MF 043 Northeast Harbor Library Oral History Collection

Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History: MF 043 Northeast Harbor Library Oral History Collection

Number of accessions: 11
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1972, 1973, 1979, 1984
Time period covered: 20th century (esp. the early period)
Principal interviewers: Northeast Harbor Library
Finding aides: catalog
Access restrictions: Permission to copy or publish must be obtained from Northeast Harbor Library.
Description: These accessions were brought to the Northeast Archives by Pamela Dean. They are copies of tape-recorded interviews about the history of Northeast Harbor, Maine, and are from the Northeast Harbor Library’s oral history collection. They provided part of the source material for Dean’s M.A. Thesis, Us and Them: An Oral History of Life on the Summer Estates in Coastal Hancock County, Maine. University of Maine, 1984. See also MF 119 “Us and Them” Summer Estates Collection.

1724 Samuel Eliot Morison, interviewed by the Northeast Harbor Library, 1973, Northeast Harbor, Maine. 5 pp. Tape: 1/2 hr. Morison talks about his childhood summers in Northeast Harbor; daily activities; natives he knew; life at the hotels; history of Mount Desert Island. Also included: copy of an article in Downeast Magazine based on the tape as edited by Gunnar Hanson. RESTRICTED. Text: 6 pp. copy of article; 1 pp. transcript excerpt. Recording: T 1843 / CD 0962 32 minutes.

1788 Natalie Pierrepont interviewed by Northeast Harbor Library, August 1972, Northeast Harbor, Maine. 5 pp. Tape: 1/4 hr. w/ cat. Copy of interview (Tape C-9) with Pierrepont about childhood summers in Bar Harbor; buying and restoring homes in Northeast Harbor. RESTRICTED. Text: catalog. Recording: T1875 1/4 hour.

1789 Georgiana “Harper” Sibley, interviewed by Julia Fairchild, August 1972, Northeast Harbor, Maine. Sibley talks about her childhood summers in Bar Harbor, Maine. 3 pp. Tape: 1/4 hr. w/ brief cat. Copy of Northeast Harbor Library oral history tape C-9. RESTRICTED. Text: 2 pp. brief catalog. Recording: T 1876 15 minutes.

1790 Julia Fairchild, Elizabeth Gardner, and Mary Peabody, interviewed by Northeast Harbor Library, July 1973, Northeast Harbor, Maine. 4 pp. Tape: 1/2 hr. w/ brief cat. Copy of Northeast Harbor Library interview (Tape C-3) with Fairchild, Gardner, and Peabody about summer social life; houses and shops in Northeast Harbor at the turn of the century. RESTRICTED. Text: brief catalog. Recording: T 1877 1/2 hour.

1791 Virginia Fitch, interviewed by Northeast Harbor Library, spring 1984, Northeast Harbor, Maine. 5 pp. Tape: 1/2 hr. w/ partial cat. Copy of Northeast Harbor Library interview (Tape C-10) with Fitch, about early Northeast Harbor residents; history of the summer colony; St. Mary’s Church; stories about Bishop Doane, Nathan Fennelly and Josephine Ober. Text: partial catalog. Recording: T 1878 1/2 hour.

1792 Elizabeth Gardner, interviewed by Northeast Harbor Library, spring 1984, Northeast Harbor, Maine. 14 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ partial cat. Copy of Northeast Harbor Library interview (Tape C-16) with Gardner, granddaughter of Bishop Doane, founding member of the Northeast Harbor summer colony, discussing her childhood summers in Northeast Harbor. Text: partial catalog. Recording: T 1879 1 hour.

1793 Malcolm Graves (also known as Joe Green), interviewed by Pamela Dean, spring 1984, Northeast Harbor, Maine. 2 pp. Tape: 1/2 hr. No cat, or trans. Copy of Northeast Harbor Library interview (Tape C-17) with Graves in 1977 about his rum running activities during the Prohibition years on Mount Desert Island. RESTRICTED. Text: no catalog or transcription. Recording: T 1880 1/2 hour.

1794 Mary Holmes, interviewed by Pamela Dean, spring 1984, Northeast Harbor, Maine. 2 pp. Tape: 1/2 hr. No cat, or trans. Copy of Northeast Harbor Library interview (Tape C-ll). Holmes, a longtime resident of Mount Desert Island and Northeast Harbor, talks about life, houses, and stores on the Island in the early 1900s. RESTRICTED. Text: no catalog or transcription. Recording: T 1881 1/2 hour.

1795 Robert L. Smallidge, interviewed by Pamela Dean, spring 1984, Northeast Harbor, Maine. 2 pp. Tape: 1 hr. No cat, or trans. Copy of Northeast Harbor Library interview (Tapes C-4, C-5). Smallidge talks about life, housing, education, transportation, etc. on Mount Desert Island and in Northeast Harbor in the early 1900s. RESTRICTED. Text: no catalog or transcription. Recording: T 1882, CD 0853 1 hour.

1796 Endicott Peabody, interviewed by the Northeast Harbor Library, August 2, 1979, at the Northeast Harbor Library. Peabody, a longtime summer resident of Mount Desert Island and Northeast Harbor, talks about his childhood summers on the Island and some of the native Mainers he knew. Copies of Northeast Harbor Library interview (Tapes C20 #1 & #2) RESTRICTED. Text: 1 pp. index. Recording: T 1883 – T 1884.

1797 Dan McPheters, interviewed by Pamela Dean, spring 1984, Northeast Harbor, Maine. 2 pp. Tape: 3 hrs. No cat. or trans. Copy of Northeast Harbor Library interview (Tapes C-24 #1, #2a, #2b). McPheters talks about the history of Maine guides; stories of his experiences guiding “sports.” RESTRICTED. Text: no catalog or transcription. Recording: T 1885 – T 1887 3 hours.