Poet, Writer, Archivist

he/him

Jefferson Navicky is the archivist for the Maine Women Writers Collection. He is the author of four books, most recently Head of Island Beautification for the Rural Outlands (2023), which was a Finalist for the Big Other Book Award for Fiction, as well as Antique Densities: Modern Parables & Other Experiments on Short Prose (2021), which won the Maine Literary Award for Poetry.

Talks

The Offshore Islands Belong to Themselves: Ruth Moore & Her Poetry

Ruth Moore was one of Maine’s most beloved 20th century writers. Jefferson’s presentation includes highlights from the Ruth Moore collection at the Maine Women Writers Collection. This talk touches on some of her most well-known books as well as her often-neglected poetry. Jefferson will share a variety of Moore’s poems and invite audience participation. 

Elizabeth Coatsworth & Kate Barnes: Processing the Literary Archives of Mother & Daughter

Jefferson Navicky had the rare good fortune of processing the extensive archival papers of Elizabeth Coatsworth, one of the most accomplished children’s book authors and poets of the mid 20th century, as well as the papers of her daughter, Kate Barnes, Maine’s first Poet Laureate.

Together, their papers present an intimate glimpse into the makings of a matriarchal line of Maine writers. Jefferson will speak about his experience processing these collections, as well as present illustrative work from each writer, and provide historical and biographical context. 

A Day in the Life of Maine Women: Diaries of Everyday Life

The Maine Women Writers Collection has numerous diaries spanning the 19th and 20th century kept by Maine women across the state whose lives were remarkable in their unremarkableness. In the quotidian passing of their days – from weather to chores to historic moments – the accumulation gives shape and significance to their lives.

By sampling and discussing a selection of these diaries across time, we will all connect with the common struggles and small triumphs of what it’s like to be human and to live day by day. 

Madam Wood & Tales of the Night: Maine’s First Novelist

Sally (Sarah) Sayward Barrell Keating Wood (1759-1855) – “Madam Wood” – lived more than nine decades, authored four novels and one collection of tales, and was renowned as Maine’s first novelist. Maine Women Writers Collection Archivist Jefferson Navicky will talk about Wood’s life, as well as MWWC’s archival holdings of the Sally Wood collection. He will focus his talk on Wood’s 1827 book, Tales of the Night, which consists of two novellas, “Storms and Sunshine” and “The Hermitage.”

May Sarton & Her Menagerie

May Sarton published over fifty books of poetry, fiction, journals and memoirs, and she spent her last decades at a cottage called Wild Knoll on the ocean in York, Maine. Sarton cared deeply for animals, and they were often her companions in both life and her writing. In this talk, MWWC Archivist Jefferson Navicky will provide a brief biography of Sarton, share anecdotes about Sarton’s pets, as well as read a selection of her writing about the animals she so dearly loved.

Lesser-Known Maine Women Poets of the Twentieth Century

Poetry can thrive in obscurity, and sometimes the more solitude, the better the poems. Maine is full of such bards of the lonely woodland hollow, the fallow field with a view of islands, the dead-end road, the forsaken small town. Join MWWC Archivist & Poet Jefferson Navicky to find out about some of Maine’s lesser known women poets of the twentieth century. Help them be a little less lesser-known, discover your next favorite poet, hear some excellent poetry, come tell us about a poet we should know better, and broaden your knowledge of Maine’s incredibly rich poetic history.

Associate Professor of East Asian Studies, Colby College

she/her

Dr. Hong Zhang obtained her Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University. She is currently Professor of East Asian Studies at Colby College, where she teaches both Chinese language and Chinese culture courses. Her research interests include changing family life and marriage patterns in China, impact of one-child policy, population aging and eldercare in China, civil society development in China, the politics of satire and humor in contemporary China, and missionary studies.

Talks

China’s One-Child policy

Globalization

Women’s Rights and Women’s Legal-Aid NGOs in China

Politics of Satire in Authoritarian China

Chair, Native American Programs and Director of Native American Research, University of Maine

he/him

Dr. Ranco serves as Chair of Native American Programs and Coordinator of Native American Research at the University of Maine. His research focuses on the ways in which indigenous communities in the United States resist environmental destruction and how state knowledge systems, rooted in colonial contexts, continue to expose indigenous peoples to an inordinate amount of environmental risk.

A member of the Penobscot Indian Nation, he is particularly interested in how better research relationships can be made between universities, Native and non-Native researchers, and indigenous communities. 

Talks

Wabanaki Climate Justice & Adaptation 

Dr. Ranco examines current and future climate change impacts to the Wabanaki Tribal Nations and their climate adaptation priorities and activism.

Emphasis will be on how climate change is threatening indigenous livelihoods such as agriculture, hunting and gathering, fishing, forestry, energy, recreation, and tourism, and in turn how these threats are already impacting the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of Wabanaki and other indigenous people. 

Native Americans, the 14th Amendment, and Voting in Maine

Writer, Veteran

they/them

Cody Mower is a non-binary author, veteran and advocate whose primary goal is help others tell their own stories.

Talks

In Your Own Words

This presentation explores the importance of veterans telling their own stories—as a practice of personal healing and as an act of challenging how veterans are portrayed in popular culture.

Mower shares stories from their published work, explores how writers like Kurt Vonnegut and Tobias Wolff have dealt with post-military life, and examines how the entertainment industry, especially in the Vietnam era, began to control the narrative of the veteran.

Journalist, Historian

A former newspaper reporter and editor, Kanes likes libraries and dusty archives, doing research, writing about history and related topics, reading many genres of books, hiking, biking, cooking, walking the dog, playing with the cats, and going on adventures with friends. 

She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism, a master’s in American and women’s studies, and a doctorate in American history. Kanes worked for a number of years as curator of Maine Memory Network at the Maine Historical Society, led numerous MHC book discussions, and curated a variety of museum exhibits. 

Talks

Speak Out, Stand Up, Organize: Maine’s Fight for Women’s Rights 

Starting in the early 19th century, women – along with men – began organizing to gain rights for enslaved persons and for all women. This brief look at some of those efforts in Maine will highlight a few of the people, some of the arguments, and some of the methods used into the twentieth century to gain equal rights.

Bias, Objectivity, and Newspaper History

From Slavery to Maine

Anti-Slavery, Women’s Rights, Race, and Gender

Early Leaders of Woman Suffrage in Maine

Woman Suffrage in Maine: A Brief History 

Independent Historian

she/her

Anne Gass is the author of the non-fiction book Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Fight for Woman Suffrage, published in 2014. Anne is Whitehouse’s great-granddaughter. Her most recent book is We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip, a historical novel based on the true story of an epic cross-country road trip that took place in 1915. In 2015, a century later, Anne spent two months retracing the original route.

Anne describes herself as a “women’s rights history activist” and speaks regularly on suffrage and women’s rights history. She recently led an effort to install seven roadside markers across Maine honoring women (and one man!) who fought for women’s voting rights. She is an appointed member of Maine’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women.

Anne is an active volunteer and has been very involved in her town of Gray, currently serving on her town council.

Talks

All Power is Inherent in the People: A History of Voting Rights in Maine

Voting rights have evolved from the time of Maine’s founding to the present day. Which groups were initially excluded from voting rights? Why did it matter? What did it take for these marginalized groups to win the right to vote? How do voting rights continue to evolve in Maine? This talk is accompanied by historic slides and is suitable for a wide range of audiences.

The Clean, Clear Right: Women’s Historic & Ongoing Fight for Equality

Gass dives into Maine’s suffrage history—including the life & legacy of her own great grandmother—and helps us to understand how hard women have always fought to be counted, and the ways in which it remains difficult but necessary for all to have the “clean clear right” to vote in a democracy.

Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Fight for Woman Suffrage

We Demand: America’s First Cross-Country Automobile Trip for a Cause

Patriotism, War, and Woman Suffrage