Bernard, Michael Collection

SummaryCollection contains two factual films, [Aroostook film] and [1920 Fair]. One shows downtown Presque Isle, Maine, on the town's centennial in 1920, and includes shots of businesses on Main Street such as the Opera House, potato and apple harvesting, hunting camps, nearby Grand Falls, and the Aroostook Valley Railroad, an electric trolley line. A.R. Gould, a businessman and politician, and W.W. Thomas, responsible for Swedish immigration to Aroostook County, are shown in the footage. Additional reels show the Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle in 1920 and 1928. All three films are intertitled.

Biographical/Historical NotesMichael Bernard ran the Braden Theatre in Presque Isle, Maine, until it closed in 1993. The films were found in the basement of the theater. Aroostook County is the largest, most northern county in Maine. C.W. Benjamin, who ran Frontier Films in Fort Fairfield, Maine, was responsible for at least a portion of the work.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and UseAuthorization to reuse and/or reproduce must be obtained from Northeast Historic Film. See http://oldfilm.org/content/stock-footage-licensing for more information.