matthew Edward Highlands Papers, SpC MS 1370 sc in the Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Repository.

Processing Information

Processed by Matthew Revitt, July 2018, Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Department. Processing involved a collection survey and intellectual arrangement into series and the creation of this finding aid. Material was rehoused into appropriate archival folders and the boxes and folders numbered and titled using information from ArchivesSpace.