The Franco-American Collection maintains a wide variety of oral history interviews conducted with members of the local Franco-American community. Interview dates range between the 1970s and the present. Subjects include: childhood, music, religion, wartime, labor, business, sports, language and more.
Also included in this section are lectures given at the Franco-American Collection about Franco-American scholarship and identity.
These audio and video recordings are provided for research and educational purposes only. No copying of recordings or transcripts is allowed. Permission is required for publication and dissemination purposes.
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Paul Jalbert Interview
Sarah Bolduc
Paul Jalbert (b.1938 in Auburn, Maine) followed his father into barbering. Paul's father, Alfred ("Fred") Jalbert was a self-taught hair-cutter who owned and operated his own store in New Auburn for nearly 30 years. Alfred passed the business to his son before retiring after 57 years as a barber. Paul continued to operate "Fred's Hairstyler's" until 2001, when he sold the business to go into semi-retirement himself. In this interview, with Sara Bolduc - a distant relative - on April 26, 2006, talks with Paul about the business, his time in the armed forces during the Cold War, and his friends in St Louis' parish choir.
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André Teko Interview
Daniel Koumou-nete
André Teko was born in Togo but forced to flee that country because of his political activities. He worked initially as a university professor at the University of Benin, but when members of the military dictatorship in Togo attempted to kidnap him, he was forced to flee once more. He was granted refugee status in the United States and now teaches at Bates College in Lewiston. In this interview of October 30, 2005 he talks to Daniel Koumou-nete about his political activities in Togo and Benin, adapting to life in the United States, and cultural differences between Africa and the United States.
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Maureen Perry Interview
Rachel L. Widner
Maureen Perry talks to USM LAC student Rachel Widner about her family's toutière recipe, genealogy and other family traditions. This interview was gathered as part of the USM class HUM 302: French Settlement in the Northeast on April 27, 2005.
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Lucille Paré Interview 2
Kellie Pelletier
Marie Thérèse Lucille Paré was born in Auburn, Maine in 1923. At the age of seven she was sent to live with the Dominican nuns while her father went to Canada to find work during the Depression. Lucille remained at the convent until she graduated, and returned at age 26 to take holy orders. As a Dominican prioress, she headed the Lewiston convent until just before its closure in the late 1960s. She was also prioress in Phoenix, Arizona, where she earned her PhD, and went on to head an adult religious education initiative.
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John Schott Interview
Kelly Pelletier and Barry Rodrigue
John Schott was responsible for rescuing the former Grand Trunk Railroad Depot on Lincoln Street in Lewiston from dereliction. In 1987, he bought the building from the Lewiston-Auburn Railroad Company for $10,000. For the next 15 years, he spent many thousands of dollars and countless hours of labor renovating the facility and restoring its structural integrity. The Grand Trunk Railroad Depot was built in 1874, and was the terminus of a branch of the Grand Trunk Railroad which ran from Montreal to Portland, Maine. Between 1920 and 1939, approximately 80% of French Canadian immigrants to Lewiston arrived via the railroad. The depot closed in 1975 with declining passenger numbers, and the building was placed on the National Register of Historic places in 1979. John later sold the building back to the LARC for almost $300,000 in 2003. Following further renovations in 2011 and 2012, the building is set to open as a cafe, some time in the Spring of 2013.
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Betty Cody (Rita Coté) Interview
Ann Breau
Betty Cody is the stage name for Rita Coté, a highly-successful country singer from Lewiston, Maine. She married fellow singer Hal "Lone Pine" Breau, and their sons, Denny and Lenny went on to have successful musical careers. In this interview, she discusses her relationship to the Franco-American community and the origins of her musical career.
In the photograph: Betty Cody (Rite Coté)
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Theresa Cyr Interview
Terri Cyr
In this interview with her daughter-in-law, Jackie, Theresa Cyr reflects on her life - her childhood in Van Buren, and her move to the industrial center of Lewiston and, later, to Rhode Island.
Also included: transcript.
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Lucille Paré Interview 1
Madeleine Roy
Marie Thérèse Lucille Paré was born in Auburn, Maine in 1923. At the age of seven she was sent to live with the Dominican nuns while her father went to Canada to find work during the Depression. Lucille remained at the convent until she graduated, and returned at age 26 to take holy orders. As a Dominican prioress, she headed the Lewiston convent until just before its closure in the late 1960s. She was also prioress in Phoenix, Arizona, where she earned her PhD, and went on to head an adult religious education initiative.
In the photograph: Nuns at the Dominican Convent, Lewiston, c1965. Sister Marie Sylvie (Lucille Paré) is in the center.
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Gilberte Beaulé Interview
Claude Bergeron
Gilberte Desrochers Beaulé (b. Lewiston, c.1935) talks to her nephew, Claude Bergeron, about her father, Adelbert Desrochers, who was a strike-breaker in the Auburn Shoe Strike of 1937, growing up in the Great Depression, and family life in her early years. Also present for the interview is the interviewer's mother, Beaulé's sister, Jeanine Desrochers Bergeron.
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Lillie Dumont Interview
Jacqueline Couillard
Lillie Dumont was born into a mixed British-French Canadian family in Montréal. She and her husband moved to Lewiston and operated Dubuc's gas station on East Avenue for six years before returning to Montréal. She discusses similarities and differences between Franco life in Lewiston and Montréal.
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Robert Hamel Interview
Daniel J. Desjardins
Robert Hamel grew up in Lewiston during the Depression and worked in a variety of occupations, including a very brief stint in the Bates Mill, a session in a Jewish-owned shoe shop and finally 37 years and Hahnel Brothers as a roofer. Hamel discusses working conditions and ethnic relations in the workplace.
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Rolande Duguay Ouellette Interview
Nadine Gagnon and Melanie Lemieux
Rolande Duguay was born in St Bonaventure, QC, in 1917. Her mother died when she was only three years old, so she was sent to live with her grandparents. When her grandfather also died, Rolande was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Waterville, Maine. Her first trip on a train took her to the United States, where she worked in a textile mill. After marrying her husband, Emile Ouellette, in 1935, she moved to Lewiston and then to Brunswick, Maine. In this interview, conducted April 28, 1994 she talks to her grandchildren, Nadine Gagnon and Melanie Lemieux about her early life in Canada, her love of cooking and her family values.
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Nancy Lee (Morin) Huff Interview
Peggy Plapis
Nancy Lee Huff was born Nancy Lee Morin to Lucien and Mary Adams Morin in 1945. In this interview with her sister, Peggy Plapis, she recounts her discoveries about the family history through talking to her uncle, Davila "Dave" Morin and genealogical research.
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Patricia Paré Camire Interview
Madeleine Roy
Patricia Paré Camire was born in Lewiston in 1921. In this interview, she talks to her sister, Collection Coordinator Madeleine Roy about their family and Patricia's time as a boarder at the Ave Maria Convent in Sabattus while their father was 'out west' in Canada. Camire continues with life during the Great Depression, her service in the Army during the 1940s and her later careers.
Also included: transcript and photograph.
In the photograph: Patricia Paré Camire (left) and friends in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, 1943.
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Connie Coté Interview
Franco-American Collection
Connie Coté is an organist and pianist who began her musical career at St Peter's Church in Lewiston. She went on to host local radio shows for some 30 years, served as a State Representative for 12 years, and as a County Commissioner for Androscoggin County. She was the first Coordinator of the Centre d'Heritage Franco-Américain and directed many local musicals, both in that capacity, and with the Community Little Theater.
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Marie Sturtevant Interview
Murielle Guay
Marie Sturtevant (b. 1940) served as a nurse in the Army Nurse's Corps during the Vietnam War in a hospital in Okinawa. In this interview with a relative of hers, Murielle Guay, she speaks about her service during the war and issues of discrimination, sexual harassment and the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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Doris Guenette Interview
Angela Stuart
Doris Guenette enlisted in the Women's Army Corps as a reservist in 1969, but within two years found herself in Vietnam. She remained in the army for another twenty years, seeing action again during the First Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) in 1990-1991. In this 1996 interview with Angela Stuart, she discusses what it was like being a Franco-American and a woman in the military in that period.
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Interview with Noel Gaumont Interview Transcript
The Franco-American Collection
Photocopy of a typed transcript of an interview with Noel Gaumont.
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Lucien Filion Interview
Tammy L. Berube
Lucien 'Red' Filion was born in Beaulac-Garthby, QC, in 1915. His parents were farmers, living off the land. In 1923, Red's family moved to Lewiston, Maine. Red started work at 16 in a Lewiston shoe shop, as a 'cotton boy', bringing raw cotton to the women working the looms. In this interview he describes conditions in the mills, the great shoe strike of 1937, and his career in various Lewiston factories.
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Roger Mailhot Interview
Don Dufour
Roger Mailhot (b. Lewiston, 1934) inherited Mailhot's Sausage Company from his father, Robert. Roger's grandfather, Eugene William "Willie" Mailhot began the business in 1910, having gotten his culinary experience working for Philippe Dupont in the Dupont Bakery in Auburn. Mailhot's Sausage continues to be well-known for traditional Franco-American meat products - boudin (blood sausage) and cretons (pork spread). In this interview, recorded April 22, 1994, Roger Mailhot talks to Don Dufour about his family business; its origins, his role at the company, and what he says for its future.
In the photograph: Mailhot Family, 1913. From left: Robert (Roger's Father); Eugene "Willie" (Roger's Grandfather); Odile (née Morris); Germaine and Varna.
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Denis Blais Interview
Franco-American Collection
Denis Blais was a long-time leader of the Textile Workers of America in Lewiston. He began as manager of the local area office and ended up as regional vice-president.
Denis' father moved from Armargh, QC to Rhode Island, since the Quebec winters were too demanding on his health. When his father died in 1937, Denis went to work in a textile mill, where he was exposed to the conditions of workers, and convinced to join the local union. He went on to be a union recruiter and organizer in Rhode Island.
Employed by the Union (TWUA-CIO), he was sent to Lewiston, Maine because of his bilingualism. In total, he spent 34 years working for the union.
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Glorianne Perrier Interview
Madeleine Giguère and Marie Larendeau
Lewiston-born Glorianne Perrier became an Olympic kayaker by accident, and in her first race, her task was simply to stay afloat and finish third in a field of three contestants. She would later go on to be US National K-1 Champion and win a silver medal in the 500m K-2 (doubles) sprint in the 1964 Olympics.
In the photograph: Glorianne Perrier
