Betty Dutil worked at shoe mills starting at the age of 16. She discusses the community at the shoe mills, how work was completed and pay was earned, as well as the evolution of the shoe mills and their departure from Maine.
Danny was a mill worker from the 1970s to the 1990s. He discusses his family history of working at the mills and the community that resulted from working there. He also recounts how people adapted as the mills began closing down, and the different positions he had...
Lucy Belanger, born in Canada and raised in Lewiston, Maine after a brief period in New Hampshire, speaks in this interview on her and her family’s experience in working with the mills. She talks about growing up and going with her father to work, and becoming a...
Roger Nadeau, born and raised in Lewiston, Maine, talks in this interview about his family, affiliation with the mills, his friendships growing up, and dropping out of high school during his sophomore year of high school to work in the shoe industry. He touches on...
In this interview, Hermance, or “Penny,” Drouin speaks about her time working with Knapp Shoe. She explains her experience entering the shoe industry at a young age, her early life in the Lewiston-Auburn area, her children and family life, standards, benefits, and pay...
