Shows
Poetry Medicine for the SoulEverything that a house holds: a reading with Jeri TheriaultJeri Theriault is a Franco-American poet who grew up in Waterville, Maine, and graduated from Colby College, later earning degrees from USM (MS in Instructional Leadership) and Vermont College of Fine Arts (MFA in Poetry). Her teaching career spanned thirty-four years, including seven years in Prague, six of them as English Department chair at the International School of Prague. She lives now in South Portland with my husband, the composer, Philip Carlsen.
Learn more at www.jeritheriault.com.
This podcast is hosted and produced by John Gillespie. Check out our website for more episodes: h...
2026-03-1120 min
Franco-American PathwaysMargaret Chase Smith's Franco RootsIn this episode, Pathways takes you along on a visit to the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, Maine. Curator of Collections Nicole Potter shows Anna and Madeline artifacts of Senator Smith's life, work and family, and discusses her Franco-American heritage. Interviewee: Nicole Potter Interviewers: Anna Faherty & Madeline Soucie Music: Robert SylvainNarration: Patrick LacroixEditing: Patrick Lacroix & Anna Faherty
2026-02-031h 09Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 23: Mapping Franco Madison Part 2Today we bring you the second part of our exploration of Franco Madison! Our apologies for the delayed release, this tape needed a lot of editing due to background noise. We begin this episode with a tour of the Madison Historical Society with Shirley Vigneault, discuss Vigneault and Acadian genealogy, thanks to the research of Darcy Vigneault Beery (Shirley’s daughter) and take a stroll in downtown Madison with Shirley, Jo Leblanc, and her grandson Joey. Welcome, and happy listening! Bienvenue et très bonne écoute!In...
2025-06-0939 minFranco-American PathwaysEpisode 22: Mapping Franco Madison Part 1Join us as we explore Madison, Maine in our “Mapping Franco Madison” episodes, recorded with Shirley Vigneault from the Madison Historical Society, and Shirley’s relative, Joey Leblanc. Today, we are presenting you with the first part of our adventure: a sit down interview with Shirley Vigneault and her sisters: June Vigneault Orcutt, Sandra “Sandy” Vigneault Welton, Beverly “Bev” Vigneault Megill, and Theresa Vigneault Hanson, as well as their cousin David Leblanc, his wife Jo, and their grandson, Joey. The group discusses what it was like growing up Franco in Madison.
Bienvenue et très bonne écoute!
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2024-12-2346 minFranco-American PathwaysEpisode 21: Theatre in LewistonIn this episode we’ll explore Franco-American theatre, particularly community theatre here in Lewiston. We’ll hear from three Francos in community theatre today: John Blanchette, Paul Caron, and Roger Philippon. In The Archivist’s Corner Anna will share theatre programs, a desk from a local Franco-American author, and a local French-language translation of Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore. Merci, et très bonne écoute!
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2024-10-191h 06Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 20: Mapping Franco Brunswick Part 2
In season three of our show, we are finally able to release our anticipated “Mapping Franco Brunswick” episodes, recorded with David Vermette, author of A Distinct Alien Race, and Larissa Vigue-Picard, Executive Director of the Pejepscot History Center. These two episodes were originally recorded all the way back in 2022.
Today, in our second part of this series, we are excited to bring you our “Archivists Corner” for Brunswick: a visit to the Pejepscot History Center. Larissa, as the Executive Director of Pejepscot, will provide us with a peek into their collections–mill histories, music, textiles and more.
2024-08-1931 minFranco-American PathwaysEpisode 19: Mapping Franco Brunswick Part 1In season three of our show, we are finally able to release our anticipated “Mapping Franco Brunswick” episodes, recorded with David Vermette, author of A Distinct Alien Race, and Larissa Vigue-Picard, Executive Director of the Pejepscot History Center. These two episodes were originally recorded all the way back in 2022.
Today, we are presenting you with the first part of our Brunswick adventure: a historical walk around Brunswick with David. David discusses his research into the broader Franco history of Brunswick, as well as specific stories and locations important to his family’s experience of Franco Brunswick. As someone...
2024-07-1250 minFranco-American PathwaysEpisode 18: Voices of Fort Kent - Robert & Beatrice DaigleEnglish Summary:
In this episode, Robert Daigle shares his experiences with the French language in Maine and beyond. A French teacher at the Fort Kent Community High School and Valley Rivers Middle School, Robert grew up between two languages. As a child, he gradually lost contact with his maternal tongue due to an educational system that did not value French. He nevertheless made a commitment to his ancestors’ tongue through studies in Orono, Maine, and Quebec City. He worked as an interpreter for the U.S. embassy in Paris and returned home to pass the torch to a...
2024-05-131h 00Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 17: Self Portrait As Homestead with Jeri TheriaultIn this episode, join Anna and Maureen as they interview poet Jeri Theriault on her new book, Self Portrait As Homestead. In this book, Jeri explores place, time, and gender as well as familial bonds, and her Franco-American roots. Theriault grew up in Waterville, Maine.
Here's a link to Jeri's website to learn more about her work: https://www.jeritheriault.com/.
Interested in looking more closely at the poetry book Corra and Anna talked about in the archivists corner? Here's where to get a look at it online: https...
2023-10-301h 06Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 16: Voices of Fort Kent - Marc & Priscilla Chasse
Welcome back to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection. In this episode of our Voices of Fort Kent series, we present to you our interview with Marc and Priscilla Chasse, with minimal edits.
Even though it might be hard to imagine beautiful snowfall at this time of year, let us take you back to March of 2022, when snow was falling outside the Chasse’s Fort Kent home, but inside the welcome was warm. Marc and Priscilla have such wonderful stories about their family, community, culture, and language that we predict you will enjo...
2023-08-261h 23Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 15: Voices of Fort Kent - Acadian Archives TourHello! and welcome back to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection. In this episode of our Voices of Fort Kent series, we present you with footage from our tour of the Acadian Archives with Patrick LaCroix and Madeline Soucie.
We also have some tape to share of a walk to Fort Kent’s historical Blockhouse. Unfortunately traffic and wind made it a little noisy, but Patrick had some fun tidbits to share about the historic building and the landscape of the town - make sure to look at the blog post...
2023-07-2254 min
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 14: Voices of Fort Kent - Patrick LaCroixIn this episode, we are bringing you the second installment in our Voices of Fort Kent series, an interview with Patrick Lacroix, the director of the Acadian Archives at UMFK.
We relished the opportunity to get to know our new colleague at the university’s northernmost campus. Patrick’s professional and personal history is impressive and, however reluctant he was to talk about himself, it is abundantly clear that he is dedicated to the preservation and proliferation of the history of the St. John Valley. During our conversation, Patrick gave us the broad strokes of his professional life...
2023-04-271h 01
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 13 - The Bates FabriquesLearn more about the Bates Fabriques with our interviewees Norm Marcotte and Larry Charest.
Welcome back to Franco-American Pathways! We know it is dark and cold out this time of year, so we decided now was the perfect time to talk about one of our favorite winter sports to get those neurons firing. Of course I’m talking about hockey! Lewiston has a long history of hockey teams, figure skating, and other ice related activities. Today we will be talking about one particular hockey team–the Bates Fabriques! I’ve been so excited to share all the neat a...
2023-04-0658 min
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 12: Voices of Fort Kent - Lisa LavoieBonjour, hello and welcome back to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection. Life at the university has had its twists and turns, but we are so grateful to be back to share with you our trip to Fort Kent last winter. Patrick LaCroix, who had then just taken up the post of Director of the Acadian Archives at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, graciously welcomed us to Madawaska last March and arranged for us to meet some folks who could help us deepen our understanding of this truly unique and fa...
2023-03-241h 09
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 11 - My Aunt LindaBonjour à tous et à toutes !
It has been a minute! This episode, set to air at the start of the summer, got waylaid. There was a Covid case or two, a trip to Hawaii, and shifting work schedules in the mix, but, at long last, it is our pleasure to introduce the work of our spring intern, Corra. We are so proud of all that they accomplished for the Putting History to Work internship in the spring; the depth of their research and the nuance of their insights will speak for themselves. This episode diverges a bit from our...
2022-08-211h 04
French-Canadian Legacy PodcastFCL News 8/16 & Brian Hawkins PreviewMelody let's us know about all the news and events and then we return to the Lacroix Library. Jesse will give us a preview of next week's episode with Filmmaker Brian Hawkins. This week's bonus question is a good one. We hope you enjoy it and will tune in next week for the full episode!
Visit Brian's Website - https://brianhawkinsartist.com/
Camille Lessard-Bissonnette: The Quiet Evolution of French-Canadian Immigrants in New England - https://books.google.com/books/about/Camille_Lessard_Bissonnette.html?id=lalcAAAAMAAJ
News Links -
Articles:
Franco-American Collection welcomes USM President Jacqueline Edmondson: http://francoamerican.bdnblogs...
2022-08-1612 min
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 10 - Mapping Franco Biddeford: Part 2Bonjour! This month, we’re bringing you the second half of our Mapping Franco Biddeford episode! If you didn’t listen to part one, we highly recommend going back and giving it a listen; part two will make a whole lot more sense. Last fall, a few days after our Osher visit, Emma Bouthillette, Biddeford native and author, met the Franco-American pathways team and Libby Bischof to take a historic walking tour of Biddeford. We made connections to the maps and documents we’d viewed just a few days earlier.
Our visit concluded with a stop at the Mc...
2022-05-041h 02
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 9 - Mapping Franco Biddeford: Part 1This month, we present you with the first part of one of the larger projects we tackled in 2021: a second Mapping episode, this time focusing on the city of Biddeford. Today, we take you back to the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education with Dr. Libby Bischof, as well as another special guest: Emma Bouthillette, a Biddeford native, yoga teacher, and writer. Emma is the author of A Brief History of Biddeford, a book about this historic mill town that was shaped by the Franco-American exodus at the turn of the century.
True to...
2022-03-311h 05
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 8 - Franco Folque with Cindy LarockOur archivist, Anna, had the chance to sit down with Cindy Larock a few months ago, and what came out of it is just so special. For those unfamiliar, Cindy Larock is a Franco-American who grew up in Lewiston, Maine. She has been actively involved in traditional music and dance from Quebec to Maine and all over New England for over 40 years. This month, we present you with Anna and Cindy's conversation, plus some treasures from the collection.
To learn more about Cindy Larock, the Maine Folque Coop, and her Maine Bicentennial Grant, be sure to read o...
2022-02-2649 min
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 7 - Ryan Fecteau's Vision for MaineWelcome back to Franco-American Pathways! We hope you had a great holiday, however you celebrate. In this longer episode, we present you with an interview we conducted in person, at our collection, with Ryan Fecteau, a young Franco-American and Maine’s Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Anna brought out a bunch of artifacts to share with Speaker Fecteau during our interview and we had a great conversation about his experience growing up as a Franco-American in Biddeford, his career in politics, and his vision for Maine’s future.
Maureen also unearthed some compelling written docum...
2022-01-271h 00
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 6 - A Conversation with Steven RielWelcome to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection. This month, we spoke with Steven Riel, a New England poet of Franco-American descent, who just released his fifth poetry collection, Edgemere. We discussed Riel’s upbringing in Massachusetts, his relationship to his Franco-American heritage, in addition to the themes of memory, identity, and selfhood in his poetry. In The Archivist’s Corner, Anna will introduce the Nandette Poetry book, a collection of poems and ephemera from Fernande Audet. In La Collection Parle, Maureen will read some of Audet’s poetry, in French and English...
2021-10-2949 min
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 5 - Mapping Franco Lewiston: Part 2Welcome to this month’s episode of Franco-American Pathways, the second in our Mapping Franco Lewiston series. If you haven’t heard part one, we suggest going back and giving it a listen. It’ll give you some context for this month’s conversations.
In part one, we focused on connecting the physical and cultural topographies of Lewiston in order to better understand its history; we visited Libby Bischof at the Osher Map Library to look at several different renderings of Lewiston-Auburn throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and then spent a day on foot together in Lewiston...
2021-09-3054 minFrench-Canadian Legacy PodcastEpisode 70 – Franco-American Pathways PodcastThis week we're joined by the creative minds behind Franco-American Pathways, a monthly must listen to podcast. You'll hear from Julia Rhinelander, Anna Faherty and Maureen Perry about where the idea for the podcast came from and some behind the scenes stories about their first few episodes. We hope you'll enjoy this episode and check out the amazing work they're doing.
Franco-American Pathways website - https://francopathwayspod.wordpress.com/
Learn more about the Franco-American Collection - https://usm.maine.edu/franco-american-collection/franco-american-pathways-chemins-franco-am%C3%A9ricains-podcast-celebrating
Learn more about Robert Sylvain - http://robertsylvain.com/
Boréal Tordu Saulnierville Station - h...
2021-09-281h 02
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 4 - Mapping Franco Lewiston: Part IIn the first installment of this very special, two-part episode of Franco-American Pathways, we diverge from our traditional format to bring you a multi-faceted history of the Francos in Lewiston. We started by examining several maps of the city with Libby Bischof, director of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, many dating back to the 19th century. We then embarked on a trip into the field for a more personal experience of the city with our co-host, Maureen, a Franco Lewiston native. Stay tuned for the second part in this series, which will include La...
2021-08-2648 min
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 3 - A Nation Within A NationThis month, we dive into the world of French language radio and newspapers in Maine and New England. We had the pleasure of sitting with Paul Paré, an Emmy award winning Franco writer and journalist, to talk about his life, his writing, and the history of French language news in Franco communities. You'll also hear a clip from a bilingual radio show, L'Heure Française, hosted by Marcel Raymond, a Lewiston native; the show aired for 20 years out of WCUW in Worcester, MA.
In the Archivist's Corner, we take a look at some special editions of Le Mes...
2021-07-2942 minFrench-Canadian Legacy PodcastEpisode 63 - Camden Martin InterviewThis week we talk to French Teacher Camden Martin. He's got an amazing story to share and he'll talk about the Lewiston-Auburn area, which we haven't covered much of.
Alliance Française du Maine - https://afdume.org/
Museum L-A - https://www.museumla.org/
USM’s Franco-American Collection - https://usm.maine.edu/franco-american-collection
Don’t forget to check out our Patreon for extra bonus content and a way to support the show - https://www.patreon.com/fclpodcast...
You can get your own FCL Face Mask, check out our merch on Teespring – https://www.teespring.com/fclpodcast
2021-06-2946 min
Franco-American PathwaysEpisode 2 - Song KeepersThis month on Franco-American Pathways, we put the spotlight on music in the Franco-American community. We’ll listen to some examples of intimate performances that appear in many of our oral histories, and talk about the diversity and importance of music in Franco culture.
We’ll take a deep dive into Acadian musical traditions with Robert Sylvain, who has so generously provided us with the music for our show from his album, Mémère’s Notebook. Then, Lise Pelletier, Director of the Acadian Archives at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, will provide us with some his...
2021-06-2443 min
Franco-American PathwaysPilot - Sharing Our StoriesIntroducing Franco-American Pathways (Chemins Franco-Américains), a podcast that uses resources available at the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection to celebrate Franco history, culture, and stories.
In this pilot episode, we talk about the work being done at collections like ours to preserve and protect oral histories and artifacts that document the Franco experience. We talk a bit about the history of the Francos in Maine and New England, interview members of the Franco community, and give you a sample of one of our many oral histories. We hope that our collection will not only be...
2021-05-2739 minFranco-American PathwaysTrailerWelcome to Franco-American Pathways, a podcast from the University of Southern Maine’s Franco-American Collection! We’ll be bringing you new episodes on the last Thursday of every month, exploring what we have housed at the collection and celebrating Franco history and culture in Maine. À bientôt !
2021-05-1401 minFrench-Canadian Legacy PodcastEpisode 53 - The Memoir Network with Denis LedouxThis week we’re joined by Denis Ledoux. Denis is the founder, director, and editor-in-chief of The Memoir Network, a network dedicated to helping you tell your story. He’s also the Program Chair of the Franco-American Collection of the University of Southern Maine. Jesse and Denis will talk about the collection and some upcoming events but first talk about writing memoirs and the memoir he wrote with his mother ‘We Were Not Spoiled’. If you’ve had any interest in writing down your story or someone else’s, this is an amazing episode to listen to.
The Memoir Network - https://th...
2021-02-0937 min
French-Canadian Legacy PodcastFrench-Canadian Legacy News 12/31Jesse gives you an update on what's going in the Franco-American scene around New England. He talks about popular events and blog events. Then Mike will let you know about next week's special episode.
Thoughts on the Past — and the Future — from Eight 100-Year-Old Mainers - https://downeast.com/history/centenarians/
Ethnic Politics in Rhode Island: The Case of the Franco Americans - http://smallstatebighistory.com/ethnic-politics-rhode-island-case-franco-americans/
Franco-American Esther Duflo Wins the Nobel Prize in Economics - https://france-amerique.com/en/franco-american-esther-duflo-wins-the-nobel-prize-in-economics/
Teachers 2.0: An Online French-American High School - https://france-amerique.com/en/teachers-2-0-an-online-french-american-high-school
An “Impending Race War” in Canad...
2019-12-3111 min
2017-05-1500 min