Showing 1 - 10 of 209 Items
Date: 1894-01-01
Creator: Martin Brimmer
Access: Open access
- Title varies with printings. Copy in Special Collections/Archives has title: An address delivered at Bowdoin college upon the opening of the Walker art school Bowdoin Special Collections copy in the Sarah Whitman collections: Covers designed by Sarah Whitman
Date: 2008-10-06
Creator: Alfred 'Al' Joseph, Ruth Ann Joseph
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Alfred “Al” Joseph was born on March 23, 1933, in Waterville, Maine, where he grew up and attended Colby College. He worked his way through college, paying the $500 tuition by working at the municipal pool during the summer and teaching swimming at the Boys Club during the school year. He and Ruth married while he was still in college, and their first child was born right before Al’s graduation. After college, he went into the military for two years and took a job at Hathaway Shirt, where he worked for thirty-seven years. He served as the chair of the School Board in Calais, Maine, when they lived there briefly, and upon returning to Waterville he also served as School Board chairman in Waterville for a time. Ruth Ann (Donovan) Joseph was born on October 9, 1933, in Melrose, Massachusetts. She was raised in Waterville, Maine, married Al Joseph, and took classes at Colby College. Governor Joseph Brennan appointed her to chair the Maine Commission for Women, and she also served seven terms as a state representative and two terms as mayor of Waterville. She also works with the Arab American Institute.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: growing up in Waterville, Maine, and being friends with George Mitchell; the Joseph family’s military service; attending school and playing sports with Mitchell; Al working his way through college; selling shirts to Mitchell and Cohen at Hathaway Shirt company; Ruth’s uncle Wally Donovan’s gatherings at his home in Waterville; Ruth Joseph’s experience growing up in Waterville; seeing George Mitchell due to her presence in the political world; her political career; U.S. Senate appointment (1980); calling Mitchell about Muskie’s Senate seat vacancy and sending her recommendation to Governor Brennan; staying in contact with Mitchell’s staff; Ruth Joseph Waterville HS basketball team press pictures; Mitchell’s experience of losing the governor’s race in 1974 and his campaigning style; Mitchell’s high school English teacher, Mrs. Whitten; get-togethers with Colby College alumni; Mitchell’s being well liked; Mitchell’s office helping them get Red Sox tickets for Al and their youngest son; and seeing Mitchell after the game.
Date: 2009-11-11
Creator: Alan K Simpson
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Alan K. Simpson was born September 2, 1931. He attended Cody, Wyoming, public schools and the University of Wyoming, taking a B.S. degree in 1954 and a law degree in 1958. In 1954, he married Susan Ann Schroll, who was a fellow student at the University of Wyoming. He practiced law in Cody, held positions as assistant attorney general and city attorney, and was a United States Commissioner from 1959-1969. He was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1964-1977. Subsequently, he served in the U.S. Senate as a Republican representing Wyoming from 1979-1997, first by briefly filling the seat vacated by Clifford P. Hansen, and then by election. His father, Milward L. Simpson, also served as senator for Wyoming (1962-1967), and as governor (1955-1959). Alan was Senator Bob Dole’s assistant (majority/minority) leader for ten years, including the six years when George Mitchell was majority leader. In addition to other committee service, he served as chair of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee from 1981-1987.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Edmund S. Muskie story; description of Senator Mitchell; Clean Air Act; Iran-Contra; speaking engagements with Mitchell; majority leader; senatorial relationships; Simpson-Mitchell relationship; Al Gore; George Mitchell’s sense of humor; and Mitchell’s legacy.
Date: 2010-03-11
Creator: Andrea C Maker
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Andrea (Cianchette) Maker was born in 1956 in Waterville, Maine, and grew up in Pittsfield, Maine. She came from a large, politically active family of both Democrats and Republicans. Her family’s construction business, Cianbro, evolved and grew during her childhood. While in college in New Hampshire, Maker interned for Bill Cohen. She attended the University of Maine School of Law for two years, then completed her third year at American University in Washington, D.C. During her third year of law school she worked for Senator Mitchell in the mailroom, drafting responses to atypical letters. After law school, Maker became a lobbyist representing clients in the Maine legislature on a number of issues. At the time of this interview she served on the board of the Susan Curtis Foundation and worked at Martin’s Point Health Care.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; Pittsfield, Maine; Cianchette Brothers construction company (Cianbro): Chuck, Bud, and Lunk; growing up in Pittsfield; her father’s (Chuck’s) political life and friendship with Mitchell; shadowing Mitchell in 1977; Paula Silsby; law school; working in the mailroom of George Mitchell’s office; Gayle Cory and Christine Williams; an anecdote about having Mitchell over for dinner; Maker’s uncles in politics, Carl, Ival, Peter, Norris and Kenneth Cianchette; interning for Bill Cohen and a comparison between working for Cohen and for Mitchell; working with Susan Collins and Mike Hastings while in Cohen’s office; and Mitchell’s career and legacy.
Date: 2009-11-03
Creator: Angus S King
Access: Audio recording permanently restricted
Biographial Note
Angus Stanley King, Jr. was born March 31, 1944, in Virginia. His father, Stanley King, was a lawyer in Alexandria and worked as U.S. commissioner and federal magistrate. Angus was active in the civil rights movement, especially in regard to schooling. He was graduated from Dartmouth in 1966 and received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1969. He worked as a legislative assistant to Senator William D. Hathaway on education, labor, and transportation policy before entering private law practice in Brunswick, Maine, from 1975 to 1983. He hosted the public broadcasting television program Maine Watch, a public affairs talk show. In 1989, he started Northeast Energy Management to run electrical energy conservation projects throughout Maine. As an Independent, he served as governor of Maine from 1994 to 2002; and at the time of this interview he was a lecturer at Bowdoin College in addition to pursuing business interests.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; working at Pine Tree Legal in Skowhegan, Maine; King’s parents and their political leanings; King’s recollections of the Civil Rights movement; working for Senator Hathaway; U.S. Senate campaign (1972); Senator Hathaway’s relationship with Senator Muskie; meeting George Mitchell while he was involved in public broadcasting; Mitchell and the first Gulf War; King’s work on energy management; King’s decision to run as an Independent; Maine gubernatorial campaign (1994); and Mitchell’s legacy.
Date: 2009-02-17
Creator: Anita Jensen
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Anita Holst-Jensen was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz), East Germany, on March 16, 1945, to Rasma Rasmanis and Arvids Lusis. Her mother emigrated from Latvia in September of 1944, and Jensen was born in a displaced persons camp, where she lived until she was four years old. Her family eventually emigrated to Australia in 1949, settling in Victoria. Jensen received all of her schooling in Australia and went to university in Melbourne. She married Henning Holst-Jensen, and in 1966 they moved to Perth. When immigration into the United States became possible in 1968, they relocated to the Washington, D.C. area, and Jensen took a job with Investors Overseas Services, later Equity Funding. In 1970, she went to work in Senator Ed Muskie’s office, where she continued until he became secretary of state. She transitioned to George Mitchell’s staff when he was appointed to Muskie’s vacated Senate seat and remained for his fourteen years of Senate service, becoming increasingly involved with speech writing and research.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: writing newsletters and doing other tasks while working for Mitchell; handling the Judiciary Committee work; working for Mitchell; Mitchell’s self-made success in his campaigns and career; Mitchell’s achievements in the Senate and Judicial Committee; Mitchell’s work on the Civil Rights Bill of 1991 and tax bill in 1986; what went wrong with health care reform and the Harry and Louise ads; Mitchell’s environmental work; Mitchell’s involvement on the Iran-Contra issue; the 1988 Senate race; first meeting Mitchell; Mitchell’s Clean Air Act success; the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland; not defending Muskie’s “veterans” votes in 1982, and other early-day stories about Mitchell.
Date: 2009-09-11
Creator: Ann P Tartre
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Ann Pauline Tartre was born in Biddeford, Maine, in 1966. Her father owned the Paquin & Carroll insurance company in Biddeford and her mother was a homemaker. Ann attended Tufts University in Boston, and after graduating, she moved back to Maine to work on Joe Brennan’s campaign for six months. In 1988, she began working in George Mitchell’s office before going on to graduate school at Yale to study environmental issues. She returned to Mitchell’s staff as environmental legislative aide during his tenure as majority leader.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: growing up in Biddeford, Maine; attending Tufts University; working as a field organizer for Joe Brennan; making the transition to Mitchell’s staff; working as a legislative correspondent after Mitchell became majority leader; working on the Clean Air Act with Kate Kimball and Jeff Peterson; working with Mary McAleney; the bond among the staff members coming from Maine; her personal interaction with Mitchell; Mitchell’s approach to researching issues; how the younger members of Mitchell’s staff interacted; influence of Senator Mitchell’s office on her later career; Mitchell’s stance on environmental issues and climate change; and Mitchell’s relationship with Senator Dole.
Date: 2008-09-27
Creator: G. Arnold Roach
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
George “Arnold” Roach was born in Rockland, Maine, on July 28th, 1929, to Nora Nelson Roach and Herbert Ezio Roach. He grew up in Houlton and summered in Rockland. His father, Herbert Roach, was a potato farmer, buyer, and machinery dealer. Arnold attended the University of Maine and in 1951 joined the National Guard. While farming potatoes in Aroostook County, he served on the National Potato Promotion Board as board president and acted as an adviser to Mitchell on Maine’s agricultural issues. He was a part of the Clinton-Gore transition team for the Department of Agriculture and worked for the Clinton administration for eight years. At the time of this interview, he was retired and living in southern Aroostook County.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: background in potato politics; working on the Clinton-Gore transition team; involvement with the Department of Agriculture; the National Guard Army Reserve program; Mitchell's campaign for governor 1974; interactions with Mitchell, photographs; topics in potato politics; potato farming and the organic food movement; Mitchell's potato advisors and involvement in the trade; Roach's daughter Elizabeth's position as the director of the U.S Senate Page Program; and general thoughts about Mitchell.
Date: 2009-08-21
Creator: Arthur E Strout
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Arthur Edward Strout was born in Rockland, Maine, on September 6, 1935, to Olive Mabel (Edwards) and Alfred Meserve Strout and grew up in Thomaston, Maine. His father, a graduate of Bowdoin College and Harvard Law School, was an attorney in Rockland, Maine, and came from an established Maine family. His mother, the daughter of English immigrants, worked at the Registry of Deeds and later was a homemaker. After attending Thomaston schools, Arthur spent his final year of high school at Hebron Academy. He attended Bowdoin College (class of 1957), where he met George Mitchell. He earned his law degree in 1960 and then clerked for a judge in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. He worked for the Tax Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and then went on to practice tax and finance law, returning to Maine in 1972. His son Charles also attended Bowdoin College and worked as a Senate page during Mitchell’s tenure there.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; Claude Allen as school master at Hebron Academy; meeting Mitchell at Bowdoin; attending Bowdoin from 1953-1957 and the housing situation; academics at Bowdon; law school and practicing tax law; continued contact with Mitchell; son Charles’s working with Mitchell; current life in Boston; and reflections on Mitchell and his current activities.
Date: 2009-05-08
Creator: Audrey Sheppard
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Audrey Sheppard was born on July 31, 1948, in Newton-Wellesley, Massachusetts; her mother, Annabel, married Jack Sheppard, Jr., during Audrey’s infancy after the death of Audrey’s father. She attended Syracuse University, where she studied journalism and political science. After graduation, she worked at Brandeis University and then as a paralegal at a Boston law firm. She worked for the McGovern presidential campaign of 1972, spent some time working on Capitol Hill, and then went to Rothstein/Buckley, a political consulting firm. She later started her own political consulting firm that focused on women candidates. Between 1981 and 1987, she served as assistant executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; working at Rothstein/Buckley and the Muskie reelection campaign; first impressions of Mitchell; Budget Committee work; the changes and similarities between campaigning in 1976 and campaigning now; working at the DSCC for six years; the mission of the DSCC and the strategy that they adopted during Sheppard’s time there; developing both sides of the DSCC’S responsibilities – fund-raising and technical assistance – and the increasing effectiveness of their efforts through the 1986 elections when Senator Mitchell was chair of the Committee; the structure of the DSCC and how appointments were made; relations between the DSCC, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC); opposition research; fund-raising and the Democratic Senate Leadership Circle; the internal organization of the DSCC and the division of various tasks; candidate recruitment and the recruitment committee that Mitchell helped start and served on; the 1986 election; Mitchell’s leadership style; the Elizabeth Taylor joke; Mitchell’s swearing in new citizens; an anecdote about Ted Kennedy going for a swim before an event on the Maine coast; the degree to which protocol and neatness were important to Mitchell; and Sheppard’s hope that Mitchell would be appointed secretary of state under Clinton.