Tourism (Bowdoin, )

History/ES 247 Reading Guide

Dona Brown, Ch. 6, “The Problem of the Summer: Race, Class and the Colonial Vacation in Southern Maine, 1890-1910,” in Inventing New England: Regional Tourism in the Nineteenth Century (1995), 169-199, 241-244. (e-reserve)
David Richards, “An Eden Out of a Country Farm: Purity and Progress in the Landscapes of the Poland Spring Resort [1894],” Maine History 34.2 (1994): 136-153. (e-reserve)

Late nineteenth-century magazine reading:
Edwin Lawrence Godkin, “The Evolution of the Summer Resort” [compiled from articles published in The Nation: “Cottagers and Boarders,” No. 897 (Sept. 7, 1882), 196-197; “The Evolution of the Summer Resort,” No. 942 (July 18, 1883), 47-48; “Boarders’ Rights on the Seashore,” No. 945 (Aug. 9, 1883), 111-112; “The Last Retreat of the Boarder,” No. 1260 (Aug. 22, 1889), 143-144], reprinted in Godkin, Reflections and Comments, 1865-1895 (1895), 295-308. (e-reserve). Note: the newspaper articles are also on e-reserve as "Articles on 'Cottagers and Boarders' and 'Evolution of the Summer Resort'"
Samuel Adams Drake, Ch. XXII, “In and Out of Bar Harbor,” in Drake, The Pine-Tree Coast (1891), 304-319. (e-reserve)

Further reading:

Dona Brown, “Purchasing the Past: Summer People and the Transformation of the Piscataqua Region in the Nineteenth Century,” in Sarah L. Giffen and Kevin D. Murphy, A Noble and Dignified Stream: The Piscataqua Region in the Colonial Revival, 1860-1930, (York Maine, 1992).
Esther E. Wood, “Blue Hill Rusticators,” Down East Magazine II,2 (September 1955).
Herbert J. Seligman, “Bar Harbor—From Eden to Tourism,” Down East Magazine IV,1 (August 1957) Frank W. Lovering, “Watering Places of the Gay Nineties,” Down East Magazine VI,2 (September 1959).
“Poland Mineral Spring Water: The Story of Its History and Its Marvelous Curative Properties” [pamphlet] (Hiram Ricker & Sons, 1891).
Edward D. Ives, “Maine Folklore and the Folklore of Maine: Some Reflections on the Maine Character and Downeast Humor,” Maine Historical Society Quarterly 23 (1984), 111-132.

Questions:

For what kinds of experiences were the boarders, cottagers, tourists, and excursionists searching? What kind of history were summer people seeking? What “nature” were they seeking?
How was the evolution of the vacation industry an environmental story? How was it particularly a Maine environmental story? How did Maine’s disadvantages for a primary subsistence economy become advantages for a service economy?
To what extent was the rise of tourism a class story?
Dona Brown’s chapter in many ways is a literary excursion. What was William Dean Howells looking for, and what did he find in Kittery? What was the appeal for him of the Piscataqua River towns? What was the “problem of the summer”?
According to David Richards, what did late nineteenth-century urban travelers see in the Maine landscape? What interests and values did Hiram Ricker and his sons promote at Poland Spring? How did the urban travelers’ vision of the landscape contrast with Timothy Dwight's earlier vision? What had he valued differently?
In his various editorials on cottagers, boarders and the “evolution” of the summer resort [at Bar Harbor], what most concerned Edwin Lawrence Godkin? Did his concerns change over time? How did Samuel Adams Drake describe the “transformation” of Bar Harbor? How did the environment and the year-round residents of Bar Harbor fit into their vision of this coastal town?

Postcards: