General University of Maine Publications
Document Type
Other
Editor
Ray Cudahy, editor
Clair Chamberlain, editor
Dick Sprague, editor
Publisher
University of Maine
Publication Date
Winter 2-1-1948
Publisher location
Orono, Maine
Abstract/ Summary
Libraries and archives collect materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. As a result, materials such as those presented here may reflect sexist, misogynistic, abusive, racist, or discriminatory attitudes or actions that some may find disturbing, harmful, or difficult to view.
Both a humor and literary magazine, The Pine Needle was a University of Maine student-produced periodical that began publication in the fall of 1946, the first post-World War II semester that saw GIs returning to campus.
The Needle reflected an edginess and rebellion not found in previous UMaine student publications. While past student publications relied on euphemisms for alcohol and dating on campus, The Needle openly promoted the sexualization of co-eds and the use of drugs, tobacco, and alcohol by students who experienced war.
The issue includes photographs of eight female UMaine students as pin-up girls wearing one and two-piece bathing suits. The women's faces are obscured by round compositional shapes, and male readers are invited by the editorial staff to attempt to identify all eight. The contest winner was announced in the Easter 1949 issue as a fellow who: "...had a wealth of similar material to compare with what we had printed, for he is no mean picture taker himself. He has known the girls well through the last few years for he is the janitor at the Elms and at Balentine Hall."
The unsigned cover illustration of this issue is an invisible woman, hands on hips, wearing bikini or "French Bathing Suit," glasses, heels, and lipstick. The headline reads: Le numéro de la baigneus Française. The illustration sets the tone of the winter issue which lampoons bikinis, introduced in July 1946, and the women who wear them.
Repository Citation
Pine Needle Publications; Shalek, Biff; Libby, Jane; Bennett, Kay; Chamberlain, Clair H.; and Folsom, Sid, "The Pine Needle, Winter 1948" (1948). General University of Maine Publications. 2460.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/univ_publications/2460
Version
publisher's version of the published document
Rights and Access Note
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