Around 1895
Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center
http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/images/male-students-country
These photographs show Indigenous students from Carlisle Indian School working on a farm. Farm work was part of the school’s Outing System. After being a student at the school for at least two years, some children sent to live with a white family. The boys would do farm work, while the girls would help in the household.
The students were also enrolled in the local public school. The goal of the program was to fully integrate students into White American culture and learn how to be “civilized,” while also learning valuable skills for life after school.
Pay close attention to the caption at the bottom of the image.
When the program was first created, Captain Richard Pratt, the head of Carlisle Indian School, had to beg families to take in his students because people were afraid of them. However, after a few years, the school began receiving many requests from families who wanted students to work for them. In 1903, there were 948 students in the Outing System.
Source 2 - Document
Source 2 - Document
Juvenile Institutions Report on Girls Work and Progress
1920 Fifth Biennial Report of the Board of Trustees and Officers of the Juvenile Institutions of Maine
Pg. 31
Maine State Archives
This is a report on the State School for Girls at Hallowell, Maine. It talks about the girls who were on parole from June 30, 1918, to June 30, 1920.
The State School for Girls was created to rehabilitate, or “improve,” children who either committed crimes or showed behaviors that people thought could lead to them committing a crime.
From 1918 to 1920, there were 241 girls on parole. Parole is when a prisoner is released early. They can either be released for a specific amount of time or permanently. However, they must show good behavior or they’ll be sent back to the School.
Most of the girls on parole from the State School for Girls were wage earners. Wage earners were girls who were placed in homes in the community. They were paid to work as a way to transition to life outside of the school.
Often this work was housework. However, over time girls advocated for the option to do other types of work, such as office work. Pay close attention to the paragraph about how the money the girls earned was divided. Although the girls were allowed to keep some of it, the school also took a lot.
According to this report, most of the girls were accepted by the family they were placed with, but some were returned or transferred. Of the 144 girls who were wage earners, 38 were returned, and 16 were transferred. While some were returned because of unsatisfactory behavior, the most common reason was that the families didn’t need them.
Source 3 - Image
Source 3 - Image
Prison Brooms to Train Station
1915
Thomaston Historical Society
This is a photograph of a horse delivery cart carrying brooms and other cleaning tools in 1915. These products were all made by prisoners of the former Maine State Prison in Thomaston, Maine. The cart is on its way to the train station so that the supplies can be sold across the state.
The work programs at the prison trained prisoners to make products such as brooms, carriages, harnesses, and wagons. These skills were supposed to be helpful when people left the prison.
Workers earned some money from the items they made, which were sold in a showroom. Money from their work also supported the prison.
Source 4 - Image
Source 4 - Image
Camp Houlton Prisoners of War Picking Potatoes
1945
Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum (Houlton Museum)
This is a photograph of a prisoner of war at Camp Houlton in Aroostook County, Maine. He is harvesting potatoes in a field. German prisoners of war were brought to America to keep them out of their country’s army and to provide labor to America during World War II.
With so many people fighting in World War II, America had a labor shortage. There were not enough farmers in America to feed the country. Prisoners of war helped fill that gap.
Aroostook County is known for its potato farming. Potatoes are an excellent crop to provide for the community since they are filling and have many uses. At Camp Houlton, potato farming was the most typical job that a prisoner of war could have.
Thanks to the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war had protected rights. They could not be forced to work. However, many prisoners chose to work because they could earn a little money. The prisoners saved to buy small treats such as chocolate, tobacco, and beer.
The prisoners worked with local farmers and many formed strong, yet unconventional, relationships. Some even returned to visit Maine families after the war.
Transcript:
The former POW recalled how prisoners were given “lengths” of potato rows to pick. At the time, prisoners were given coupons equivalent to 80 cents a day, for their work. The coupons could be redeemed at the camp store. His next assignment was at Spencer Lake, where he harvested timber with Canadians and cut ice from December to March. It was then that he and two other POWs planned their great escape.
The trio stockpiled food and Keller said he had to “steal” a magnet to build a compass. They also “borrowed” maps of Maine from Canadians. The prisoners built snowshoes out of barrel staves according to NEWS re‐ports of the trio’s flight.
For four days, the men were the subject of a statewide search, which included the publishing of their prison‐camp photos in the newspaper. Meanwhile, Keller and his compatriots trudged through snow, mostly at night, the news reports said. “The snowshoes weren’t all that great,” he recalled for his audience.
News reports in 1945 said the prisoners were captured by game wardens near West Forks, about 28 miles from Spencer Lake camp. After being recaptured, Keller was interrogated by the FBI, who asked where the trio was heading. “Away from the camp,” was the escapee’s simple answer.
The federal officials asked the escapees if they were involved in German submarine operations off the Maine
Source 5 - Document
Source 5 - Document
Franz Keller’s Memories of Houlton
July 30, 1997 Prisoner recalls County camps
By Debra Sund, Bangor Daily News
In this article, we hear about Franz Keller’s experience in World War II. Keller was a German prisoner of war. He was one of about 5,500 Germans who were put in prisoner of war camps in Maine. There were four camps located in Maine. They were in Houlton, Princeton, Seboomook, and Spencer Lake. Keller spent time at a couple of these camps.
Franz was only 17 years old when he was captured. He was injured during a battle in 1944 and taken prisoner. He describes how he was captured, what it was like to work in the prisoner of war camps, and how he tried to escape.
Prisoners of war could not be forced to work. However, many chose to because they could earn a little money. Franz says that he harvested trees, cut ice, and farmed potatoes.
This article was written long after the war when Keller came back to Houlton and gave a talk. The article is a secondary source, though it describes Keller sharing memories of his own life.
Source 6 - Artifact
Source 6 - Artifact
Maine State Prison Pung Sleigh
c.a. 1900
Maine State Museum 2016.56.9
This sleigh was made by prisoners at the Maine State Prison in Thomaston, Maine, around 1900. It is called a “pung sleigh” and has two sets of runners (the long blades underneath that slide on snow, like skis). There are two rows of seats for riders to sit in.
There is a long history of prisoners working at the Maine State Prison. In the early years, prisoners were forced to do hard labor in limestone quarries. Later, prisoners built different products in workshops. The prison trained people as blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors, and cooks.
In the 1840s, the prison shops also taught sleigh-making, carriage-making, cabinetmaking, and painting. Prisoners could make a little money when people bought the goods they made. This sled was built in the sleigh-making workshop, which closed in 1915.
The Maine State Prison moved from Thomaston to Warren in 2002. Today, prisoners can still work in a shop. They are paid a small hourly wage. They mostly make wooden products like bowls and cutting boards, which are sold in the State Prison Showroom (also known as “the Prison Shop”) in Thomaston.
Freedom & Captivity Primary Source Sets developed in collaboration between the Maine State Archives, Maine State Library, and Maine State Museum.
