[Photo: Marthe and Dianne playing Scrabble]
Click on the pictures for more photos
Where is the French in Lewiston?
Marthe Rivard, 93, is Franco-American. She remembers speaking French everywhere in town, in stores, in church at home. Today, she does that less and less. The people who do speak French in Lewiston are about her age, and their children understand and do not speak it. There is an effort to revive the language, but the story of Lewiston's Francos is a familiar one of assimilation in America.

Marthe introduces us to her world of French in Lewiston--at Mass, at work and at home.

Download this piece from the Public Radio Exchange.


This piece premiered in May 2004 at the Salt Gallery as part of the show Everything in Particular. It aired on August 30, 2004 on Maine Public Radio's Maine Things Considered, and a shortened version (4:29) aired the week of September 29, 2004 on Primetime Radio. It is also featured in moé pi toé, the online publication of the Franco-American Women's Institute.

Producer: Sarah Elzas
Recorded in Lewiston, Maine
Photos: Amy Toensing
Produced at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
AUDIO
Listen to this piece as as a streaming MP3 [7:14 min]:
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56 kbps
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160 kbps
Listen to this piece as it aired on Prime Time radio [4:55 min]:
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Stream RealAudio
TEXT
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Introduction
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Transcript
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Review
("This piece conjured up so many images for me that I had to listen to it twice.")
LINKS
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The Franco American Heritage Center at St. Mary's Church in Lewiston, Maine.
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The Franco-American Heritage Collection at USM Lewiston-Auburn.
 
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