On Tuesday, Sept. 26, the seventh-grade class from Brewer Middle School and staff from the Maine Folklife Center met to discuss the Eastern Fine Paper Mill research project. The project was created last August by Pauleena MacDougall, associate director of the Folklife Center, and Amy Stevens, a graduate student in the history department. MacDougall applied for the History Channel grant earlier this year.
The Folklife Center received the $10,000 “Save Our History” grant, which funds the project. According to MacDougall, the grant is the first one received by a school in Maine.
“We just convinced these people that our project was worth funding,” MacDougall said.
Another $5,000 grant from the Maine Humanities Council will also help funding.
The final product of the project will be an informational DVD and Web site that students will put together. To help them understand the topic, they will be taking a tour of the mill on Oct. 12.
Richard Kimball, the maine studies teacher at Brewer Middle School, is helping with the project. “The whole seventh grade is involved; not only the students, but the staff as well. This is a team effort,” Kimball said.
Because the history of the mill is crucial to the history of Brewer, the project is very extensive. “I don’t think the students are really aware of the enormity of the project,” said Kimball.
The project will take place in three stages, with participants divided into three groups. The first group will perform the actual research, the second will record all the information for the final product, and the last group will handle production.
The students will also create traveling history boxes, containing photos and other information, to teach other students around the state.
“A documentarian from New York is coming up to help with this final stage,” Kimball said.
Stevens is excited about the possibilities afforded students through their participation.
“We’re taking the resources we have and letting the students do their own research to learn about what types of things are done in preserving local history,” Stevens said.
Stevens has already contacted several former employees of the facility. DeCesere retired as the production manager from the mill about two years before it closed.
“The mill was a significant part of Brewer for many, many years,” DeCesare said. “It would be nice to see someone understanding what really went on there. I’m quite excited that the students and the center are even interested in doing this project.”
Before the mill closed, DeCesere received permission to collect pictures and other documents from the mill as keepsakes. He has been sharing these with the center and is glad to see that someone is getting good use out of them.
“All of the documents and stuff was just going to end up in the dumpster anyway.”
The center has already collected over 1400 photos of the mill and people who worked there.
“We need to collect these stories before these people pass on and the history is lost,” MacDougall said.
The mill was a large source of revenue and jobs for the city. When it closed, hundreds of local residents were left unemployed.
“When the mill closed, and with no education, some of the workers lost everything,” DeCesere said.
As a Brewer native, Stevens hopes the project will help students connect with their local history.
“Many of the students have relatives who worked at the mill. By inspiring the students to learn this history, maybe they will inspire other students to continue this work,” Stevens said.
“I would like to see something go into the building,” DeCesare said, “but someone has to come forth with a lot of money and a big dream. There is great potential, but someone has to have this dream and really deep pockets to do it.”
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