In the interest of community health, this event will be rescheduled in the fall.

Mid-Century Maine Women Writers Panel: In partnership with the University of New England (UNE), the Â鶹APP (UMA) will bring together a distinguished panel of professors to discuss three mid-20^th century Maine women writers during this period in history and the significance of their work.

Mid-Century Maine Women Writers Panel

March 27, 2020, 4 to 7 p.m. | Free Public Event
Reception, Maine Women Writers Collection, Abplanalp Library, UNE Portland 4 to5 p.m.
Panel Discussion in Newbury Room, Alumni Hall, UNE Portland campus, 5 to7 p.m.
For more information, contact Cathleen Miller, Curator, , 207-221-4334

On March 27, UMA will partner with UNE to present a panel discussion focused on three authors represented in the archives of the Maine Women Writers Collection (MWWC) at UNE’s Josephine S. Abplanalp Library. Participating in the panel will be Ellen Taylor, professor of English (UMA); Susan Tomlinson, associate professor of English (UMass Boston); and Joseph Conforti, distinguished professor emeritus (USM). Jennifer Tuttle, professor of English at UNE and the director of the Maine Women Writers Collection, will facilitate the panel discussion.

The three writers from the MWWC archives who will be highlighted in this program are Elizabeth Coatsworth, Ruth Moore, and Mary Ellen Chase.

Elizabeth Coatsworth, who called Chimney Farm in Damariscotta her home for most of her adult life, was a best-selling children’s book writer, poet, novelist, and essayist on rural Maine living. Very popular during her lifetime, she won the Newbery award for her children’s book The Cat Who Went to Heaven (1930) and wrote over ninety books between 1910 and 1976. Taylor will discuss her MWWC archival findings related to Coatsworth as they relate to her poetry, especially her collection Compass Rose (1929).

Born and raised in Maine, author Ruth Moore was probably best known in her own time for the novel Spoonhandle (1946), about a Maine island family. This novel sold over a million copies and was made into a major motion picture by 20th Century Fox called Deep Waters (1948), filmed on Vinalhaven, ME. Tomlinson, who has conducted archival research on Moore, will explore the ways in which Moore’s earlier experience working for the NAACP impacted her later writings.

Joseph Conforti will discuss Mary Ellen Chase, who was born and raised in Maine. The author of over thirty books, she wrote a great deal of Maine-based fiction, including the bestselling novel Windswept (1941). In a 1936 interview in the Portland Sunday Telegram, Chase declared that she wrote: “largely because I want to acquaint others with the background of Maine life, with the splendid character of Maine people, and with the unsurpassed loveliness of Maine fields, shores, and sea.”

The Â鶹APP is pleased to provide a yearlong program of events exploring the artists, writers, and innovators who shaped and chronicled Maine’s mid-century cultural evolution. Maine’s Mid-Century Moment has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Events throughout 2020

For a full listing of the year’s events, Maine’s Mid-Century Moment. All events are free and open to the public. Please plan to take part in this yearlong celebration and exploration into mid-century Maine culture.

‘What do you know Campaign!’ seeks your input

Be a part of the celebration!  Share your memories of Maine’s Mid-Century Moment through our What Do You Know campaign! Oral histories are an important part of any community. If you have a story about a mid-century individual or experience please share it with us via self-addressed stamped postcards disseminated at each event or online as we seek to illuminate the interconnectedness of the Maine experience at mid-century. Share your story »

Learn more about : Exploring the human endeavor.* *Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these programs, resources, and related websites, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

transforms the lives of students of every age and background across the State of Maine and beyond through access to high-quality distance and on-site education, excellence in student support, civic engagement, and professional and liberal arts programs.

is Maine’s largest private university, featuring two distinctive campuses in Maine, a vibrant campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of innovative offerings online. Our hands-on, experiential approach empowers students to join the next generation of leaders in their chosen fields. We are home to Maine’s only medical and dental colleges, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care programs, and nationally recognized degree paths in the marine sciences, the natural and social sciences, business, the humanities, and the arts. UNE. Innovation for a Healthier Planet.

Community Read: We Took to the Woods, on January 28, 2020, in partnership with the Maine State Library is the first in a series of yearlong events highlighting Maine’s cultural history.

The Â鶹APP is pleased to announce a yearlong program of events exploring the artists, writers, and innovators, who shaped and chronicled Maine’s mid-century cultural evolution. Maine’s Mid-Century Moment has been made possible in part by a major grant from the .

On January 28, 2020, UMA will partner with the on a community read from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. focused on Louise Dickinson Rich’s bestselling 1942 memoir We Took to the Woods, facilitated by scholar Candace Kanes. Those familiar with this writing are encouraged to attend and those who have not and wish to participate in the discussion are encouraged to read We Took to the Woods, copies of which may be borrowed from the Maine State Library now through January 28.

Additionally, a variety of objects owned and used by Louise Dickinson Rich, including her typewriter and metal writing desk, will be displayed at the neighboring Maine State Museum. The museum will be open late and free of charge on the evening of January 28th.

While less well known today, We Took to the Woods proved to be a literary touchstone nationwide, garnering serialization in the pages of the Atlantic, selection by the Book-of-the-Month Club, multiple translations and re-issues, and even an Army edition. This work is one of the first rustication memoirs, blending humorous anecdotes about living off the grid with observations about Maine woods culture, flora, and fauna; generalized advice; musings on contemporary society; charming dog (and skunk!) stories; and the occasional recipe.

Events throughout 2020

For a full listing of the year’s events, please visit: Maine’s Mid-Century Moment. All events are free and open to the public. Please plan to take part in this yearlong celebration and exploration into mid-century Maine culture.

‘What do you know Campaign!’ seeks your input

Be a part of the celebration! Share your memories of Maine’s Mid-Century Moment through our What do you know Campaign! Oral histories are an important part of any community. If you have a story about a mid-century individual or experience please share it with us as we seek to illuminate the interconnectedness of the Maine experience at mid-century. Share your story »

About Candace Kanes

Candace Kanes

Candace Kanes, a historian and former newspaper reporter and editor, became interested in people’s accounts of their time in the Maine outdoors while working as curator and historian of Maine Memory Network at the Maine Historical Society, trolling the archives for interesting photos and documents to put on the MMN website. Besides discovering dozens of such accounts – from Charles Turner’s ascent of Katahdin in 1804 – to journalist Emmie Bailey Whitney’s newspaper columns and her husband, G. Herbert Whitney’s photos of their hiking, camping, and climbing adventures in the 1930s– she read numerous books and articles that portrayed Maine through its outdoors pursuits, whether recreational or occupational. Kanes turned those discoveries into an exhibit, “Umbazooksus and Beyond: The Maine Woods Remembered” at Maine Historical Society in 2005, an , and a Let’s Talk About It reading series, “Defining Wilderness, Defining Maine” for the Maine Humanities. That series includes Louise Dickenson Rich’s best-selling account of her time in the Maine woods, We Took to the Woods, published in 1942.

For more information about National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor* please visit: . *Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these programs, resources, and related websites, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.