Hiram Historical Society Collection

SummaryThe Hiram Historical Society Collection contains 10 reels of amateur 8 mm. film. The collection was shot between 1937 and 1976 by Raymond Cotton and Hubert W. Clemons of Hiram, Maine. The Hubert W. Clemons home movies are five reels of travelogue footage taken on a seven-week University of Maine-sponsored bus tour of the United States in 1959. Footage highlights National Parks and Reserves, including national monuments and historic sites. The Raymond Cotton home movies offer a glimpse into family and community life. Community events include raccoon hunting, the 1938 Memorial Day parade, and efforts to clean up the damage from the 1938 hurricane that struck New England. With a keen eye for work processes, Cotton documented the training and development of the Hiram Fire Department, the ice harvesting process, river drivers running logs on a river, and Maine blueberry farming practice by season.

Biographical/Historical NotesHubert W. Clemons Hubert W. Clemons shot his 8 mm. travelogue films on a seven-week University of Maine-sponsored bus tour of the United States in 1959. The tour started and ended at Orono, Maine. Tour guides included Professor and Mrs. Robert Supple. The tour took a northern route out to the west coast, briefly visited Tijuana, Mexico, and then returned to Maine via the southern route. Clemons (acting Curator at the time) and the members of the Hiram Historical Society voted unanimously to donate their collection of 8 mm. films to Northeast Historic Film in April of 2004, including the home movies of Raymond Cotton.

Raymond Cotton was a storekeeper in Hiram, Maine. He owned a grocery store, and his wife, Marcia, ran a beauty shop in the space above the store. In addition to being a local grocer, Cotton was a blueberry farmer and member of the fire department. The fire department in Hiram was started in 1937, and was a community-building organization that had annual celebrations, some of which are depicted in the films. Cotton's work appears in an essay, Amateur film and the rural imagination, by Mark Neumann and Janna Jones (pp. 234-237), published in "Cinematic countrysides," Manchester University Press, 2007. WorldCat Raymond Cotton is the author of "Hog reaves, field drivers, and tything men: the birth pains of the town of Hiram." WorldCat Hiram Historical Society The Hiram Historical Society was founded in 1994 and is housed in a schoolhouse built ca. 1883 off Main Street on Historical Ridge Road, where it serves the community of Hiram, Maine.

RepositoryNortheast Historic Film

AvailabilityThe Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and UseAuthorization to reuse and/or reproduce must be obtained from Northeast Historic Film. See http://www.oldfilm.org/research for more information.