Maine Indians: A Web Resource List for Teachers

Tribal websites:

The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians
(www.maliseets.com)

The Aroostook Band of Micmac
(www.micmac.org)

The Penobscot Nation
(www.penobscotnation.org)

Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point
(www.wabanaki.com)

Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township
(www.passamaquoddy.com)

Passamaquoddy sites:

The Passamaquoddy Tribe
(www.quoddyloop.com/pssmqddy.htm) - Site not created by the Passamaquoddy but includes their input.

Passamaquoddy Literature
(www.indians.org/welker/passquat.htm) - Offers a compilation of Passamaquoddy stories and legends.

Facts for Kids: Passamaquoddy Indians
(www.geocities.com/bigorrin/passamaquoddy_kids.htm) - Some straightforward answers to the questions most often asked by children, with Passamaquoddy pictures and links.

Micmac sites:

Micmac History
(www.dickshovel.com/mic.html) - This site offers information on Micmac (not limited to Maine Micmacs) population, language, culture and history.

Mi'kmaq Portraits Collection
(museum.gov.ns.ca/mikmaq/) - A collection of portraits and illustrations in various media, of the Mi'kmaq of Atlantic Canada.

Mi'kmaq Culture and History Links
(www.native-languages.org/mikmaq_culture.htm) - A collection of indexed links about the Mi'kmaq people and various aspects of their society.

Penobscot sites:

Penobscot Literature
(www.indians.org/welker/penobsco.htm) - Offers a compilation of Penobscot stories and legends

Facts for Kids: Penobscot Indians
(www.geocities.com/bigorrin/penobscot_kids.htm) - Some straightforward answers to the questions most often asked by children, with Penobscot pictures and links.

Other links:

Facts for Kids: Maliseet Indians
(www.geocities.com/bigorrin/maliseet_kids.htm) - Some straightforward answers to the questions most often asked by children, with Maliseet pictures and links.

Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Language
(http://www.native-languages.org/mali.htm) - Includes information on Passamaquoddy and Maliseet legengs, people and history.

Maliseet-Passamaquoddy Dictionary
(http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/Maliseet/dictionary/)

Northeast Wigwam Tribes
(www.newigwam.com/TRIBES.html) - Provides general information about Northeastern tribes of North America, including the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot.

Maine Indians: A Reading Resource List for Teachers

Books for Teachers

American Friends Service Committee. The Wabanakis of Maine and the Maritimes . Maine Indian Program: Bath, Maine. 1989. This is a resource book focusing on the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Micmac and Abenaki Indians. Created for school use in grades four through eight. Divided into four sections: historical overview; lesson plans; readings; and fact sheets, giving information and materials to help educate students on the history and culture of the Indians of Maine and the Maritimes.

Leavitt, Robert M. Maliseet and Micmac: First Nations of the Maritimes . New Ireland Press: Fredericton, New Brunswick. 1995. This volume focuses on issues related to Maliseet and Micmac peoples. This book is intended for high school level, specifically the 12th grade. Designed to create an understanding of Micmac and Maliseet life in the Maritime Provinces in the past, present, and future.

Speck, Frank G. Penobscot Man, the Life History of a Forest Tribe in Maine . University of Maine Press: Orono, Maine. 1997 (reprint of 1940 University of Pennsylvania edition). This is the key monograph on the Penobscot. The author did fieldwork on Indian Island between 1907 and 1936. The book is broken down into four sections: Tribal Name and Habitat; Material Life; Arts, Decorative Designs, and Techniques; and Characteristics of Social Life. The 1997 reprint includes additional photos and a new preface.

Eckstorm, Fannie Hardy. The Handicrafts of the Modern Indians of Maine, Bulletin III . The Robert Abbe Museum of Stone Age Antiques: Bar Harbor, Maine. 1987 (reprint of 1937 edition). This bulletin is prepared as a guide to objects in the holdings of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor. The book focuses on the technologies used to work wood, leather, bark and cloth and the objects that Maine Indians made from these materials—baskets, crooked knives, birchbark canoes, moccasins and clothing. Eckstorm, the daughter of a Brewer trader, grew up with the Penobscot people and recorded information about their artforms c. 1800-1930.

Ray, Roger B. & Faulkner, F. Gretchen. The Indians of Maine: A Bibliographic Guide . The Maine Historical Society: 1994. A bibliographic guide of books and articles focusing on the Indians of Maine. This annotated guide is divided into categories such as Archaeology, History, and Music.

Books for students:

Duvall, Jill. The Penobscot . Children's Press: Chicago. 1993. This book is written very simply. Each short chapter focuses on one topic of the Penobscot, including many photos and illustrations. Designed for lower to middle elementary school level students. (Out of Print ).

Calloway, Colin G. The Abenaki . Chelsea House Publishers: New York. 1989. This book focuses on the Abenaki , including the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet, and Micmac. It is divided into six sections: The People of the Dawnland; Society, Art, and Culture; Traders, Diseases, and Missionaries; Wars and Migrations; The Survival of the People; and the Abenaki Today. It has many photos and illustrations. Designed for grades four and up.

Whitehead, Ruth Holmes & McGee, Harold. The Micmac, How Their Ancestors Lived Five Hundred Years Ago . Nimbus Publishing Limited: Halifax, Nova Scotia. 1983. This book focuses on the heritage of the Micmac. It is divided into four sections: Abundant Forest, Rivers of Fish; Family and Community; Traditional Micmac Skills; and Medicine and Magic. Includes many illustrations. Designed for grades 4 and up.

McBride, Bunny. Women of the Dawn . 1999. The biography of four Wabanaki women living in four different centuries; Molly Mathilde, Molly Ockett, Molly Molasses, and Molly Dellis Nelson. Appropriate for high school level students.

A Wabanaki Guide to Maine . Produced by the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA) (2000). A guide to Maine's oldest art forms. The Guide is divided into regions: Penobscot River Valley, Acadia, Downeast, Aroostook, and North Woods—the traditional homelands of Maine's Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Micmac and Maliseet peoples. Also includes a Cultural Resource Directory featuring artists, storytellers, and performers and how to contact them. Profiles on Museums with Maine Indian collections, and listings of events, native-owned businesses, non-native-owned businesses, and tribal government offices along with contact information.

Indians of the Northeast Coast . Cobblestone. November 1994. Volume 15. This issue includes eight articles: Native Peoples of the Northeast, Historic Moments in a 10,000-Year Heritage, No Ordinary Shells, Farming Before the Mayflower, Passamaquoddy Drum Ceremony, Coyote and the Stars, Lacrosse: Yesterday and Today, and Face to Face. These articles provide useful but broad information on the Wabanaki tribes.

Videos

Gabriel Women Passamaquoddy Basketmakers . Produced by Center for the Study of Lives, University of Maine. 28 minutes. Mary Gabriel, a Passamaquoddy, talks about how she learned basketmaking from her grandmother. The video also includes interviews with Theresa Hoffman, the Executive Director of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance; Joseph Nicholas, Curator of the Waponahki Museum in Pleasant Point, Maine; and Kathleen Mundell, Traditional and Community Arts Associate of the Maine Arts Commission.

Penobscot: The People and Their River . Produced by Acadia Film Video. 28 minutes. This video focuses on the Penobscots' relationship with the Penobscot River. Pollution and development threaten the Penobscots traditional way of life. The video talks about how the people of Maine and the Penobscot Nation share a common interest in the health of the river. It also discusses what must be done, and what has already been done by the Penobscot people to protect the river for everyone.

The Frog Monster . 10 minutes. This video was made by 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students of the Indian Island School and tells the legend of how the Penobscot River was created. A winner of the Maine Student Film and Video Festival 1994. This video can be incorporated into school tours of the Penobscot Primer Project gallery at the Hudson Museum. Please visit our main programs page for information about booking tours and programs.

Wabanaki: A New Dawn . Produced by Dennis Kostyk and David Westphal Acadia Film Video. 28 minutes. This video looks at the struggles the Wabanaki-Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot People- are going through to maintain their traditional culture. It focuses on how the Wabanaki use their cultural and spiritual inheritance to survive and maintain their traditions.

Our Lives in Our Hands . The filmmakers: anthropologist Harald Prins and filmmaker Karen Carter. 50 minutes. A documentary on the Micmac of Northern Maine focusing on traditional brown ash woodsplint basketry.

Kluscap and His People . 12 minutes. A student animation project produced by the 6th grade at Indian Island School.

Creation . 12 minutes. A student claymation project produced by the 7th and 8th grade at Indian Island School.

Audiotapes and CD's:

Songs of the Wabanaki . By Spirit of the Dawn, Native American Singers from Maine. Penobscot Indian Arts. CD only.

Voices of Katahdin . By Keepers of the Penobscot Drum. 2000. Songs dedicated to the spirit of their ancestors and to the spirit of Katahdin. CD only.

Spirit of the Dawn, “To All My People” . Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Drum Group. Cassette only.

Spirit of the Dawn, “Turtle Island”. Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Drum Group. Cassette only.

First Light, Traditional Wabanaki Music. Recorded 2000 by Scott Hetherington, sound engineer, A New Approach Studio in Phoenix, Arizona. Laura Lee Perkins-Native American Flute, Ken Green-Native American Drum. Available in CD and Cassette. Running time: 45:55.