Franco-American Pathways
By USM's Franco-American Collection
Franco-American PathwaysJul 29, 2021
Episode 17: Self Portrait As Homestead with Jeri Theriault
In this episode, join Anna and Maureen as they interview poet Jeri Theriault on her new book, Self Portrait As Homestead. In this book, Jeri explores place, time, and gender as well as familial bonds, and her Franco-American roots. Theriault grew up in Waterville, Maine.
Here's a link to Jeri's website to learn more about her work: https://www.jeritheriault.com/.
Interested in looking more closely at the poetry book Corra and Anna talked about in the archivists corner? Here's where to get a look at it online: https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/fac-marie-jeanne-laurendeau/3/.
Special thanks to Jeri Theriault for her interview with us, and to WMPG for the use of their studio space.
Interviewers:
Anna Faherty & Maureen Perry
Editor:
Anna Faherty
Narration & Socials:
Corrali St. Pierre
Episode 16: Voices of Fort Kent - Marc & Priscilla Chasse
Welcome back to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection. In this episode of our Voices of Fort Kent series, we present to you our interview with Marc and Priscilla Chasse, with minimal edits. Even though it might be hard to imagine beautiful snowfall at this time of year, let us take you back to March of 2022, when snow was falling outside the Chasse’s Fort Kent home, but inside the welcome was warm. Marc and Priscilla have such wonderful stories about their family, community, culture, and language that we predict you will enjoy. Thank you to Marc & Priscilla, Patrick Lacroix, Madeline Soucie, and WMPG.
Music: Robert Sylvain
Narration: Anna Faherty & Corra St. Pierre
Editing: Anna Faherty
Episode 15: Voices of Fort Kent - Acadian Archives Tour
Hello! and welcome back to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection. In this episode of our Voices of Fort Kent series, we present you with footage from our tour of the Acadian Archives with Patrick LaCroix and Madeline Soucie.
We also have some tape to share of a walk to Fort Kent’s historical Blockhouse. Unfortunately traffic and wind made it a little noisy, but Patrick had some fun tidbits to share about the historic building and the landscape of the town - make sure to look at the blog post that corresponds to this episode for photos! This episode has a more casual feel to it, and I think it would be particularly interesting to folks who already work in archives and libraries - or have a desire to do so! Think of it as a full episode dedicated to our Archivist's Corner segments.
Thank you, and happy listening!
Merci, et très bonne écoute ! Music: Robert Sylvain
Production Site: WMPG
This podcast is a production from the University of Southern Maine's Franco-American Collection and USM Libraries.
For more from the Acadian Archives, click here!
Episode 14: Voices of Fort Kent - Patrick LaCroix
In this episode, we are bringing you the second installment in our Voices of Fort Kent series, an interview with Patrick Lacroix, the director of the Acadian Archives at UMFK.
We relished the opportunity to get to know our new colleague at the university’s northernmost campus. Patrick’s professional and personal history is impressive and, however reluctant he was to talk about himself, it is abundantly clear that he is dedicated to the preservation and proliferation of the history of the St. John Valley. During our conversation, Patrick gave us the broad strokes of his professional life, including some compelling context for our journey to Maine's borderlands and the history of Franco-Americans and Acadians in New England.
Merci et très bonne écoute !
Written and edited by Julia Rhinelander
Music: Robert Sylvain
Production site: WMPG
This podcast is a production from the University of Southern Maine's Franco-American Collection and USM Libraries.
Episode 13 - The Bates Fabriques
Learn more about the Bates Fabriques with our interviewees Norm Marcotte and Larry Charest.
Welcome back to Franco-American Pathways! We know it is dark and cold out this time of year, so we decided now was the perfect time to talk about one of our favorite winter sports to get those neurons firing. Of course I’m talking about hockey! Lewiston has a long history of hockey teams, figure skating, and other ice related activities. Today we will be talking about one particular hockey team–the Bates Fabriques! I’ve been so excited to share all the neat artifacts we have about this team!
The Bates Fabriques were sponsored by the Bates Manufacturing company, and competed regionally and nationally against other teams of similar standing. Many textile manufacturers supported sports teams, including Cabot Manufacturing in Brunswick and Pepperell in Biddeford. But did you know that the Bates Fabriques won a national hockey championship in 1950 and traveled to Europe to compete internationally? Today’s interviewees are here to tell us all about it.
Episode 12: Voices of Fort Kent - Lisa Lavoie
Bonjour, hello and welcome back to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection. Life at the university has had its twists and turns, but we are so grateful to be back to share with you our trip to Fort Kent last winter. Patrick LaCroix, who had then just taken up the post of Director of the Acadian Archives at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, graciously welcomed us to Madawaska last March and arranged for us to meet some folks who could help us deepen our understanding of this truly unique and fascinating region.
In the first installment of our Voices of Fort Kent series, you'll meet Lisa Lavoie. Lavoie is an assistant professor in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling at UMFK, and was born and raised in Fort Kent. In 2015 she received her masters degree in Maine Studies through the University of Maine and her thesis focused on the effects of 9/11 on the borderlands of Northern Maine. This thesis is what interested us in her perspective on this region, both as a scholar and as a Madawaska native.
Big gratitude to Robert Sylvain for offering music from his album Memere’s Notebook for our show.
Thanks as well to WMPG, USM’s community radio, for sharing their resources with us and making the production of our show possible.
Merci et très bonne écoute !
Episode 11 - My Aunt Linda
Bonjour à tous et à toutes !
It has been a minute! This episode, set to air at the start of the summer, got waylaid. There was a Covid case or two, a trip to Hawaii, and shifting work schedules in the mix, but, at long last, it is our pleasure to introduce the work of our spring intern, Corra. We are so proud of all that they accomplished for the Putting History to Work internship in the spring; the depth of their research and the nuance of their insights will speak for themselves. This episode diverges a bit from our normal format: Corra, a young Franco and Lewiston native, explores her own family history and how it intersects with her queer identity. Using public records and the resources available at USM's Special Collections, Corra does a deep dive into researching the life of their late Aunt Linda, a family member with whom they had a deep connection. Their research culminated in a rich conversation at the WMPG studio about queer culture and identity with our producer, Julia, and one of USM's Instruction and Outreach Librarians, Megan MacGregor.
Be sure to check out our blog to see photos of Linda and read more about Corra's story and where they did they research.
We are still editing tape from our Mapping Franco Fort Kent and Brunswick trips, but because of schedule changes, the work is just going a bit slower than before. Not to worry though! New content is coming this fall and we are so excited to share our work with you.
Merci, et très bonne écoute!
This episode was written by Corra St. Pierre.
It was produced and edited by Corra St. Pierre and Julia Rhinelander
Music: Robert Sylvain
Episode 10 - Mapping Franco Biddeford: Part 2
Bonjour! This month, we’re bringing you the second half of our Mapping Franco Biddeford episode! If you didn’t listen to part one, we highly recommend going back and giving it a listen; part two will make a whole lot more sense. Last fall, a few days after our Osher visit, Emma Bouthillette, Biddeford native and author, met the Franco-American pathways team and Libby Bischof to take a historic walking tour of Biddeford. We made connections to the maps and documents we’d viewed just a few days earlier.
Our visit concluded with a stop at the McArthur Library where Renée Burkett and her team in Special Collections gave us a tour of their space and their extensive collection of artifacts relating to Franco Biddeford.
Music for Franco-American Pathways was composed and performed by Robert Sylvain and is available for purchase on his website, robertsylvain.com.
Special thanks to Dr. Libby Bischof at the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, Emma Bouthillette, and Renée Burkett for making our mapping of Franco Biddeford possible.
All editing and production for this episode was done at WMPG, USM’s community radio.
Merci, et a la prochaine !
Episode 9 - Mapping Franco Biddeford: Part 1
This month, we present you with the first part of one of the larger projects we tackled in 2021: a second Mapping episode, this time focusing on the city of Biddeford. Today, we take you back to the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education with Dr. Libby Bischof, as well as another special guest: Emma Bouthillette, a Biddeford native, yoga teacher, and writer. Emma is the author of A Brief History of Biddeford, a book about this historic mill town that was shaped by the Franco-American exodus at the turn of the century.
True to form, Libby met us in the reading room of the map library ready with every table covered in maps and documents relating to Biddeford. I would suggest heading over to our blog to take a look at the documents we viewed as you listen along.
Bienvenue et très bonne écoute !
Music: Robert Sylvain
Production: Julia Rhinelander and Corra St. Pierre
Episode 8 - Franco Folque with Cindy Larock
Our archivist, Anna, had the chance to sit down with Cindy Larock a few months ago, and what came out of it is just so special. For those unfamiliar, Cindy Larock is a Franco-American who grew up in Lewiston, Maine. She has been actively involved in traditional music and dance from Quebec to Maine and all over New England for over 40 years. This month, we present you with Anna and Cindy's conversation, plus some treasures from the collection.
To learn more about Cindy Larock, the Maine Folque Coop, and her Maine Bicentennial Grant, be sure to read our blog post for this month.
Music: Robert Sylvain
Writing: Anna Faherty
Editing and Production: Julia Rhinelander and Corra St. Pierre
Episode 7 - Ryan Fecteau's Vision for Maine
Welcome back to Franco-American Pathways! We hope you had a great holiday, however you celebrate. In this longer episode, we present you with an interview we conducted in person, at our collection, with Ryan Fecteau, a young Franco-American and Maine’s Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Anna brought out a bunch of artifacts to share with Speaker Fecteau during our interview and we had a great conversation about his experience growing up as a Franco-American in Biddeford, his career in politics, and his vision for Maine’s future.
Maureen also unearthed some compelling written documents pertaining to the history of Francos in Maine politics for La Collection Parle. Check out our blog for images of the archival materials we shared this week!
Très bonne écoute !
Hosts: Anna Faherty, Maureen Perry, Julia Rhinelander
Special Guest: Ryan Fecteau
Music: Robert Sylvain
Editing and Production: Julia Rhinelander
Episode 6 - A Conversation with Steven Riel
Welcome to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection. This month, we spoke with Steven Riel, a New England poet of Franco-American descent, who just released his fifth poetry collection, Edgemere. We discussed Riel’s upbringing in Massachusetts, his relationship to his Franco-American heritage, in addition to the themes of memory, identity, and selfhood in his poetry. In The Archivist’s Corner, Anna will introduce the Nandette Poetry book, a collection of poems and ephemera from Fernande Audet. In La Collection Parle, Maureen will read some of Audet’s poetry, in French and English. Welcome and Happy listening!
Music: Robert Sylvain
Production and Editing: Julia Rhinelander
The Archivist's Corner: Anna Faherty
La Collection Parle: Maureen Perry
Episode 5 - Mapping Franco Lewiston: Part 2
Welcome to this month’s episode of Franco-American Pathways, the second in our Mapping Franco Lewiston series. If you haven’t heard part one, we suggest going back and giving it a listen. It’ll give you some context for this month’s conversations.
In part one, we focused on connecting the physical and cultural topographies of Lewiston in order to better understand its history; we visited Libby Bischof at the Osher Map Library to look at several different renderings of Lewiston-Auburn throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and then spent a day on foot together in Lewiston to deepen our understanding of the Franco presence there. For this second part, we rounded out our exploration of Franco Lewiston talking with James Myall, co-author of The Franco-Americans of Lewiston-Auburn, historian, and policy analyst for the Maine Center for Economic Policy.
Be sure to check out our blog to take a look at the resources mentioned and stay up to date on all our news.
Music: Robert Sylvain
Host: Julia Rhinelander
Production and Editing: Julia Rhinelander
The Archivists Corner: Anna Faherty
La Collection Parle: Mauren Perry
Merci, et très bonne écoute !
Episode 4 - Mapping Franco Lewiston: Part I
In the first installment of this very special, two-part episode of Franco-American Pathways, we diverge from our traditional format to bring you a multi-faceted history of the Francos in Lewiston. We started by examining several maps of the city with Libby Bischof, director of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, many dating back to the 19th century. We then embarked on a trip into the field for a more personal experience of the city with our co-host, Maureen, a Franco Lewiston native. Stay tuned for the second part in this series, which will include La Collection Parle and The Archivist's Corner.
Note: We had some technical difficulties while recording in Lewiston, and you'll hear a significant amount of wind interference at times. Our apologies - wind guards next time!
We have several gratitudes to extend for this month’s episode: first and foremost, to Libby Bischof and the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education. Also, a special thank you to our co-host, Maureen, for sharing her personal history with us, and to the Prince of Peace Parish for welcoming us in Lewiston.
A big shoutout, as usual, to Rob Sylvain for letting us use the music from his album, Memère’s Notebook, which you can purchase on his website.
Thanks as well to David Nutty and the USM Libraries staff for their ongoing support.
Be sure to catch our show when it airs on the last Friday of every month starting tomorrow, 8/27, at 1:30PM on WMPG 90.9 Portland. We’re loving collaborating with WMPG and we’ve got some other fun projects in the works.
Merci et très bonne écoute !
Episode 3 - A Nation Within A Nation
This month, we dive into the world of French language radio and newspapers in Maine and New England. We had the pleasure of sitting with Paul Paré, an Emmy award winning Franco writer and journalist, to talk about his life, his writing, and the history of French language news in Franco communities. You'll also hear a clip from a bilingual radio show, L'Heure Française, hosted by Marcel Raymond, a Lewiston native; the show aired for 20 years out of WCUW in Worcester, MA.
In the Archivist's Corner, we take a look at some special editions of Le Messager, one of the longest running French newspapers in Maine, and Maureen reads from the personal letters and correspondence of local Franco journalist, Charlotte Michaud.
Thanks, as always, to Rob Sylvain for providing us with the music for our show.
Also, we are so pleased to announce our partnership with WMPG 90.9FM, our local community radio here in Portland! They'll be airing our show every month and have opened up their recording facility to us going forward. We are so happy to be a part of the WMPG family, and even have a live show in the works for the fall. We'll be sure to provide details about air times and dates on the blog. WCUW 91.3FM in Worcester will also be airing our show on the first Monday of every month starting in August.
Merci, et très bonne écoute !
Episode 2 - Song Keepers
This month on Franco-American Pathways, we put the spotlight on music in the Franco-American community. We’ll listen to some examples of intimate performances that appear in many of our oral histories, and talk about the diversity and importance of music in Franco culture.
We’ll take a deep dive into Acadian musical traditions with Robert Sylvain, who has so generously provided us with the music for our show from his album, Mémère’s Notebook. Then, Lise Pelletier, Director of the Acadian Archives at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, will provide us with some historical context for the evolution of Acadian and Franco music as we know it today.
After Anna presents the Archivist's Corner, Maureen will present written texts from the collection that deepen our understanding of music as a form of storytelling.
Music featured this week (in order of appearance):
Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde - Boréal Tordu
Dis-Moi Donc - Robert Sylvain (Mémère's Notebook)
Je Me Suis Levé - Robert Sylvain (Mémère's Notebook)
Veux-Tu M'Aimer ? - Robert Sylvain (Mémère's Notebook)
Pilot - Sharing Our Stories
Introducing Franco-American Pathways (Chemins Franco-Américains), a podcast that uses resources available at the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection to celebrate Franco history, culture, and stories.
In this pilot episode, we talk about the work being done at collections like ours to preserve and protect oral histories and artifacts that document the Franco experience. We talk a bit about the history of the Francos in Maine and New England, interview members of the Franco community, and give you a sample of one of our many oral histories. We hope that our collection will not only be a resource for the academic community, but also a means for Maine’s Franco-Americans to connect with their heritage, and with each other.
Please reach out via our website to see photos of the materials discussed in today’s episode, connect about visiting the collection, or just to say “hi” and share your thoughts.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
Guests:
Dr. Mary Rice-DeFosse
Doris Bonneau
Hosts:
Julia Rhinelander
Anna Faherty (The Archivist’s Corner)
Maureen Perry (La Collection Parle)
Music:
Robert Sylvain
Historical Sources:
Owen, Joseph. “On This Date in Maine History: March 25.” Portland Press Herald. 25 March, 2020.
Rice-DeFosse, Mary & James Myall. The Franco-Americans of Lewiston-Auburn. The History Press. January, 2015.
Roby, Yves. The Franco-Americans of New England Dreams and Realities. Les éditions de Septentrion, English Edition. September, 2004.
Vermette, David. A Distinct Alien Race: Industrialization, Immigration, and Religious Strife. Baraka Books. October, 2018.