At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic (and my unexpected hiatus from work) I briefly considered reading a lovely copy of War and Peace I had received as a gift years ago. My powers of concentration and tolerance for frustration were lacking and, sadly, the great novel was returned to the shelf. It seemed that a lighter, somewhat offbeat reading selection was in order.
The right book at the right time turned out to be Daisy Jones & the Six. It’s a romp through the LA rock music scene of the late sixties and early seventies. These years coincide with my late teens, and I get weirdly nostalgic and misty-eyed when I hear certain songs from the era. I wasn’t at Woodstock but did listen to an 8-track tape of the soundtrack hundreds of times. This novel promised to be about MY music: what could be better? [Note: A book is considered to be historical fiction if it’s set 50 or more years in the past – ouch!]
The story centers on the tempestuous and star-crossed relationship of Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne, lead singers and songwriters for an up-and-coming rock and roll band. Daisy’s beauty and charisma move others to write lyrics about her, but she is a gifted singer and songwriter in her own right. I wanted to hate her until she said, ”I have absolutely no interest in being somebody else’s muse. I am not a muse. I am the somebody.” Her willfulness and wit won me over. Initially, things are also rocky with Billy, who resents Daisy’s inclusion in a recording session and, later, his band. Her destabilizing presence threatens his recovery from drugs and his reconciliation with his wife, yet their collaboration in songwriting, recording, and performing is pure magic.
Stylistically, the novel is written as an oral history based on interviews with band members and other people in their orbit. The fun part of reading it is trying to figure out which real-life musicians of the seventies inspired Reid’s descriptions of the era. What particular hit songs, classic album covers, stars’ addiction issues, and newsworthy temper tantrums did she research to include in the plot? I’m quite certain that Janis Joplin’s Piece of My Heart inspired the moment in the recording studio when Billy tells Daisy to “sing so hard your knees buckle.”
I love the films Almost Famous and Bohemian Rhapsody because they transport me to a time when music seemed raw and fresh and evoked all-new images and emotions. Daisy Jones & the Six had the same effect and was an unabashed pleasure to read.
Review by Pam Barry of the Reference Department.
Daisy Jones & the Six is available through the Cloud Library. Click here to get started.
May is Jewish American Heritage Month. Jewish history in Maine dates back to 1785; in Bath, to 1880. You can use resources in the History Room to learn about Bath’s Jewish community, or explore additional resources for the study of Jewish history in Maine and the United States. For a brief history of Bath’s Jewish history, read Part 1 of this blog post or visit BathJewishHistory.org.
Early Jewish Families of Bath by Alfred T. Holt
Povich Family Genealogy by Donald M. Povich
Beth Israel History Presentation (DVD)
Seven speakers present personal accounts and history of the Jewish community in Bath, Maine at Beth Israel Congregation synagogue upon the opening of an exhibit sponsored by Documenting Maine Jewry on July 14, 2014.
“The Jewish Synagogue” in The Edward Clarence Plummer History of Bath by Henry Wilson Owen, pages 431-432
Bath City Directories, 1867-2008
City directories list local people by surname. Older directories including occupation, place of business, and place of residence. Directories also include advertisements for local businesses.
Local Newspapers, 1820-present
Local newspapers cover local, national, and international events. They include social and political news, marriage announcements and obituaries, and advertisements for local businesses.
Books
Maine’s Jewish Heritage by Abraham J. Peck and Jean M. Peck
Find in a Maine Library or Read on Google Books
Special Collections
Judaica Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, Special Collections, University of Southern Maine Libraries
Maine Historical Society
Search MHS collections using the Minerva catalog
Digital Maine Library Databases
Digital Maine Library provides access to academic and news databases covering a variety of research topics. Try searching these databases:
Search Tips for Books, Special Collections, and Digital Maine Library Databses
In Minerva, MaineCat, Maine Memory Network, and Digital Maine Library Databases, you can use the Subject Search to search for these subjects:
Exhibits
Lobster and Latkes: Jewish Life in Maine, Colby College Maine Jewish History Project, Online Exhibit
Were the House Still Standing, Holocaust & Human Rights Center of Maine, Ongoing Exhibit
Maine + Jewish: Two Centuries, Maine State Library, Past Exhibit, September 21, 2018 – October 25, 2019
Websites – Maine
Holocaust & Human Rights Center of Maine
Maine Jewish History Project at Colby College
Websites – National
Jewish American Heritage Month
Cyndi’s List – Jewish Genealogy Resources
Snow, Glass, Apples is Neil Gaiman’s chilling take on Snow White, told from the view of the “Evil Queen.” Gaiman originally published it as a short story in his 1998 anthology, Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions. He teamed up with illustrator Colleen Doran in 2019 to create a graphic novel version. The story offers a more sinister take on one of our most beloved princesses, one that would have Mr. Walt Disney shaking in his Mickey ears. Doran provides illustrations that are as beautiful as they are mildly disconcerting, and Neil Gaiman doesn’t fail to bring his own scary twist on why Snow White has lips red as the rose, her hair black as ebony, and skin white as snow.
If you are looking for a dark and spooky adult fairy tale, I highly recommend giving this a read. If you enjoy it, you might also like The Sleeper and the Spindle, another Gaiman retelling, that is a part Snow White and part Sleeping Beauty.
Review by Megan Hultman, who works at the main circulation desk.
May is Jewish American Heritage Month. Jewish history in Maine dates back to 1785; in Bath, to 1880. You can use resources in the History Room to learn about Bath’s Jewish community, or take a tour of the amazing online archive and museum at BathJewishHistory.org. There are many other resources available in Maine for the study of Jewish American history, which I will outline in Part 2 of this post.
First, what are some topics in local Jewish history?
• Local businesses
• Notable people
• Synagogues and places of worship
• Social organizations
• Ethnic relations
• Genealogy
I learned a little bit about each of these topics when I spoke with Fred and Marilyn Weinberg of Beth Israel Congregation earlier this month. They gave me a tour of BathJewishHistory.org, a digital archive and museum. The website is hosted by the Beth Israel Congregation and tells the story of Bath’s Jewish people and families and their social, economic, and religious life in the area.
Jewish history in Bath goes back to at least the 1880s, when the first Jewish-owned businesses opened their doors. S. J. Goldstein’s clothing store was first, followed by S. A. Issacson, both at the Church Block on Front Street. [1] A few years later, William Filene, founder of the well-known Boston department store, chose Bath as a location for a branch, which was known as Boston Bargain Clothing Company and managed by his son, Bert Filene. Morris S. Povich’s store operated later, in the 20th century, first as a boot and shoe store at 155 Front Street, then as a clothing store at 143 Front Street (a Bath landmark). Other Jewish businesses included groceries, sandwich shops, furniture and appliance stores, and Mikelsky’s music store. Many of the original locations have been replaced by newer buildings, including Bath’s City Hall. Second-generation Jews in Bath pursued professional occupations including, doctor, educator, realtor, lawyer, and insurance agent. [2]
Some Bath residents are known for their work, like Sam Povich, credited with the invention of the lobster roll, or Ada Y. Greenblatt, a popular real estate agent. Others became well known through their good deeds. A plaque celebrating Donald Povich was created by the Bath Historical Society, and now hangs outside the History Room door. Minnie Brown’s bequests supported both Beth Israel’s Minnie Brown Center and the 1997 addition to the Patten Free Library, which includes the current History Room. [3]
Beth Israel Congregation celebrates the 100th anniversary of its formation this year, with additional celebrations to follow as they mark the developments which led to the creation of the synagogue on Washington Street. Until 1920, observers of the Jewish faith met in a variety of locations throughout town, where there were many public and private halls available for their use at the YMCA on Summer Street, the Fraternal Brothers of Eagles Hall (172 Front Street), the Red Men’s Hall of the Sasanoa Tribe No. 6 (100 Front Street), above A. Hallett & Co. (Sagadahoc Block), and at the former Music Hall once located at the corner of Centre and Washington Streets. [4] In 1919, when the Jewish population had grown, WWI had ended, and the shipbuilding industry was going strong, the community came together to raise funds for a Synagogue. Marilyn Weinberg noted the support of non-Jewish Bath residents, who gave a total of $2400 toward building the synagogue. Beth Israel was recognized as a congregation in 1920, the building opened in 1922, and it was completed in 1927.
There are many more facts and stories to explore at BathJewishHistory.org, including speeches and essays by community members, a comprehensive index to Bath’s Jewish business owners, the records of the B’nai B’rith and the Bath Hebrew Ladies Society, and newspaper articles about local social organizations and events.
Racial antisemitism grew sharply around the globe in the first part of the 20th century. How strongly was the impact of racism and antisemitism felt in our community? Primary sources indicate that Bath was never immune to hate and bias. Some actions by non-Jewish people could be considered relatively harmless: in 1921, a local Christian woman named Rose Billings recorded missionary activities aimed at the Jewish community in her diary, which is exhibited online at Colby’s Maine Jewish History Project. Other sources document more threatening activity, from an unsettling photograph of the Ku Klux Klan marching up Front Street on July 26, 1924, to a Bath Independent article reporting on vandalism against nine Bath businesses, published September 12, 1940.
However, the majority of documentary evidence shows that the Jewish community and the rest of the Bath community maintained a positive and cooperative relationship, working together to found the synagogue, participate in National Brotherhood Week, and contribute to relief efforts after World War II.
Genealogists interested in their local Jewish and Eastern European ancestors can refer to Alfred T. Holt’s Early Jewish Families of Bath, a handwritten genealogy available in the History Room. Holt’s work is based on a survey of the 1900, 1910, and 1920 federal census. He looked for Bath residents with a parent who had been born in Russia (at the time, Russia included Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, and other countries). In his own words, “we cannot say that all these families were Jewish”—but we can be sure that Holt was a dedicated genealogist.
Documenting Maine Jewry is a statewide resource for the study of Jewish heritage in Maine, organized by community, with contributors across the state from Biddeford to Bangor. Some parts of the site are available to all; access to the extensive genealogical database requires registration.
Cyndi’s List is a comprehensive online resource guide for genealogists everywhere. The section on Jewish genealogy includes hundreds of resources from across the globe.
[1] https://www.bathjewishhistory.org/beth-israel-history
[2] https://www.bathjewishhistory.org/bah-merchants
[3] Sandy Whiteley, “A Bath Family,” Bath Historical Society Newsletter 104 (2010)
[4] https://www.bathjewishhistory.org/bath-synagogue
Resources for Jewish American History – Part 2 will focus on additional local, national, and state resources, collections, and exhibits.
Many thanks for Fred and Marilyn Weinberg and BathJewishHistory.org for the crash course in Bath’s Jewish history!
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. They are settling into the routine of their life together, when they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years in a Louisiana prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend and best man at her wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, Celestial is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.
This stirring love story is a deeply insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward- with hope and pain- into the future. In addition to romantic love and marriage, themes of motherhood and fatherhood, race, class, and tradition also play prominent roles.
This is a thought-provoking, well-written, character study about a marriage on the brink. It made me think deeply about human nature, love, America’s criminal justice system, and, of course, marriage. Tayari Jones creates three very real, well-drawn out characters who are struggling with both the choices they have made, and not being able to change what they cannot control. I felt their pain; their emotions permeate the pages. The ending felt authentic, and while some might not like the way things played out, I was satisfied. This is a credit to Jones, who paints an honest picture of the characters and events that take place.
Review by Leslie Mortimer, Adult Services Manager
This book is available through the Cloud Library. For more information on the Cloud Library and other digital content, click here.
Thank you for joining us in a journey through postcard history this past week. In my search for good blog posts and my research for yesterday’s History Room Live Presentation, I found so many more postcards that I wanted to share with you! I’ll have to keep them in mind for next May, when National Postcard Week comes around again.
We started the week with one image of our library, so it’s only fitting to end the week with another. When I saw this postcard, it quickly became my favorite, partly because I love the illustration, but moreso because of the reverse side.
“Dear Oscar,
Didn’t know if you had one of these, postally used! Might be a rarity some day (maybe in 2089) Got this yesterday in the library – 6 cards for $5.00 to support the library.
John M.”
Let me count the ways I love this postcard:
I hope this DIY postcard inspires you to make your own card to send to a friend. Have a look at this DIY Postcard Instruction Sheet, which Amanda from the Children’s Room helped create.
Want to know more about the history of postcards? We recorded yesterday’s History Room Live presentation, “Postcards Past and Present,” and you can watch the recording on our YouTube channel or have a look at the presentation slides.
I can’t wait to share more postcards next year. Until then, consider sending your own postcards to the History Room for inclusion in the COVID-19 Story Archive.
Check the blog next week for information about studying Jewish American heritage in Maine.
“Well Frank, how’s the sap?” begins this postcard from Hattie to Frank Wells of Gardiner. It’s March 17, 1927, and the maple trees are waking up from winter.
“Lena said John out behind this building to get away from the teachers. John said he’d like to have you come down to see him.
Best wishes,
Hattie”
The building John hid behind is Morse High School, as it stood before the catastrophic fire that ocurred just a year after this postcard was sent, on March 24, 1928. That year, Morse students experienced a disruption on par with the one they’re facing today, without even the chance to say goodbye to their beloved schoolhouse before moving into a new one the following fall.
This card is a good illustration of a postcard from the “White Border” era. The story of the white border goes like this: after World War I began, domestic printers replaced German printers in the US postcard market. In wartime, domestic printers saved on the cost of ink by leaving the edges of the postcard blank.
This card was printed by C. T. American Art, another name for the Curt Teich Company of Chicago. Curt Teich was a German immigrant and a promintent figure in postcard printing from 1908 through the 1970s. Some credit Teich with being the innovator behind the White Border, as well as the later Linen style. You can browse other postcards printed by the company online at the Curt Teich Postcard Archives Digital Collections website.
I chose the postcard for tomorrows post, which will conclude National Postcard Week, as soon as I laid eyes on it. It was a bit harder to choose which postcard to feature in this next-to-last blog post, but I think this one is a fitting tribute to today’s Morse students.
Marla and Gottfried Hemmings have raised five children and find themselves wealthy in their retirement years after trading in potato farming for real estate development. Each of their children has left the nest – and none of them come home any more. Marla blames Gottfried; Gottfried blames Marla.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the story, five teenagers are being raised with varying levels of success by their parents. They are estranged cousins, the next generation of the Hemmings family.
Malcom, a spoiled brat, is facing down having to live with Marla and Gottfried after his Dad dies of cancer. No more weekend trips to Jamaica to see his girlfriend, no more take out, just Marla’s loveless home cooked meals, over which he has no control.
CanIHelpYou? is in the process of getting as far away from her racist
parents as she can, as fast as she can, on the back of cash made selling drugs. She does this using a clever code system while on the clock at the fast food drive through she mans, all while falling in love with her best friend.
Loretta spends her days hiding from her abusive father, while training her flea circus for their opening acts. She has other dark secrets, too.
The Shoveler tries to help his flaky, lazy mother survive by taking any job she can. Shoveling, painting, whatever – he’ll do it. His only hope is that they can stay in the same apartment long enough for him to graduate, buy a car, and get away.
The Freak begins the story. She physically flickers from place to place – appearing and disappearing in ways completely beyond her control. Or can she?
A complex, slightly fantastical story emerges as the characters live adjacently but separate from each other. The stories converge one crazy spring, when the darkness lifts, intriguing old secrets (and new ones) are exposed and reveal a bigger story, and decisions are made. No one is quite who they seem to be, but by the end, they all know who they want to be – and who they don’t want to be.
The resulting story is well worthy of the Printz Award. This is one of my favorite books of the year, and I can’t wait to read it again from the beginning.
Trigger warning: this is a young adult story told by extremely authentic teenage voices. There is plenty of dark content, racism is a strong theme, and sexual content and drug use content are prevalent. Read with care.
In October, 1909, two enterprising women sent out an advertising postcard for their new business partnership—a millinery shop, or ladies’ hat shop. The Barker & Young millinery shop was located in the Sagadahoc Block at 72 Front Street, where shoppers could also visit A.G. Page Co. jewelers, David T. Percy & Sons department store, and other downtown shops. You can see the Sagadahoc Block as it stood in 1910 on Maine Memory Network.
Who were Mrs. E. L. Barker and Mrs. Frank Young? From home, my resources for Bath history research are limited: I have The Edward Clarence Plummer History of Bath by Henry Owen, and access to Ancesty Library Edition through Digital Maine Library. Owen’s history of Bath is a great resource for learning about militias, mills, and ministers, but it’s distincly lacking when it comes to information about milliners—even though there were at least a half-dozen milliners in Bath when Barker & Young opened up shop.
Owen’s history does indicate how the two women may have known each other: the Barker and Young families attended the People’s Baptist Church, Owen says, and both Mr. Barker and Mr. Young worked together on the board of trustees. Other information gleaned from the census and city directories suggests that Mrs. Barker and Mrs. Young came from different backgrounds, despite their shared interests.
Mary A. Young, seventeen years younger than her business partner, lived with her parents, husband, and two children in an upstairs apartment on Center Street. The family had come from New York sometime before 1900. Frank Young, Mary’s husband, was variously employed as a machinist, miller, and meat cutter. Her father, William Bull, worked as a bookkeeper for Torrey Roller Brushing Works. Whether out of necessity or plain industriousness, Mrs. Young also worked throughout her life, as a salesperson before the millinery parntership, and as a corset-fitter after.
The senior partner, Antionette F. Barker, lived in a pretty Queen Anne house on High Street with her husband and grown son. Mrs. Barker and her husband, ship carpenter Edwin L. Barker, were native to nearby Bristol. Mrs. Barker’s father had been a sea captain, and her husband would become superintendent of the Kelly Spear shipyard not long after the millinery’s grand opening. Perhaps beholden to old-fashioned notions about working women, Mrs. Barker never reported her occupation as a businesswoman on the federal census.
Each woman brought somethng special to the millinery partnership, which continued for more than a decade on Front Street.
In addition to being a hardworking businesswoman, Mary A. Young was the grandmother of Frances “Chee-Chee” Young Kakos, a devoted History Room volunteer and passionate genealogist who generouly left her research papers to the History Room. If there’s more to know about Barker & Young, we may find it there.
Do you recognize this part of Woolwich? Neither do I. This postcard is one of many mass-produced cards in our collection that make use of stock images and phrases.
It’s the perfect thing for a short note.
“The weather fine. Cold as the duce. Would like to see you before I decide about the pig.
A.
Will write Sara soon.”
This postcard was sent in 1918, 11 years after the “divided-back” layout was authorized by an act of Congress in 1907. The divided back layout created more room for longer messages on the back of the card. Not everyone used the space to it’s fullest potential.
