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Helen Little

Helen Little, a lifelong Lewiston resident born in 1920, describes her family’s French-Canadian background and her diverse work experiences. Helen worked briefly in the Androscoggin Mill as a teenager but chose to finish high school and pursue secretarial work...

Emma Pelletier

When she was eleven years old, Emma Pelletier’s family left their home in St. Ludger, Canada for Lewiston. She began working in Bates Mill as a battery hand as soon as she was big enough to work, eventually becoming a room girl. Pelletier describes her roles at the...

Ray Berube

Ray Berube was born in Danville and grew up in New Auburn, sharing his experiences growing up in the French community of Auburn. Around the time he was 12 or 13 he started working in the brickyard, where he would cover the bricks in sand so they wouldn’t dry out too...

Henry Gilbert

Henry Gilbert was born in Lewiston and worked in the brickyards for the summers, lumber for the winters. He shares a lot of details about the brickmaking process, as it was all piecework and they would get paid for the quantity of bricks made. He was a striker and...

Richard Vallee

Richard Vallee was born in Lewiston, 1935. He worked for the Morin Brickyard for a summer at the age of 16, sharing stories about the work he did there tossing scoldings around the bricks as they heated up to keep the heat in. After that, he went into the navy,...