Volume 16, Issue #4 November 2013
A Man of Honor Joshua L. Chamberlain’s Medal of Honor Returns to Maine by Jennifer Blanchard
My sense is that he’s a man kind of several years ago. In the back of one, he like my father. found a treasure we at PHS hadn’t ever imagined would one day take its place next A real Yankee, not one for putting himself to Chamberlain’s saddle and boots and but- forward or attracting attention. A person tons: the original Medal of Honor issued to who needs to think—and think, and think— Chamberlain in 1893. before acting. A person with a strong sense of what’s right and just, but for whom doing Now, I have learned a lot about Medals the right thing—even if all that’s required is of Honor in the last few weeks. But when looking up an address and putting a pack- our donor first called PHS in late July or age in the mail—sometimes can feel like an early August, all I knew was that Bowdoin awful lot to accomplish. College had Chamberlain’s Medal of Honor. When the donor claimed that he was about From my limited contact with the donor to put Chamberlain’s Medal of Honor in the of Pejepscot Historical Society’s recent, mail to us—having already sent it once to an incredible, invaluable acquisition, Joshua address that doesn’t exist—I said, “Gosh, sir. Chamberlain’s original Medal of Honor, I look forward to seeing what you’ve got, but that’s my impression. A real Yankee. A man . . . I’m pretty sure Chamberlain’s Medal of of honor. And now our newest best friend. Honor is at Bowdoin College.” Pejepscot Historical Society, for those who Foolish me. And lucky me, for our donor don’t know, owns and operates both the insisted he knew better, that he had the real Joshua L. Chamberlain Museum and the Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain thing, and soon enough he sent it to us. The Skolfield-Whittier House, both in downtown wearing his medal. PHS Collections Committee took a look, Brunswick. Since acquiring both historic agreed to accept it—whatever it might turn homes in the early 1980s, PHS has worked hard to regain Chamberlain furnishings lost Pejepscot Historical Society has treasures —continued on page 6 to auction or given away years before. We like Chamberlain’s saddle and the boots he have furnished the home with what we was wearing when he was shot in the foot at know was there during the Chamberlains’ Gettysburg. We have the buttons and epau- time and, to a lesser degree, with items lets from his uniform, cut off by his pacifist resembling or of the same period as what granddaughter Rosamond, his last surviving was there. descendant, who couldn’t abide war but kept mementos of her grandfather’s service. Joshua Chamberlain—governor of Maine, president of Bowdoin College—first won It was Rosamond who left her estate to Joshua Lawrence renown for leading the Twentieth Maine in a a Unitarian church in Massachusetts. And Chamberlain’s decisive bayonet charge at Little Round Top it was at that church, our donor tells us, original during the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg. that he bought a few books at a book sale Medal of Honor Maine Archives and Museums MAINEAdvertise ARCHIVES &in MUSEUMS the MAM Newsletter Volume 16 • Number 4 • November 2013 NEWSLETTER Maine Archives and Museums www.mainemuseums.org Do you have a great product or service [email protected] that you want Maine’s museums and libraries P.O. Box 46 to know about? Cumberland Center, ME 04021 Consider a quarter-page ad in our quarterly newsletter, (207) 400-6965 which is direct-mailed to Maine’s community of collecting organizations and published on-line. The Maine Archives and Museums Newsletter is published on a quarterly basis as a benefit Ads are $100 per issue for non-members of MAM; $75 for members. of membership in MAM, whose purpose is to For complete specifications, please contact develop and foster a network of citizens and Jessica Skwire Routhier institutions in Maine who identify, collect, Newsletter Editor interpret and/or provide access to materials [email protected] relating to history and culture. (207) 799-7324 Contributions to the MAM Newsletter may be submitted to MAM. Contact information provided above. TABLE OF CONTENTS To purchase copies of the MAM Newsletter, please contact MAM at the above address or A Man of Honor: Joshua L. Chamberlain’s Medal of Honor Returns to Maine phone number. by Jennifer Blanchard...... Cover MAM NEWS News from the MAM Board...... 3 Third Class postage paid at Bangor, Maine. Thank you, Conference Sponsors!...... 3 MAM Program: OFFICERS Preservation Issues for Small Museums & Family Custodians...... 3 President: Jessica Skwire Routhier Vice President: Raney Bench Exhibitions & Events...... 4 Secretary: Candace Kanes DISPATCHES ...... 7 Treasurer: Ellen Dyer Local and Legendary Grant Program Funds Five Community Teams, Invites New Applications by Larissa Vigue Picard...... 8 BOARD MEMBERS Remembering the Double Eagle II by Kimberly Smith...... 9 Jane Bianco Leigh Hallett Heather Moran Sheri Leahan Victorian Calling Cards by Gregory Cuffey...... 11 Peter Cook Teresa Myers Oral History and Folklife Research, Inc. Announces Formation of a New Nonprofit...... 11 David O. Smith Gretchen Faulkner Deborah Staber Ellen Tenan SEEN & HEARD...... 12 OPPORTUNITIES...... 13 NEWSLETTER STAFF The Maine Civil War Trail Continues!...... 14 Editor: Jessica Skwire Routhier Maine State Museum Wins Two National Awards and Jane Bianco for Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives Exhibition by Sheila McDonald...... 16 Typesetting & Design: Deborah J. McGee Printer: Bangor Letter Shop & Color Copy Center, Bangor NEXT ISSUE: FEBRUARY 2014 Only submissions received by the Editor by December 30, 2013, LEGAL SERVICES will be considered for publication. Contributed by James C. Pitney General Counsel Jessica Skwire Routhier Preti, Flaherty, Beleveau & Pachios 207-799-7324 [email protected]
Maine Archives & Museums Newsletter Vol. 16, No. 4 MAM NEWS Thank you, Conference Sponsors! We had a great day of learning, listening, and networking at our annual conference: Recharge Your Mission: Ideas to Ignite and Inspire. Thanks to the Collins Center for the Arts at the University of News from Maine, Orono, and to the Page Farm Museum and Hudson Museum for hosting. We are so grateful for the support of the following spon- the MAM Board sors, as well as all those who presented and attended on October 29. In June, the board conducted a planning exercise for a new five- year strategic plan, by identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportu- Keynote Sponsor: HistoryIT nities, and threats. The process continued at a retreat in Newport Host Sponsor: ANR Transport, LLC in September, attended by board members, other interested MAM members, and other invited guests. The goal is to develop a new Gold Sponsor: Northeast Document Conservation Center strategic plan for adoption in January. Silver Sponsors: Tufts University Museum Studies, SmallCorp, The board approved an Advocacy Plan that will guide efforts to Bangor Letter Shop, and Oral History & Folklife Research, Inc. • promote and help protect MAM’s member organizations and other organizations that collect, interpret, or provide access to historical and cultural materials. The MAM website also has a new advocacy section. Determining the economic impact of these organizations is MAM Program part of the plan. Preservation Issues for The board approved and voted to send to the membership a by-laws Small Museums & Family Custodians change to provide a mechanism for replacing officers who leave their position in the middle of a term. The current by-laws provide Saturday, November 2 only for replacing the president before the end of his or her term. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Maine Historical Society The board approved MAM taking over the remaining duties associ- ated with the Connecting To Collections Planning Grant that the 485 Congress Street, Portland Maine State Museum received from the Institute for Museum and We’ve had a fantastic fall workshop series so far, including our Library Services. It is part of a national initiative to identify cultural planning retreat and workshop at the Newport Cultural Center, heritage treasures and, ultimately, to protect them. Maine’s group a publicity and marketing workshop at the historic Bethel Inn, has developed a values assessment tool to help organization assess and of course, the conference. But it’s not over yet! Join us in their collections. MAM voted to take over printing of the tool (a Portland in November for this workshop presented by Maine workbook) and to consider pursuing an implementation grant to Historical Society and MAM in partnership with Northeast continue the work. Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), a conference sponsor. This one-day technical workshop is designed for small The board also voted to participate in the TD Bank Affinity Program historical organizations, small museums, and local historical for non-profits that allows people with accounts at the bank to des- societies as well as individuals who are the custodians of ignate MAM as an affiliated account. TD Bank donates annually to important family papers and heirlooms. It covers the agents MAM for every affinity account linked to MAM. of deterioration that affect collections (including environment, light, pests and pollutants), as well as best practices for storage In addition, the board continues to monitor membership and the and handling of archives and artifacts. Potentially hazardous budget. Membership renewals are behind projections, but that may collection items will also be discussed. Time is allotted for be a result of a change to a rolling membership year and the change questions and participants are encouraged to bring items that to an automated renewal notice system that may have caused a one- are stable enough to travel along for discussion. Lunch is not time shift in when memberships are received. Another membership provided. Cost: Maine Historical Society Members: $55; Non- push is expected soon. • Members: $65. To Register: call 207-774-1822 x215.
Vol. 16, No. 4 Maine Archives & Museums Newsletter Maine Archives & Museums 2013 Board of Directors President: BOARD MEMBERS Jessica Skwire Routhier (2009) Gretchen Faulkner (2013) Teresa Myers (2012) Independent Museum Professional Jane Bianco (2010) 48 Bellevue Avenue Farnsworth Art Museum Hudson Museum Myers Conservation Services South Portland, ME 04106 16 Museum Street 5746 Collins Center for the Arts 26 Frandy Lane Phone: 207-799-7324 Rockland, ME 04841 University of Maine Sebec, ME 04481 [email protected] Phone: 207-596-6457 x104 Orono, ME 04469-5746 Phone: 207-564-3910 [email protected] Phone: 207-581-7904 [email protected] Vice President: [email protected] Raney Bench (2012) Heather Moran (2012) David O. Smith (2013) Abbe Museum Walsh History Center Leigh Hallett (2011) Kennebec Valley Community 26 Mount Desert St. Camden Public Library Newport Cultural Center College Archives Bar Harbor, ME 04609 55 Main Street 154 Main Street 92 Western Avenue Phone: 207-288-3519 Camden, ME 04843 Newport, ME 04953 Fairfield, ME 04937-1367 [email protected] Phone: 207-236-3440 Phone: 207-368-2193 Phone: 207-453-5004 [email protected] Secretary: [email protected] [email protected] Candace Kanes (2011) Peter Cook (2012) Sheri Leahan (2011) Deborah Staber (2012) Curator/Historian, Maine Memory Network Tare Shirt Farm Independent Museum Professional L C Bates Museum Maine Historical Society 227 Diamond Hill Road 35 Cummings Hill Road P.O. Box 159 489 Congress St. Berwick, ME 03901 Temple, ME 04984 Hinkley, ME 04944 Portland, ME 04101 Phone: 207-698-1664 Phone: 207-779-4445 Phone: 207-238-4250 Phone: 207-774-1822 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Cell: 207-43-4445 [email protected] Ellen Tenan (2012) Treasurer: Ellen Dyer (2013) Ruggles House 298 Tenan Lane Museum Consultant (In parentheses after each name is the year Cherryfield, ME 04622 81 Bobolink Lane the director began serving his/her term. Thomaston, ME 04861 Phone: 207-546-7903 A director can serve up to three successive two-year terms.) Phone: 207-226-3434 [email protected] [email protected]
EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
2013 Portland Museum of Art Biennial: McCarthyism in 1950. A sixth panel is a Piece Work scaled-down version of a larger-than-life pho- Exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art tograph of Senator Smith that will greet visi- through January 5 tors in the lobby of the Federal Building. The The 2013 Portland Museum of Art Biennial: exhibit will remain on display at the Margaret Piece Work is the eighth in an ongoing series Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan Monday to of juried exhibitions showcasing new or recent Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through the end work by living artists. Through a generous of the year. Admission to the Library is free. bequest by beloved Maine artist William Thon For more information, check www.mcslibrary. and his wife, Helen, the Biennial began in org or phone 207-474-7133. 1998 and has become a centerpiece of the PMA’s exhibition calendar for artists, audi- The Margaret Chase Smith Leonard and Merle Nelson ences, and arts professionals in the state of Federal Building Social Justice Fund: Ahmed Alsoudani in Maine and beyond. The juror for the Biennial Exhibition at the Margaret Chase Smith Conversation with Mark Bessire is Jessica May, Curator of Contemporary and Library, through 2013 Event at the Portland Museum of Art Modern Art, Portland Museum of Art. The To celebrate the renovation of the Margaret Wednesday, November 6, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. 2013 Portland Museum of Art Biennial: Piece Chase Smith Federal Building in Bangor, Join Redacted artist Ahmed Alsoudani and Work is made possible by the William E. and the Margaret Chase Smith Library has made PMA Director Mark Bessire in an evening of Helen E. Thon Endowment Fund, with addi- that the focus of its special exhibit for 2013. unedited talk about the artist’s work, his child- tional generous support from Roger and Jane Five panels tell the story of the construction hood in Iraq, and his experience as an artist in Goodell. Corporate sponsorship is provided of the building in 1967, dedication to Senator Portland and New York. Alsoudani and Bessire by Norton Insurance & Financial Services and Smith in 1984, renovation from 2009 to 2013, met in Portland when Ahmed was a student at media sponsorship is provided by The Portland and commission of a new mural by Maine- Maine College of Art (MECA). Alsoudani’s Phoenix. FMI: www.portlandmuseum.org / born artist Tim Rollins paying tribute to her work first garnered respect and attention 207-775-6148. “Declaration of Conscience” denunciation of —continued on page 5
Maine Archives & Museums Newsletter Vol. 16, No. 4 EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS continued from page 4 This is your opportunity to shop at a variety pening at the Saco Museum, so please check of museum gift shops all in one place and our website or our Facebook page! FMI: www. during his time at MECA; following that, get into the holiday spirit. Among the par- sacomuseum.org / 207-283-3861. Alsoudani went on to attend the Skowhegan ticipating museums are Tate House Museum, School of Painting and Sculpture and later Copper Beech Tree Lighting Maine Historical Society, Portland Landmarks, earned an M.F.A. at Yale School of Art. Bessire Event at the Portland Museum of Art Portland Headlight, Maine Audubon, Falmouth and Alsoudani have remained friends through- Friday, December 6, 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Historical Society, Irish Heritage Center and out Alsoudani’s career, and during this eve- Venture into the PMA’s Joan Burns Sculpture the Portland Museum of Art. FMI: 207-781- ning the two will discuss Alsoudani’s con- Garden during December’s First Friday Art 2330 / www.maineaudubon.org/events. tributions to 21st-century art. Bernard Osher Walk for a wintery holiday tradition. Light Foundation Auditorium. Free admission; res- candles and listen to the holiday choral music ervations are recommended. Ahmed Alsoudani of the Vox Nova Chamber Choir in anticipa- in Conversation with Mark Bessire is made tion of the spectacular lighting of the PMA’s possible by the Leonard and Merle Nelson Copper Beech tree. Music and caroling begin Social Justice Fund at the Portland Museum at 6:30 p.m., followed by Tree Lighting at 7 of Art. FMI: www.portlandmuseum.org / 207- p.m. Free admission! FMI: www.portlandmu 775-6148. seum.org / 207-775-6148. Fifth Annual Native American Film Festival Santa at the Scofield-Whittier House Screenings at the Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor Family event at the Pejepscot Historical November 7 and December 5, 7-9 p.m. Society, Saturday, December 7 The Fifth Annual Native American Film The Polar Express On Saturday, December 7, Santa Claus will Festival is underway at the Abbe Museum. At the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad visit with children at PHS’s Skolfield-Whittier This year, the festival will focus on the chang- Thanksgiving through Christmas House. Special tours of the house, refresh- ing representation of Native people in film, The Polar Express returns to the Maine Narrow ments, and holiday shopping will be available. specifically as Native writers, actors, and direc- Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum in Portland for FMI: www.pejepscothistorical.org. tors gain more control over telling their own a sixth season! Holiday decorations inside the Art of Katahdin stories. The series opened Thursday, October train add to the festive atmosphere as guests on Book-signing at the Portland Museum of Art 3 with The Last of the Mohicans. The second board meet the Conductor, enjoy hot chocolate Saturday, December 7, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. film, Thunderheart, is based on actual events and cookies served by our hot chocolate chefs, Free admission! Author and artist David Little on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. and listen to a reading of the story as they will sign copies of Art of Katahdin during Thunderheart follows an FBI man with Sioux journey to the “North Pole.” Santa will greet our Double Discount Weekend on Saturday, background who is sent to help with a murder children aboard the train while passengers sing December 7. Bring home a signed copy of this investigation. While on the reservation the along to carols as they travel back to the train beautiful book as a gift for the holidays . . . or agent faces his own past and has to come to station! The Polar Express is the largest annual for yourself! Art of Katahdin is available online terms with his heritage. The American Indian fundraiser for the museum. Tickets range from and in the PMA Store: $45 PMA members/$50 Movement (AIM), whose members were deep- $20-$40, and trains often sell out, so reserve non-members. FMI: www.portlandmuseum. ly involved with the events chronicled, helped your seats today! To purchase tickets contact org / 207-775-6148. inform the story, and some of the actors in the Porttix at www.porttix.com or 207-842-0800. film are members of AIM. FMI: www.mainenarrowgauge.org. Christmas at the Mason House Event at the Bethel Historical Society The film series will wrap up with More Than Ninth Annual Frybread on December 7, a film that showcas- Saturday, December 7, 3:30 to 6 p.m. Festival of Trees: This highly popular annual event transports es Native storytelling in a mockumentary style The Holly and the Ivy film written, directed, and acted with an almost visitors back in time as they enjoy music and Exhibition and Events at refreshments in the 1813 Mason House period all Native cast and crew. More Than Frybread the Dyer Library and Saco tells the story of twenty-two Native American rooms, which will be decorated in traditional Museum, November 29 mid-nineteenth century style and illuminated frybread makers, representing all twenty-two through December 29 federally recognized tribes in Arizona, who by candles. FREE! (Donations appreciated.) Join us this holiday season for the ninth The Mason House is located at 14 Broad convene in Flagstaff to compete for the first annual Festival of Trees: The Holly and the ever, first annual, state of Arizona Frybread Ivy, on view at the Saco Museum November Championship! Each film experience stands on 29 through December 29. The gala preview its own, but participants who attend the entire party kicks off this dazzling seasonal event series will learn more about the progression on Saturday, November 23 at 6 p.m. Tickets of Native representation in film. Discussions for this event are $20 and are available at about more recent representations, including the Saco Museum. The full festival opens on Twilight and The Lone Ranger will help place Friday, November 29 at 5:30 p.m. with the these films in a larger context. FMI: www. Tree Lighting and Ribbon Cutting ceremony. abbemuseum.org / [email protected] / Admission to the Festival of Trees is free all 207-288-3519. month long, and there are extended hours for this winter favorite: Sunday-Thursday, Noon Museum Holiday Shoppers Day Christmas at the Mason House At Audubon at Gilsland Farm, Falmouth - 5 p.m.; Friday, Noon - 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 Saturday, November 23, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. a.m. to 5 p.m. Other holiday events will be hap- —continued on page 6
Vol. 16, No. 4 Maine Archives & Museums Newsletter EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS continued from page 5 ture a display of railroad memorabilia. There is no charge for admission; refreshments will Street, Bethel. FMI: 207-824-2908 / www. be served and donations will be accepted. bethelhistorical.org. FMI: www.fairfieldmehistoricalsociety.net / 207-453-2998. Festival of Trees Family event at the Christmas Pot Luck Rumford Falls Auditorium Saturday, At the Mexico Town Hall December 14, 6 p.m. Mark McPheters attaches a December 16, 5 p.m. The Rumford Historical Society is again par- Christmas ball to the Christmas tree December 16 is the combined Rumford/Mexico ticipating in the Town of Rumford’s annu- at the Fairfield History House. Historical Societies’ Christmas Party pot luck al Festival of Trees contest, under the guidance supper. All those attending are asked to bring of member Gail Parent. It is hoped that the Christmas Open House a dish or dessert to share. Contributions of Society will again be the first-place winner, as At the Fairfield History House non-perishable foods are requested for our it was in 2012: the first time the Society had Saturday, December 7 and joint donation to the local food pantry. The participated! At the Rumford Falls Auditorium, Sunday, December 8, 3- 6 p.m. Mexico Town Hall is located at 134 Main 145 Congress Street, Rumford. The house, decorated for Christmas, will fea- Street, Mexico. •
A Man of Honor a former PHS curator and director, and met should arise before the news truly became continued from page 1 soon thereafter with her and with MSM public. I worked closely with various key director Bernard Fishman. Curator Laurie staff at Bowdoin, concerned that the news of out to be—and sent out the deed of gift LaBar also checked in. All three of them a “new” Medal of Honor be seen as a good paperwork. By the second week in August, were confident the medal was real. thing for both PHS and Bowdoin, given their we had the medal and the paperwork giving ownership of the 1904 replacement medal. us ownership of it. I then started working contacts on the nation- And on and on. al level. Friends put me in touch with Then the real work began. experts at the Library of Congress and the The process has been quite thrilling, at times, Smithsonian Institution. I also sought out and a real education for me—a museum I asked our volunteer registrar, Dick a historian with the Army’s Awards and director with only a year and a half at this Thompson, to have a look and do some Decorations Branch—the authority, it turned job for museum/public history training. It’s research. I didn’t believe he’d find much. out, to whom the Library of Congress and exciting to see Pejepscot Historical Society But two hours later he came into my office, Smithsonian folks would have eventually mentioned on the evening news and in papers sat down with a grave look on his face, and deferred anyway. I emailed lots of images across the country. And it will be great to said quietly, “Well. I think it might be the real and answered lots of questions. make a big deal out of the Medal of Honor thing.” (Dick’s also a very fine Yankee.) again in the spring, when our museums open In the end, consensus: Against all odds, it As we discovered, Chamberlain was award- for the 2014 season and when we’ve put the seemed that Joshua Chamberlain’s original ed the Medal of Honor in 1893, for his medal in its permanent location. Medal of Honor had indeed come home to service at Gettysburg in 1863. In 1904, Brunswick. But the best part has been that anonymous Congress redesigned the medal and told past donor. He wants no attention—the act of get- recipients they could get the new version Museum folk will easily imagine all that ting the medal to Chamberlain’s home was if they returned the originals. Recipients came next (and during, and in the middle enough for him—but he did make a point of protested, being attached to their originals, of the night, and still to the moment of my asking that his gift be recorded “in honor of and Congress relented, allowing vets to have writing this). I thought about how to roll all veterans.” two medals as long as they didn’t wear both out the news (members and Chamberlain at once. What we had was the original, 1893 Museum guides first, then the local paper, We have, of course, respected this wish. medal. then press release to as many outlets as pos- And in this donor, we’re so pleased to be reminded both that treasures of history are We talked and talked and looked at every sible); how to touch base with folks at the all around us—sometimes stuffed in the marginally reliable web site we could find, church in Massachusetts where the medal pages of a book on a church sale table—and looking for something to disprove the med- had supposedly been hidden in a book; how, that people of honor, anxious to do the right al’s authenticity. I started calling everyone I when, and where to display the medal this thing, can be as close as an unexpected could think of (and trust to keep quiet), look- fall (the Army has a number of guidelines for phone call away. ing for any hole in the story or telling detail display, and some fundraising will be neces- in the artifact that would suggest it came out sary for an appropriate case); where to store The Chamberlain Medal of Honor will be of a gumball machine in 1975 rather than in the medal when it wasn’t on display; etc. on display during the Pejepscot Historical the mail, to Brunswick, in 1893. I dealt with a premature Facebook posting Society’s special events for Veteran’s Day. by a member of the PHS board of trustees See p. 14 for details. Colleagues at the Maine State Museum were (who quickly realized his mistake and felt the first to encourage me to get a little excit- terrible about it) and counseled our small Jennifer Blanchard is the Director of the ed about our medal. I called Kate McBrien, staff on how to respond to inquiries if any Pejepscot Historical Society. •
Maine Archives & Museums Newsletter Vol. 16, No. 4 DISPATCHES
Our members report on news, awards and achievements from throughout the state.
half story structure will replicate the exterior bring conservator Ron Harvey to the museum of the nineteenth-century summer kitchen/shed to preserve 51 unique bird mounts and provide ell of the Society’s Robinson House, which a spring preservation workshop. was removed many years ago. Inside, the twenty-by-forty-foot wing will offer criti- Also at the L.C. Bates Museum, the hard cally needed storage space for the Society’s work and planning of Museum Committee extensive museum collections, as well as for member Robin Duperry developed and imple- materials used in the development of various mented the museum’s first, and to become exhibits at the Robinson and Mason houses. annual, Transportation Day in August. The day As part of a directed capital campaign, the included early cars on the museum lawn for Society has begun raising the additional funds visitors’ inspection, a well-informed tour guide needed to complete the collections wing proj- dressed for the 1950s, transportation hunts in ect—scheduled for the spring of 2014. The the museum exhibitions and children’s games Bethel Historical Society is located at 10 Broad and activities. Racing model cars delighted all Street, Bethel. FMI: (207) 824-2908 / www. the children, young and old. See photo in Seen bethelhistorical.org. & Heard, p. 12.
David Moses Bridges, Passamaquoddy, and BUXTON PRESQUE ISLE Presque Isle Historical Society Steve Cayard laying the frame on the bark. The Buxton-Hollis Historical Society has , in partner- moved into its “new” library and museum: the ship with Northern Maine Community College, BAR HARBOR 1912 Bar Mills Elementary School, 100 Main Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library, and The Abbe Museum recently hosted a month- Street (Route 4A), Bar Mills, Buxton. Staff and Presque Isle Middle School, has been awarded long artist-in-residence project; during volunteers continue to be very busy rehabilitat- a “Local & Legendary: Maine in the Civil War” August and September, David Moses Bridges, ing the building and have almost finished the grant (see p. 8 for more information about this Passamaquoddy, and Steve Cayard built a downstairs and part of the structural/outside grant initiative). This program is supported, fourteen-foot birchbark canoe in the Abbe’s work. The Society is open every Thursday and made possible by a grant from the Maine courtyard. Hundreds of visitors watched and from 4-8 p.m. and every Saturday from 9 a.m. Historical Society and Maine Humanities asked questions as these two expert craftsmen – 12 noon (through October), and by appoint- Council, with the support of the National built ribs and a frame, unrolled and attached ment. Contact at 207-929-1684 (leave mes- Endowment for the Humanities. This will be the bark and planks, lashed the bark to the sage) or www.buxtonhollishistorical.org. a year-long effort and will include an online frame with spruce roots, and etched beautiful exhibit on Maine Memory Network, a one- designs into the sides. The canoe was launched HINCKLEY man interactive play for a high-school audi- The L.C.Bates Museum is very pleased to at a special event for friends of the Abbe in ence on the decision many men who served be the recipient of two 2013 Museums for early September. This canoe will now serve as in the Civil War had to make as to whether to America grants from the Institute of Museum an educational tool for the museum and many return home or go elsewhere, four readings on and Library Services. The grants will imple- visitors to come! This program was made pos- various Civil War materials with the commu- ment new second-grade “ Naturalists” programs sible by a gift from David and Donna Reis. nity, and much more. (Any views, findings, con- and continue the preservation of the museum’s clusions, or recommendations expressed in this unique and historic ornithology mounts. These program do not necessarily represent those of projects will build the capacity of the museum the National Endowment for the Humanities.) to use its resources to support local school and family education. The conservation project will SKOWHEGAN John Taylor, the Museum Assistant at the Margaret Chase Smith Library, has been named the new Maine National History Day (NHD) State Coordinator. NHD promotes the teaching and learning of history to teenagers in Maine and throughout the country. Each year, through a combination of creativity and scholarship, students present their historical research in the form of papers, exhibits, per- Valentine Collections Wing under construction formances, web sites and documentaries in at the Bethel Historical Society state and national competitions. The 2014 state competition will take place on Saturday, April BETHEL 12, 2014, at the University of Maine campus Construction is well underway on the “Mary in Orono. Visit the website (http://umaine.edu/ E. Valentine Collections Wing” at the Bethel history/national-history-day/) or contact John Historical Society. Financed mainly by a Taylor at [email protected] to make $200,000 bequest from the estate of Miss Conservator Ron Harvey teaches a Very Young a donation to support the program or for more Valentine, a devoted member and dedicated Naturalist, Kaitlyn, to clean a bird, in this information on how your organization can help volunteer who died in 2012, the two-and-a- case an owl puppet. promote Maine National History Day. •
Vol. 16, No. 4 Maine Archives & Museums Newsletter Local and Legendary Grant Program Funds Five Community Teams, Invites New Applications by Larissa Vigue Picard
Last year, Maine Historical Society and supplemented by Gettysburg: The Graphic Maine Humanities Council received a joint History of America’s Most Famous Battle National Endowment for the Humanities and The Turning Point of the Civil War. grant for a collaborative three-year Civil War project commemorating the sesqui- • Gorham and Windham, a two-town centennial. The project involves two main collaboration involving both towns’ components: annual statewide symposia on historical societies and libraries, a various aspects of the War, and a commu- Windham Middle School class, and the nity grant program for ten Maine towns and Gorham Arts Alliance. While the towns cities. are operating as independent teams, they share the history of the Oriental or Fourteen months into the project, one sym- “Gambo” Powder Mill, which produced Belfast librarians Betsy Paradis and Brenda posium has taken place—this past April in 25% of the Union gunpowder during Harrington view the community’s prized Civ- Portland, attended by 175 people—and the the Civil War. The teams have chosen il War quilt at the Belfast Historical Society. first cohort of five community teams is four the young adult novel, The Mostly True months into their year-long investigation Adventures of Homer P. Figg, set in Maine and celebration of their Civil War history. and at Gettysburg, as their community Over the year, each team will plan and exe- read. cute a multi-event community read, build an exhibit on Maine Historical Society’s Maine • Portland/Westbrook, partnering Port- Memory Network (www.mainememory. land’s Friends of Evergreen Cemetery and net), and help create a custom performance Maine Masonic Civil War Library and piece on some aspect of the town’s Civil Museum, with My Place Teen Center and War story. Walker Memorial Library in Westbrook. The team will tell the story of Maine The community team model is founded on Masons in the Civil War and is also using a trio of organizations: a library, a historical The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. The Gambo Wheel Mill remains, at the his- society or other history-based organization, Figg as their community read. toric Gambo Mill site along the Pesumpscot and an educational institution or group, River between Gorham and Windham, are although teams are welcome to include addi- • Presque Isle, which brings together the slowly being reclaimed by nature. tional partners. The goal is to create sustain- Presque Isle Historical Society, Mark and able, intergenerational, civic partnerships Emily Turner Memorial Library, Northern and community conversation while sharing Maine Community College, and Presque local Civil War history and collections with Isle Middle School. Their community a wider audience. Teams receive a $2,000 read will use a series of four books: The grant to support project activities. Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg, This Republic of Suffering, A Vast Army This year’s five participating communities of Women, and Soldier’s Heart: Being the include: Story of the Enlistment and Due Service • Belfast, a partnership between the of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Belfast Free Library, Belfast Historical Minnesota Volunteers. Society, Belfast Senior College, and the To stay up to date with the teams’ progress, afterschool program, the Game Loft.