Alice Bisson-Barnes Interview

Authors

Franco-American Collection

Files

Description

Alice Bisson was born in Lewiston in 1945 to Joseph Felix Theodore "Ted" Bisson and Gertrude Thiel Bisson, the last of sixteen children. She recorded two interviews with the Franco-American Collection.

In the first interview, Alice talks about her father, Ted Bisson (b.1900), who immigrated to the United States from Chartierville, QC in 1918, with his family, after the death of his father. While the rest of his family were employed in Lewiston's textile industry, Ted worked as a pastry chef at the Court Square Restaurant, in Auburn. He catered the opening of St Mary's Church in 1928.

In 1933, he operated a boarding house which had initially been purchased by his brother Louis, on Middle Street, in Lewiston. In 1938 he opened the Middle Street Diner next door, and operated that until 1946, when he sold the diner and opened the Maple Inn on Main Street, Lewiston.

Also included: transcript and photograph.

In the photograph: Ted Bisson, Court Square Restaurant, Auburn, 1919.

Duration

01:03:25

Publication Date

5-31-2013

City

Lewiston

State

Maine

Keywords

Bisson, Barnes, Religion, family life, food, immigration, race, historiography, Oral History, Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine

Media Type

Reproduction

Comments

The Franco-American Collection is one of the largest repositories of its kind in the North-East. The Collection contains tens of thousands of printed books, photographs, newspaper clippings and audio-visual recordings. Please review the Collection's Terms and Conditions regarding use of its material.

Recommended Citation

Interviews and Lectures Collection, Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Language

English