Maine Women Writers Collection

We had the opportunity this semester to visit the Maine Women Writers Collection at the University of New England, in Portland. To start off with our class visit there, we watched a short introduction video to the collection, its history and importance.

The collection was originally founded in 1959 by Dorothy Healy and Grace Dow, as a way to preserve and honor the contributions from many women writers from Maine. Much of the collection are works from the 19th and 20th centuries, and books aren't the only resources in the collection. The collection also holds numerous unpublished artifacts, such as letters, photographs, and journals. It's tough to come by a collection of this scope and magnitude, and it's weird to think I didn't even realize we had something like this close by.

From novels to non-fiction accounts and cookbooks, the collection seemed to have a little bit of everything. I was impressed by its size and the amount of material it contained in such limited space. I also had no idea about the amount of history Maine has in women writers and literature. It really is kind of a hidden treasure, and I was surprised to learn that beyond Sarah Orne Jewett and Harriet Beecher Stowe, there is much more to learn about the literary history for Maine women. The experience as a whole was incredibly eye opening. 

The Maine Women Writers Collection is definitely a place that would be worth visiting again to learn about the history of women's literature in Maine, but also to actually experience and read some of the work. I imagine, like Jewett's work, it all would give us a very unqiue perspective on the different times and history of Maine, as well as what it was like to be living in Maine as a women. The works kept at the collection span through much of Maine's history, so it would be an incredible tool in getting an accurate picture as to what it was like living in Maine during these times, and the culture experienced.