Elaine Lowell
The Last Sardine Cannery - Prospect Harbor, Maine
Through the middle of the 20th century there were as many as 75 canneries up and down the coast of Maine, providing employment and an abundant food source for Maine and the nation. That included feeding American troops through World War I and World War II. At the sound of the factory whistle, cannery workers came and packed fish, staying on the job until an entire boatload of fish was processed. By the 1970's the canneries we declining, and the last sardine cannery in the U.S., at Prospect Harbor, ME closed in April of 2010. Between 2011 and 2013, Keith Ludden interviewed over a dozen cannery workers who worked in the industry. These interviews can also be found on Oral History & Folklife Research's website - oralhistoryandfolklife.org.
Elaine Lowell was born in Stueben, Maine, in 1915. She and her husband George raised three children in Prospect Harbor. Elaine worked for the Stinson Canning Company in Prospect Harbor, Maine. She had several jobs at the former cannery: cutting and packing sardines, cleaning the offices at night, transporting injured employees to the hospital, and getting up at four o’clock in the morning to call the cannery employees if there was herring to come in to cut and pack.
Scope and Content Note
Elaine Lowell describes some of her experience working at the sardine cannery in Prospect Harbor, Maine. She talks about cutting the fish and canning them, quality inspection, and driving co-workers to the hospital when they cut themselves. Notable experiences include multiple fires at the cannery and making her way over snow berms on her way to work in the winter.
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