Ruth Storm

Item Data

  • Collection Title: Ruth Storm Collection
  • Item Title: Maine II
  • ID Number: RS-002
  • Date Range: 1940-1942
  • Description: Corea has become a lively community of intellectuals & artists. Marsden Hartley is in residence & appears in this reel. Mabel & Ruth have bought adjoining lots on the water; Ruth is having a cabin built. Two local young women, Louise Z. Young and Miriam Colwell, have become warm friends with Ruth, Chennie, and Mabel. Romance is in the air.
  • Biographical/Historical Note: In 1941 Louise Z Young first photographed Marsden Hartley as part of her work at Bachrach in Bangor, ME. She was 22. Hartley hated the photograph but they became friends and she often drove him around Maine. When he saw a vista that interested him, he'd tell her to stop. He'd gaze for as long as he wanted, then tell him to drive him back to his studio. [Cite Mimi Colwell on this story. find original interview, could be mine, could be Smithsonian's.] Hartley painted some of his most important paintings from 1941-1943 when he died, including important portraits of Mt Katahdin 1941, 1942; Pine Point Way, Old Orchard Beach, 1943. Corea Church, 1942; Log Jam Penobscot Bay 1940-41; Log Jam (Up Millinocket Way), 1938-1940; and his Schoodic Evening Storm paintings. Hartley died in 1943. [Cite Met & Colby shows.] Many years later, Louise and her lifetime partner Jean Squittierri bought his studio and turned it into their summer home.
  • Genres: Amateur Films
  • Places: Tunk Lake, Maine; Big Chief Indian Camp, Maine; Trenton, Maine
  • Access & Use: Contact Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP) info@lesbianhomemovieproject.org. No re-use without permission.
  • Color or B&W:
  • Related Versions:
  • Running Time: 10:54
  • Rights: Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP) holds all rights.
  • Sound: Silent
  • Subjects: Maine, Lesbian, Dowsing, Lumberyard, Northeast Airlines
  • Creators: Ruth Huntington Storm (1888-1981)
  • Collaborators & Participants: Almeda "Meda" Benoit (1910-2007) Miriam Colwell (1917-2014) Dora Gage Mabel Griffin (1891-1942) Chenoweth Hall (1908-1999) Marsden Hartley (1877-1943) Mabel Griffin (1891-1942) John Lord Jean Oser (1908-2002) Elizabeth P. Storm Ruth Huntington Storm (1888-1981) Suzie Thompson Louise Z. Young (1919-2004)
  • Source Format: 16 mm
  • Format: 16 mm
  • Viewing Log: 00:24 dowsing, possibly to site a well for Ruth's cabin 01:23 lumberyard, possibly related to choosing boards for Ruth's cabin 02:46 Mabel Griffin or Ruth Storm's mother Elizabeth P. Storm (confusion is that Mimi Colwell called her Nellie but Ruth's mother's name was elizabeth storm so lizzie makes more sense. Ah, Nellie was Chennie's mother's short name. 02:55 Tunk Lake 03:10 Louise Z. Young on the left, Ruth Storm's mother on right 03:53 Suzie Thompson grooming dogs 04:19 Louise Z. Young on left, Suzie Thompson on right 04:49 Marsden Hartley [tell story of Louise driving Marsden around?]: Marsden Hartley spent his the last summers boarding with Louise Young's parents. Early on Louise took an iconic passport photo of him, and she used to chauffeur him to scenic vistas where he'd gaze for a long time before returning to the Young's chicken coop to paint in seclusion. 05:09 Northeast Airlines. Bangor airport, per John Lord. 06:39 Chenoweth Hall on left, Miriam Colwell on her right. History of that place in Trenton, Maine? 07:27 fill in the woman in blue's name, Dora Gage per Mimi, possible name of officer? John Lord thought the officer may have been Dick Shaw or Allen who lived at the Sands. Became county sheriff. per John Lord 09:36 Ruth Storm in plaid scarf & beret. She says, "You're beautiful," to the deer. 09:56 It's Mimi & Chennie's dog. Give name?