Maine and the Environment

The Maine and the Environment digital collection brings together items from across the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library relating to and engaging with the natural environment and environmental issues. The items span many formats including photographs, audio recordings, constituent letters, and cover environmental movements, efforts, and legislation from local individuals up to the State and Federal level. The exhibit currently pulls from four collections, including the vast collection of Mainer and Bates graduate, Edmund S. Muskie. The digital exhibit will grow as more material is digitized so it can better capture and represent the breadth of environmentally related materials that is held within the archives.

Student Publications:

The Bates Student, 1873-1979  &  The Bates Student, 1980-2019

 The campus newspaper. First published in 1873, the Student more closely resembled a literary magazine — with campus news sprinkled throughout — in both size and format, than a traditional newspaper. It was not until 1921 that the format changed to its current mode, even though the size, content, and rate of publication has changed through the years. The issues are arranged chronologically, and some runs of issues are incomplete. The various incarnations of Bates Student spoof issues are also contained in this series. In addition, the Bates Student was published in two parts between 1916 and 1920 — a Newspaper Section and a Magazine Section. The Magazine Section grew into the Garnet thereafter.

Mirror, 1900-2012

The Bates College yearbook. The first yearbook of student photographs at Bates was published in 1870. Subsequent issues became known simply as the “Photo Book.” In 1900, the format expanded to include photographs of the college buildings and landscape, and of student activities and clubs, and began to include textual descriptions of campus life. The name “The Mirror” was first used for the yearbook issue of 1909.

Bates Outing Club, Cat Tracks Newsletter, 1952, 1957-1969

Cat Tracks was the student-issued newsletter of the Bates Outing Club, one of the oldest collegiate outing clubs in the country. The Muskie Archives has copies of Cat Tracks from 1952 through 1969, with a gap of missing issues from 1953 to 1956. It is not known if issues were published before or after the issues in the Archives.

Photographs:

Bates College Photograph Collection

This online collection includes digital copies of a small selection of the more than 10,000 historic photographs of Bates College held by the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library. The collection documents the life of the College from 1875-present, although the bulk of the collection runs from the early 1890s though the early 1960s. Topics covered include campus buildings, athletics, classroom activities, clubs, dorm life, theater, and many other aspects or activities of the College. There are also photographs of faculty and staff, honorary degree recipients, commencement, and class reunions.

Oral History Collections:

The Shanghai Jewish Community Oral History Project

The Shanghai Jewish Community Oral History Project is directed by Steve Hochstadt, former Professor of History at Bates College. The project collects oral histories of surviving Shanghai Jews, focusing especially on the German-speaking refugees. The interviews show not only how they survived, but also how they created a community of synagogues, cafes, theaters, schools, and newspapers. The first interviews were done on a trip to China in spring 1989. The rest were taped in Florida, California, Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg, Chicago, and other places.

The collection consists of 99 audiotaped interviews with over 115 Shanghai Jews. Currently 64 of the interviews have been transcribed and transcription work continues. These interviews are made accessible for research purposes only, and may not be reproduced, published, or quoted from without permission of the collection’s creator.

The Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Collection

The Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Collection is composed of more than 400 interviews with individuals who knew, affected, or were affected by Senator Edmund S. Muskie in the course of his life and career. A native of Rumford, Maine, and member of the Bates class of 1936, Muskie went on to become Maine governor, U.S. senator, U.S. secretary of state and a candidate for the White House.

Interviews were primarily conducted between 1998 and 2007 by Don Nicoll, Andrea L’Hommedieu, and other project staff as part of the Muskie Oral History Project, one of the largest and most comprehensive oral history projects ever undertaken of a modern political figure. Interviewees include Senator Muskie’s childhood friends and acquaintances, college contemporaries, Maine legislators, political associates and competitors, reporters and editors, campaign supporters, gubernatorial and Senate office staff, Senate colleagues and committee staff members, public agency officials, lobbyists, State Department officials, foreign policy specialists, law practice associates, public policy advocates, citizens associated with Senator Muskie in a variety of programs, and friends. Opinions and topics vary broadly, collectively providing a multifaceted and nuanced picture of Muskie’s contributions to Maine, to the United States, and to the world.

Each interview is documented with a transcript and summary information, containing biographical information about the interviewee and an abstract of the interview. For more information about the collection, please see the Muskie Oral History Collection finding aid. Funding for the creation, processing, and online publication of the Muskie Oral History Collection was generously provided by the Edmund S. Muskie Foundation.

Bates College Oral History Project

The Bates College Oral History Project seeks to document and celebrate the rich and varied history of Bates College by compiling a collection of recorded spoken memories from a variety of individuals closely connected to Bates College, including alumni/alumnae, faculty, staff, presidents and students. The project, which was conducted from January 2005 through June 2006, coincided with the College’s Sesquicentennial, and was based at the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine.