Audio & Video

Acadian Traditions is an hour long film exploring how Acadian ways have survived in the St. John Valley of Northern Maine into the 21st century. Brought to the valley by their refugee ancestors in 1785, these early Acadian practices have been remarkable preserved. Color DVD. 60 minutes.

A new look at one of America's favorite national parks. Hosted by former NBC News correspondent, Jack Perkins. Join him in this tribute to the people who created Acadia National Park and to those who keep and preserve it. 50 min.

Three animated movies of Wabanaki legends retold by students in grades 3-8, Indian Island School, Penobscot Nation, Maine. All three videos available on one videotape. Shown: People’s Choice Award, American Indian Film and Video Festival, Oklahoma City, OK; Taos Talking Picture Festival, Taos, NM; Kid’s First, Native Americas International Film Exposition, Santa Fe, NM; New England Children’s Film & Video Festival, Boston, MA; Purchased by the Video Art Collection for all Washington State Public Schools; Honorable Mention, 11th Visions US Home Video Competition, Los Angeles, CA. Best of Two Rivers Film and Video Festival National Tour; and Chicago International Children’s Film and Video Festival.

GATHERING SONGS (CD)

Native American music from Maine.

Published by the Vinalhaven Historical Society, this 29 minute DVD delves into the history of granite quarrying on the island using photographs from the 1870's to the 1930's.

Thoreau wrote that he "was born in the nick of time" in Concord, Massachusetts and went on to famously write about building a cabin and living at Walden Pond. This film tells the story of his life and his time at Walden Pond as well as the impact his writings have had on environmental issues, civil rights, and individual thinking in our time. "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." DVD format. 114 minutes.

"Innocent Interlude" takes you on a amazing tour of Portland, Maine on the eve of major change. In 1940-41, city officials made a remarkable series of color films of life around Portland. They captured longshoreman unloading ships on the waterfront, a soap box derby on Park Avenue, ice skating at Deering Oaks Park and much more. "Innocent Interlude" captures how people worked and played more than sixty years ago and documents numerous locations around the city. This 60 minute video provides a rare color, moving glimpse of life in Portland in the years between the Depression and World War II. Narrated by historian Joel Eastman. DVD. 60 minutes.

This half-hour program from Maine PBS centers upon the last log drive down the Kennebec River in 1976. The impact of the end of the log drives -- on jobs, the environment, highway safety, and the tourist trade -- are discussed. DVD

Self-published in 1893, Joseph Nicolar’s The Life and Traditions of the Red Man told the story of his people from the first moments of creation to the earliest arrivals and eventual settlement of Europeans. This was one of the few sustained narratives in English composed by a member of an Eastern Algonquian-speaking people during the nineteenth century. At a time when Native Americans’ ability to exist as Natives was imperiled, Nicolar wrote his book in an urgent effort to pass on Penobscot cultural heritage to subsequent generations of the tribe and to reclaim Native Americans’ right to self-representation. The extraordinary work weaves together stories of Penobscot history, precontact material culture, feats of shamanism, and ancient prophecies about the coming of the white man. An elder of the Penobscot Nation in Maine and the grandson of the Penobscots’ most famous shaman-leader, Old John Neptune, Nicolar brought to his task a wealth of traditional knowledge.

Nicolar’s grandson, Charles Norman Shay, has produced a video companion to Nicolar’s book, the story of his grandfather’s life, called Life and Traditions of Joseph Nicolar. It is an affectionate examination of his grandfather and his way of life. 40 Minutes

Listen as Layne Longfellow reads 18 of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's most beloved poems. Music by Michael Hoppe. 50 minutes running time.

"Lumberjack Sky Pilot" shares true life experiences of lumberjacks during the 1930s and 1940s as filmed by Reverend Frank Reed, one of many itinerant preachers or "sky pilots," who visited lumber camps in the North Country. DVD. 60 minutes.

In 1870 Swedish settlers flocked to far northern Maine to farm--creating a unique colony where the Swedish language is still spoken in the 21st century. But the few who still speak Swedish is dwindling, and the language will die out with the thirty or so older resident who continue to speak it. "Old Maine Swedish Farms" captures their stories of growingup on the farm in Maine's historic Swedish Colony while they survive to tell their tales. This film captures a unique and fascinating chapter of Maine history.

This documentary film shows the Micmac Indian way of life in Northern Maine, focusing on the traditional craft of woodsplint basketry. Like other native groups in northeast America, Micmac tribes people in Aroostook Country have relied on basketmaking and migrant seasonal labor for subsistance since the mid 1800's. A video for people interested in contemporary American Indian, traditional arts and crafts, rural life in Northern New England and the Maritime provinces. DVD. 50 min. Color.

Richard Roberts (1933-2016) was one of Portland's premier pianists. Trained at Julliard, he came back to Portland and spent his life teaching, encouraging, and performing. Here are 17 tracks from some of his concerts - compiled by the Portland Rossini Club in his honor. 80 minutes.

When city councilors in Saco, Maine voted in 2007 to tear down and replace a rare 19th century stone arch bridge, local residents quickly organized a campaign to save the beloved structure. Little did they know their efforts to save Stackpole Bridge would require a sustained 8-year effort, leading them through a maze of politics, community soul-searching, and monetary wrangling. This is a revealing documentary focused on rural historic preservation. 35 minutes.

“Tater Raisin’ Folk” captures the sights and sounds of the handpicked potato harvest at a few of the farms where the tradition of picking potatoes by hand still takes place in Aroostook County. The show begins at planting time, features the Potato Blossom Festival at Fort Fairfield, and ends with the harvest at farms dotted around The County. This is old time potato farming at its best with unforgettable characters at work in stunning locations from around The County. “Tater Raisin’ Folk” will make you laugh, and it will make you cry. Most of all, it reveals what inspires these “Tater Raisin’ Folk.” Narrated by Layne Longfellow 55 Minutes

Five years in the making,Widerness & Spirit, A Mountain Called Katahdin captures the spirit of Katahdin and the people who have been drawn to Maine's "Great Mountain." The film explores ways of thinking about the wilderness and how people from many walks of life, past to the present, have found spiritual solace and strength in this mountain called Katahdin. DVD 2002,100mins.

Published by the Vinalhaven Historical Society, this 29 minute DVD delves into the history of granite quarrying on the island using photographs from the 1870's to the 1930's.