Eastern Fine Mill Workers’ Stories Wanted
Contact: Amy Stevens, 581-1891
The Maine Folklife Center at the University of Maine is seeking former Eastern Fine Paper Inc. workers to discuss their experiences for an oral history project.
The purpose of the project is to document and preserve the history and culture of the mill and its workers through a series of tape-recorded interviews. Starting immediately, the Folklife Center is looking to interview men and women who worked at the Brewer mill in any capacity to share their experiences.
Interviewers would like to hear workers’ accounts of the jobs they performed and how they learned their skills, stories they may have about the mill, its people or events that occurred in the mill, including rituals and pranks, and feelings workers had about their jobs, both before and after the mill’s closing.
The information will be included in an exhibit titled “The Writing on the Wall: The Twentieth Century Culture of a Maine Paper Mill,” which will open in the Brewer mill and then travel throughout the state, so that Mainers can learn more about the culture of paper mills and the lives of mill workers.
Anyone interested in assisting the Folklife Center with this important project or getting more information may contact Amy L. Stevens at the Maine Folklife Center, 5773 South Stevens Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5773; or call (207) 581-1891.