December 2022: Bates Bedspread Snowman

To celebrate the holiday season, our December object of the month is this festive bedspread disguised as a snowman. Almost all of the bedspreads in our collection remain in their original condition, but this one was given new life, dressed up for the holidays, and...

November 2022: War Ration Booklet

With Veteran’s Day approaching later this month, our object of the month is a ration booklet held in our collection. As with many areas of life, the textile, brick, and shoemaking industries of the Androscoggin region felt the effects of WWII. For example, many mills...

October 2022: Bates Manufacturing Company Medal for Valued Service

This medal was awarded to the Bates Manufacturing Company in 1951 for 100 years of valued service. The Jordan Marsh Company bestowed this medal to the mills, “commemorating our New England centennial associates whose integrity of character and preservation of American...

September 2022: Mill Workers

In honor of Labor Day this month, the museum would like to recognize and honor the hard work and dedication of the mill workers of the late nineteenth and twentieth  centuries. These three undated photographs show mill workers at different parts of the textile making...

August 2022: Morin Brick Workers

This is a photograph from the 1930s of Morin Brick Workers.  The son of French Canadian immigrants, John Morin and his family founded Morin Brick Co. in 1912. Using the clay-like soil of the Androscoggin region, Morin Brick made bricks that were used in the...

July 2022: American Bobbin Co. Panoramic Photograph

This photograph was taken in October 1947, outside of the company’s office on 47 Whipple Street in Lewiston. American Bobbin Co. started in 1945, when it absorbed the name and assets of a Rhode Island corporation that had functioned since 1920. The company was a part...