Paper short abstract:

This paper examines results of community development projects in the fishing village of Sebasco, Maine, inspired by the Antigonish Movement and spearheaded by Bert and Helen Baily in the 1930s. It discusses the tension between the Bailys’ desires for interpersonal outcomes and economic change.

Paper long abstract:

During the Great Depression, Albert “Bert” and Helen Baily, summer residents of Phippsburg, Maine, and directors of Three Fevers Camp, began a program of community economic and youth development in the fishing village of Sebasco. The Bailys and their followers (primarily young adults who participated in the camp) drew inspiration from the Antigonish Movement in Nova Scotia, where they made several trips to learn about cooperative enterprises. Over the next ten or fifteen years, projects in Maine included a credit union, knitting business, fish freezing plant, and a house lived in by a series of young adults who ran community programming during the winters. This work was conceptualized as having the practical aim of mitigating the economic uncertainty present in Sebasco’s seasonal fishing economy as well as instilling local autonomy and pride in its residents. It had the spiritual aim of building friendships between locals and nonlocals, and the Bailys conceptualized their work as coming from a place of relationship-building and not solely economic improvement. While these projects were intended to be locally driven, in practice this was not always the case. Drawing on oral history interviews and archival records (primarily newsletters and correspondence), this paper examines the successes and failures of these development projects and the tensions between the Baily group’s sometimes competing desires for interpersonal, relationship-related outcomes as well as economic ones.