updated 11-27-08
On AIC Reflections on a Unique Gathering Stephen Hinrichs, AIC Director, 1956-1968
Nothing satisfies a teacher more than the assurance that he has, in some way, had a positive influence on the lives of those he taught. The letters that have followed our island gathering not only have carried that assurance but put in peril my hat collection, to wit, all may now be too small. Thus, this old teacher is a happily fulfilled man, and he is grateful for your words.
However, the credit for those influences must be more widely assigned. Whatever their concerns about being ready for their responsibilities, the counselors during my thirteen year tenure were as bright, imaginative, innovative, enthusiastic, competent, caring as any I could have hoped for. Never mind that some found out too late that painting a rowboat from outside in means a painter painted. Never mind that an engineer with limited mechanical experience once set the truck on fire. Never mind that on occasion the IBM body counter count was wrong. We never lost anyone, even the sliver of a lad whose natural floating position was one foot under the surface. Mind instead that the counselors embraced the island philosophy of eschewing the passive trappings of urban life and enthusiastically worked with kids to create music, theater, games, boat rigs, shop and studio productions, recipes, expeditions, trip songs, more, all the while leading kids to opportunities never before experienced.
Never mind that many of the campers came from structured schools and households, neither of which were comfortable allowing their charges freedom to explore, to make significant decisions, to take risks. Never mind that some campers were initially disappointed to find that the island had no radios, no ready made entertainment. Never mind that at least one girl arrived with a complete makeup kit, expecting to charm all males. Never mind that a departing mother, noting the logo on a oil barrel at the back dock, called out to her wistful son, "Gulf Oil, darling. Daddy's chairman of the board." Mind instead that for the campers previous distinctions mattered not.. Mind that instead of missing makeup the girls were more intent on outdoing the boys at portaging canoes and wielding an axe. Mind that almost without exception, they joyfully took to the opportunities the island and the trips and cruises afforded. Mind that for many AIC was a first chance to try their wings at whatever they fancied, a first chance to take a risk, to be responsible. They were a great bunch of kids, and they were just as responsible as the rest of us for making AIC the memorable place it was.
Were we different? You bet. Whatever we did we did with style, with pride in our knowledge of the ways of the woods and the seas. We were different enough that the American Camping Association would not accredit us. Why not? We didn,t make enough money, they said, and that would be bad for the industry.
Anyway, it was wonderful to see and hear from so many of you, and I am infinitely grateful for the gathering that Hilary, especially Hilary, and Lew and Peter made possible. Stay in touch. I,m always interested in your goings on. Close on a mellow memory, Peter Seixas playing taps on his trombone. Perfect.
Cheers, Steve (aka C. Bascom Slemp)
Date: Sat, 05 Oct 2002 11:46:49 -0400
From: solar@midcoast.com
At the reunion of AIC campers and staff held at the island, August 1-11, 2002, it was decided to compile an on-line archive of pictures and texts relating to the history of the camp. Thanks to the Lew and Debbie Bigelow, owners of French's Island and co-owners of Alamar, a nearly complete set of the camp magazine, The Islander. has been preserved. This site contains pages from every surviving issue. The Bigelow collection also includes camp brochures dating from the 1930s and 40s, as well as a significant number of snapshots.
People who came to the reunion were wonderfully generous in sharing their photographs and paper ephemera, much of which is on this site. (It did seem odd to be sitting in the Admiral's house digitizing these on a lovely summer day, while folks frolicked outside. Somehow, I don't think computers would have been approved of at AIC!)
Because of the enormous volume of material I have received, it will be quite a while before the site is complete. I have dozens of photographs from the 1950s and 60s, camp brochures beginning in the 1930s, various versions of Blitzkreig rules and other paper ephemera -- and photographs of the July 2002 reunion. Members of the AIC listserv will be notified of additions as they are made. To see Islander 2002, the booklet prepared by Hilary Smith for the reunion, click this link. [Note: the e-mail and snail-mail addresses in the booklet are current only to 2002!].
Please pass along any and all comments, corrections, and complaints to the Webmaster (just clike here to do so). The Webmaster welcomes additional contributions of photographs and manuscripts. Please do not send original photographs or artwork. Send scans, preferably in .jpg or .gif formats.
Finally, many AICers are subscribers to the AIC listserv. This e-mail application allows subscribers to communicate with one another. To subscribe to the list, contact the Webmaster. List membership is available only to former campers and staff.
This section of the page contains links to historical, biographical, and visual materials on AIC. To access these materials, click the links (underlined blue items). If you do not have high-speed access to the web, be patient. The files are big, but they are worth the wait!!
Where did the idea of AIC come from? This feature explores the origins of the camp in the lives and work of educators J.R.P. French (1883-1953) and Nathaniel Stowers (Nat) French (1912-1983). To access, click this link founders.html
Who went to AIC? Thanks to Lew Bigelow's Yankee frugality, the camp's files -- assumed to be lost -- have, in fact, survived. They include among other things a nearly complete set of Islanders for the years 1930-33, 1935, 1937-40, an issue labelled "1942-44?," 1951, 1954-1968. Using these, it has been possible to compile an alphabetical roster of campers and staff. This roster can be accessed by clicking this link AICCAMPERS, A-F.HTML
Islanders and year by year rosters, 1930-1968! Clicking the thumbnailed Islander covers (below) will take you to selected contents of each issue and a roster or address list of campers and staff for that year.
Islanders! Click the links above and travel through time!
AIC Songbooks! Van Wood was kind enough to share his copy of the 1962 Islander Songbook. To sing along with the pictures of AIC musical evenings he shared with us (see below), click 1962songbook.html Here's the 1965 Songbook.
AIC Brochure. For a look at an AIC brochure of the mid-1960s, click aic-brochure.html If you have earlier versions of the brochure, please share it with us!
Photographs & Memorabilia
Parry Norling (camper 1957-58; counselor 1963) shared this wonderful collection of photographs taken during the summer of 1963.
Hilary Smith, a camper and counselor in the 1950s, was kind enough to contribute these images from her extraordinary scrapbook.
Dan Hinkley has contributed this evocative collection of 19 photographs from the summer of 1959.
Van Wood, an engineer 1962-63, sent these wonderful pictures.
Marion Hunt, who visited the island in July 1964, took these remarkable photographs.
Owen Chapman, an engineer during the 1958 season, has shared these playbills, snapshots and a brochure chapman.html
Elegy: Here is Robert Lowell's lovely poem memorializing the closing of the camp.
HISTORICAL TIDBITS
Annie Meyer, Alamar, Summer 1960
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