Lubec, Maine

A Traditional Fishery Industry
This exhibit takes an historical approach that may be unfamiliar to some, looking at the industry as an example of folk culture with deep roots. Smoking herring was a traditional process. That does not mean “old-timey” or “easy to do,” by any means. McCurdy’s in Lubec serves as the example to demonstrate what was involved, and the tools and implements used. The industry could not have carried on without the accumulated understanding that was passed from generation to generation, a major theme of the exhibit. Another major theme is continuity, persistence of old patterns of buildings, tools and technique.

Looking at Material Folk Culture
As long ago as the late Sixties, Henry Glassie called upon historians, folklorists and geographers to look at things from the past in a new way. High style architecture and the decorative arts had their place. But to really understand the world, it was necessary to look at traditional culture, the ordinary houses and barns, the chairs and tools that ordinary people created, worked in and with. The patterns in material folk culture needed to be uncovered. One way to uncover the patterns was to look at what people had made in the course of farming, fishing, making furniture, cooking and preserving food; things they thought were “traditional.” The complementary way was to look for evidence of continuity in “early reports in print” of the things and activities. (Pattern, p. 4). Much of my work through the years has been guided by this approach. For this exhibit, Ansley Hall provided the evidence of continuity in the traditional culture of preserving herring by smoking.

How to string herring:
“The herring is taken with its back in the palm of the right hand, the stick being held by the blunt end in the left hand; the left gill-cover is then raised by a movement of the right thumb and the pointed end of the stick is inserted and passed through the mouth, the fish being moved down to its proper place.” (Hall, 459).

“Hanging” the herring
This “requires the services of at least two men. . . . One man stands in the ‘bay’ with his feet on the beams, while the other stands on the ground or floor and hands the sticks of herring up to him, two at a time, keeping the sharp end of the stick downward so that the herring will not slip off.” (Hall, p 460).]

“Spudger:”
“An implement made of a thick piece of board a few inches wide and about 10 inches long and nailed in the center to the end of a wooden handle.” (Hall, p. 458).

Herring Sticks: Chicken or egg?
“The size of the sticks as they come from the mill is one-half inch square . . .. After being cut into lengths of 3 feet 4 inches each, the edges taken off, and one end sharpened, they are ready for use.” (Hall, p. 455). To us they present a classic chicken and egg problem. Which came first: The traditional length of the sticks, 40”, or the width of the “bays” in smokehouses? Hall stated that the bays were 38 inches wide without raising the origin problem.
(P. 455).

John McCurdy Remembers
In 1969 Arthur McCurdy bought some of the carts on the Canadian island of Grand Manan where there used to be many herring smokehouses. Thereafter, he and his son had them fabricated at their smokehouse. Approximately twenty-five were needed when the brining tanks were full, and “stringing” was going on full tilt. John McCurdy had the pump and hose installed in 1974, along with a requisite three-phase electrical service. It was a system used at canneries, and he found it wise to adopt it. The herring carriers could be unloaded quickly and back to the weirs for another load. The increased amount of fish necessitated rebuilding the sluices so they could handle the volume. [phone interview, 4/2/09].