Women’s history vital to present, future

While Maine’s notable men constructed the bones of a solid economy and government, its notable women added flesh in the forms of schools, hospitals, libraries, churches and community outreach. Neither could have existed without the other, and together the men and women of historic Maine have left today’s generations with a solid foundation and the remnants of their pioneering spirits.

As the Bangor Daily News draws its Women in History series to a close today, it is logical to point out we highlighted only a handful of the women who should be recognized for their roles in building Maine. There are so many, some of whom made impacts beyond Maine’s borders, but more still who offered significant local contributions.

Look around your own communities and see whose names your public buildings carry. Women such as Mary Snow, who was Bangor’s first school superintendent; Helen Hunt, a noted educator in Old Town; Sara Green of Katahdin Iron Works, dubbed Maine’s first lady of the woods; Ellen G. White of Gorham, a co-founder of the Seventhday Adventist Church in Maine; Marguerite-Blanche Thibodeau Cyr, called Tante Blanche, “The Mother of Madawaska”; philanthropist Elizabeth Noyce; Cordelia Stanwood, an ornithologist after whom Birdsacre-Stanwood Wildlife Sanctuary in Ellsworth is named; Lt. Alice Zwicker, an Army nurse from Brownville who was a Japanese prisoner of war for three years; and many others you have brought to our attention during this celebration of Women’s History Month.

There are several organizations and individuals who have made this series possible. At risk of omitting a group or person inadvertently, special thanks is offered to the Maine Historical Society and its online museum Maine Memory Network, whose wealth of photographs really triggered this series and whose staff helped us obtain permissions to publish photos that originated with other organizations; Maine Folklife Center at the University of Maine in Orono, which has featured a special exhibit this month on Women at Work and helped BDN track down some elusive photos and information; the Waterboro Public Library whose Maine Writers Index (started and maintained by volunteers) is an incredible resource and is looking for new writers to add to its list, although its staff wants to stress the library does not have all of the books mentioned in the Writers Index on its own shelves; and authors Wayne Reilly, Bunny McBride and Joreen Freeman for contributing stories.

Several other organizations and people helped us too, including Maine State Museum in Augusta, Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport; Pejepscot Historical Society in Brunswick; Camden Public Library; the U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office in Washington, D.C.; Connecticut College; Bath Town Office; Penobscot Nation on Indian Island; Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan; Bangor Public Library; Bowdoin College Library in Brunswick; Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge; Norridgewock Historical Society; Skowhegan History House; Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor; Maine Women’s Hall of Fame at the University of Maine at Augusta; Phillips Historical Society; Hollingsworth Fine Arts in Orlando, Fla.; Eliot Baha’i Archives in Eliot; Sanford Historical Committee; Colby College Special Collections; Nordica Memorial Association; Old Town Public Library; and Maine State Archives.

We study history to find the lessons from the past that may help us understand the present and define the future. We hope, if nothing else, Women in History has triggered your curiosity about Maine’s past and its possible impact on today and tomorrow.

Julie Murchison Harris was project editor for Women in History. It was designed by Eric Zelz, graphics editor; and copyedited by James Emple, assistant copy desk chief.