Maine Memory Network

Miniature camp scene, Wabanaki, ca. 1910

Contributed by: Abbe Museum Date: circa 1910 Media: Ash splints, sweetgrass, dye

Wabanaki peaked hat, ca. 1820

Contributed by: Boston Children's Museum Date: circa 1820 Media: Wool, glass bead, silk ribbon

Holding up the Sky: Wabanaki people, culture, history, and art

Learn about Native diplomacy and obligation by exploring 13,000 years of Wabanaki residence in Maine through 17th century treaties, historic items, and contemporary artworks—from ash baskets to high fashion. Wabanaki voices contextualize present-day relevance and repercussions of 400 years of shared histories between Wabanakis and settlers to their region.

Northern Threads: Penobscot mocassins

A themed exhibit vignette within "Northern Threads, Part I," about telling stories through Indigenous clothing, featuring an essay by Jennifer Sapiel Neptune (Penobscot.)

Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - Wabanaki Today

"Wabanaki Today Wabanaki Today The Indian encampments are no longer part of the cultural or physical makeup of Mount Desert Island; however the…"

Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - Indians & Rusticators: Wabanakis & Summer Visitors on Mount Desert Island 1840s-1920s

"Wabanaki encampment, Bar Harbor, ca. 1890Abbe Museum In the olden days, from about 1860 to 1900, I well remember that Indian encampments were the…"

Wabanaki Fashion
by Decontie & Brown

Keeping the spirit and memories of our ancestors alive through fashion and creativity

Masters and apprentices
by Theresa Secord

Wabanaki basket makers learn to weave by apprenticing with master artists.

Wabanaki Studies: Out of Ash

Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 Content Area: Science & Engineering, Social Studies
This lesson plan will give middle and high school students a broad overview of the ash tree population in North America, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) threatening it, and the importance of the ash tree to the Wabanaki people in Maine. Students will look at Wabanaki oral histories as well as the geological/glacial beginnings of the region we now know as Maine for a general understanding of how the ash tree came to be a significant part of Wabanaki cultural history and environmental history in Maine. Students will compare national measures to combat the EAB to the Wabanaki-led Ash Task Force’s approaches in Maine, will discuss the benefits and challenges of biological control of invasive species, the concept of climigration, the concepts of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and how research scientists arrive at best practices for aiding the environment.

The Fur Trade in Maine

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12, Postsecondary Content Area: Science & Engineering, Social Studies
This lesson presents an overview of the history of the fur trade in Maine with a focus on the 17th and 18th centuries, on how fashion influenced that trade, and how that trade impacted Indigenous peoples and the environment.