But they also brought a rich culture with them, and the Franco-American Collection aims to catalog the richness of Franco-American life, from the French language, to music, cuisine, theater and poetry.

The Franco-American Collection, which is open to the public free of charge, contains over 15,000 historical items, from rare books to photographs, newspapers and artifacts. Among its hidden gems are souvenirs from snowshoe conventions, hand-written recipe books, homemade textiles and parochial school exercise books from the 1910s.

The Collection contains a wealth of information on local churches and parish organizations, sports teams, snowshoe clubs and other societies, and prominent local individuals. Since Lewiston-Auburn has such a large Franco-American population, the Collection’s holdings overlap with most of the Twin Cities’ history.

Visitors to the Collection are as varied as its contents. Of course, the Collection is a great resource for USM students and faculty, but it also attracts curiosity from further afield. In the past year, researchers from Europe, Canada and across the country have made use of the unique items in the Collection, for documentary films, school textbooks, and building preservation projects.

Local residents stop by the Collection to research family histories, to learn more about their neighborhood, or just to connect with the past.

An exciting new development for the Collection is its recent move to a new space at USM LAC. The Collection now occupies the former bookstore space, roughly doubling the space available to the ever-growing archive.

The new location includes more shelf space for the Collection’s library of 6,000 books, a meeting and teaching area, a multimedia station for viewing audio-visual materials and, most significantly, a greatly enlarged space for displaying artifacts and mounting exhibitions. A grand opening of the new location is planned for the fall.

The Franco-American Collection hosts a number of events throughout the year to promote Franco-American culture and highlight themes in the Collection. This summer, the Collection is holding a series of events entitled “Voix Franco-Américaines” (Franco-American Voices), exploring identity as told by individuals, families and communities:

From 2-4 p.m. Thursday, August 15, Robert Sylvain, member of the renowned Acadian band “Boréal Tordu,” will sing songs from his “Mémère’s Notebook.” Sylvain recently discovered the handwritten collection of songs, which lead him on a project to research the tunes, many of which had been forgotten, and their meanings. In the process, he discovered more about his grandmother, his heritage and himself.

Events will be held in room 170 of USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College, 51 Westminster Street, Lewiston. More information about the Collection, including historic photos and audio-visual material, can be found on their website: www.usm.maine.edu/franco. Contact the Collection at 207-753-6545 or franco@usm.maine.edu. The Collection is open from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday.

William Richard, left and Jean-Baptiste Couture in “Les Cloches de Corneville” in 1894, one of many musicals produced by Lewiston’s Franco community. The city once boasted “the largest music hall east of Boston.”

This sheep, one of the Collection’s largest artifacts, once featured in the St. Jean-Baptiste parades on the streets of Lewiston and Auburn each year on June 24.