World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives

Scope and Contents

Letters and papers of the Coffin Family of Bangor, Me. Includes letters between Harold W. and Grace Bristol Coffin and their children, and a number of manuscripts written by Harold W. Coffin.

Abstract 0784 David S. Brown, interviewed by Kenneth Whitney for FO 107 , October, 1973; by Susan Tibbetts for AY 125, November, 1975, Tenant’s Harbor, Maine. Brown talks about the Pea Cove log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; his work on the boom in the summers of 1902-04 when he was 12 to 14 years old; the jobs of rafters, sorters, and runners; use of wedges to build rafts; meals; bosses; his marriage and work at Mt. Kineo; breaking up jams; daily pay; construction of boom and crib-work piers;...

Abstract 1202 Don Mitchell, interviewed by Roger Mitchell, his son, in 1976. Series of interviews about Mitchell senior's life and work as a woodsman and farmer formed the basis of Northeast Folklore XIX: "I'm a Man That Works." See also: NA 2008. Recording: C 0001 - C 0019 19 hours, CD 0341 - CD 0373, CD 0386 Text: 1240 pp. transcript Photos: P 5822 - P 5837, P 5858 - P 5873 C 0001 Side 1: Topics covered include a log jam breaking loose; winter shoveling while working at the Hunt Company; working at...

Abstract

0887 Dr. Frederick Martin interviewed by Sarah Jane Adamski, November 29, 1974, York, Maine. Martin tells of his childhood in York and career as a chemist; his education, notably taking two extra years of high school to learn Latin and French in order to attend college; working for the Goodrich Company 1917-1952; footwear and the naming of the zipper; working with observation balloons during WWI; and recollections of York circa 1900. Text: 21 pp. transcript. Recording: T 0857 1 hour.

Abstract 1904 Frank Dowling, interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, March 8 and October 3, 1986, Machias, Maine. Dowling discusses his experiences working in the woods and on river drives along the Machias; work for the Machias Lumber Company in the early 1900s; running logs down Third Lake; supper while running logs and description of a baker; definitions of log-running terminology; seeing Haley’s Comet in 1910; importance of releasing correct amount of water from dams; hemlock bark used to tan...

Abstract 0877 Fred Pratt, interviewed by Pamela Kinney, March 22, 1975, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. Pratt talks about his life, with emphasis on his poetry and war experiences; a poem he composed about the pond he played around as a boy; his schooling in the early 1900s; childhood games; enlisting in the military and his service during WWI; the gas attack that eventually blinded him; teaching himself to cane chairs; his poem about WWI; his positive view of women’s suffrage; fighting to get his pension...

Abstract

Letters from a soldier during World War I to his family. Included also are a newspaper clipping about Philip Libby being wounded in France, a letter from the Regimental Commander praising the work of the First Gas Regiment, and a letter written while he was working with the Donnacona Paper Company in Canada in 1921.

Abstract NA4293 Robert Edward Imbeau, (1923-2008), and John M. Lappin, interviewed by Morgiana Halley, December 13, 1989, in the Purser's Office aboard the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA. Topics include: convoy; German sub raiders; carrying troops aboard U.S. Army Transport ships; "eerie" things running at night; French sailors; age when went to sea; Matson Navigation; convoy lights; paravanes; superstitions; engineering; and recreation aboard ship. Audiofiles: c0751, side B, 1...

Abstract

Collection contains 19 volumes compiled by Wayland Towner documenting his life history from his years as a student at the University of Maine until his retirement in 1961 from a long career in public relations and fund raising. It includes letters, photographs, publications and other documents with Towner's candid narrative of events represented. Of particular interest are Towner's letters to his parents while he was serving in Scotland and France during World War I.

Abstract

Scrapbook, 1917-1918, compiled by Waring while he was stationed at Camp Lee, Virginia, a military training camp. Includes memorabilia and photographs of camp life as well as copies of "The Bayonet," the camp newspaper.

Abstract

Records of the William Tell Club, a private hunting and social club on Spencer Pond near Maine's Moosehead Lake. It also contains a small group of papers of George T. and Mabel Bain, parents of the collection's donor.