Charles A. Scontras (November 25, 1929 – March 7, 2021) was a

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

labor historian, educator and author.

Personal

Scontras was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, the son of Greek immigrants. He spent his childhood and adolescence in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. His mother worked in the textile mills of nearby Biddeford and his father was a shoe repairman. Prior to his career in education, he owned a shoe store and shoe repair business. He attended the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

, earning a B.S. in Business Administration. He later earned a M.Ed. and a M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

, Orono. He lived in

Cape Elizabeth, Maine Cape Elizabeth is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The town is part of the Portland, Maine, Portland–South Portland, Maine, South Portland–Biddeford, Maine, Biddeford, Ma ...

, with his wife, Joanne.

Career

Scontras taught at the University of Maine for 36 years, holding positions in the Modern Society, History, and Political Science Departments, and in the Honors Program. He retired in 1997, but continued to serve as a research associate at the University of Maine Bureau of Labor Education.

Maine Labor History Mural

In 1997, the Maine Department of Labor consulted with Scontras as the agency worked to commission a mural highlighting Maine's labor history. He worked closely with Judy Taylor, the artist selected for project, to identify the scenes that were captured on the eleven panel mural. Taylor honored his contribution to the work by using his image in a mural panel that depicts apprenticeship. He is shown teaching an apprentice how to hand sew shoes.

Bibliography

* Organized Labor and Labor Politics in Maine, 1880-1890 (University of Maine Studies Series #2, No. 83) (1966) * Two Decades of Organized Labor and Labor Politics in Maine, 1880-1900 (1969) * Organized Labor in Maine: Twentieth Century Origins (1985) * The Socialist Alternative: Utopian Experiments and the Socialist Party of Maine, 1895-1914 (1985) * The Origins of Labor Day in Maine and Historical Glimpses of Labor in Parade in Early Nineteenth Century Maine (1989) * Collective Efforts Among Maine Workers: Beginnings and Foundations, 1820-1880 (1994) * Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor vs. Maine’s Congressman Charles E. Littlefield: 1900-1913 (1998) * In the Name of Humanity: Maine’s Crusade Against Child Labor (2000) * Organized Labor in Maine: War, Reaction, Depression, and the Rise of the CIO 1914-1943 (2002) * Time-Line of Selected Highlights of Maine Labor History: 1636-2003 (2003) * Labor in Maine: Building the Arsenal of Democracy and Resisting Reaction at Home, 1939-1952 (2006) * Unity in the House of Labor: Maine AFL-CIO Merger, 1956 (2006) * Labor Day — 2007: Pausing to Reflect on Images of Maine Labor One Hundred Years Ago (2007)
Requiem for the labor movement? : a perspective
(2007) * Time-Line of Selected Highlights of Maine Labor History: 1636-2015 (2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scontras, Charles A. 1929 births 2021 deaths People from Cape Elizabeth, Maine Historians of Maine University of Maine alumni 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Historians from Maine Labor historians Writers from Buffalo, New York University of New Hampshire alumni University of Maine faculty People from Old Orchard Beach, Maine Historians from New York (state) American male non-fiction writers