Maine Memory Network

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.)

Lincoln County through the Eastern Eye

The Penobscot Marine Museum’s photography collections include nearly 50,000 glass plate negatives of images for "real photo" postcards produced by the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company of Belfast. This exhibit features postcards from Lincoln County.

Designing Acadia

For one hundred years, Acadia National Park has captured the American imagination and stood as the most recognizable symbol of Maine’s important natural history and identity. This exhibit highlights Maine Memory content relating to Acadia and Mount Desert Island.

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.

Redact: Obscuring the Maine Constitution

In 2015, Maliseet Representative Henry Bear drew the Maine legislature’s attention to a historic redaction of the Maine Constitution. Through legislation drafted in February 1875, approved by voters in September 1875, and enacted on January 1, 1876, the Sections 1, 2, and 5 of Article X (ten) of the Maine Constitution ceased to be printed. Since 1876, these sections are redacted from the document. Although they are obscured, they retain their validity.

400 years of New Mainers

Immigration is one of the most debated topics in Maine. Controversy aside, immigration is also America's oldest tradition, and along with religious tolerance, what our nation was built upon. Since the first people--the Wabanaki--permitted Europeans to settle in the land now known as Maine, we have been a state of immigrants.

Music in Maine - Community and School Marching Bands

"… Society X Members of the Penobscot Nation toured the country as The Penobscot Band. During this time period, Indigenous bands often performed…"

Gifts From Gluskabe: Maine Indian Artforms

According to legend, the Great Spirit created Gluskabe, who shaped the world of the Native People of Maine, and taught them how to use and respect the land and the resources around them. This exhibit celebrates the gifts of Gluskabe with Maine Indian art works from the early nineteenth to mid twentieth centuries.

Music in Maine - MAKE

"… Homeland to Maine in 1929 when he moved to the Penobscot Nation with his spouse, Lucy Nicolar. Music continues to be a critical tool for connecting…"

CODE RED: Climate, Justice & Natural History Collections

Explore topics around climate change by reuniting collections from one of the nation's earliest natural history museums, the Portland Society of Natural History. The exhibition focuses on how museums collect, and the role of humans in creating changes in society, climate, and biodiversity.

Music in Maine - Opera, Orchestras and Stages

"Lucy and Bruce Poolaw were partners in life and business. They pushed for the betterment of the Penobscot for their entire lives."

Building the International Appalachian Trail

Wildlife biologist Richard Anderson first proposed the International Appalachian Trail (IAT) in 1993. The IAT is a long-distance hiking trail along the modern-day Appalachian, Caledonian, and Atlas Mountain ranges, geological descendants of the ancient Central Pangean Mountains. Today, the IAT stretches from the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine, through portions of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Europe, and into northern Africa.

Land Claims, Economic Opportunities?

The landmark 1980 Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act provided $81.6 million to Maine Indians for economic development, land purchase and other purposes. The money and increased land holdings, however, have not solved economic and employment issues for Maine Indians.

Making Paper, Making Maine

Paper has shaped Maine's economy, molded individual and community identities, and impacted the environment throughout Maine. When Hugh Chisholm opened the Otis Falls Pulp Company in Jay in 1888, the mill was one of the most modern paper-making facilities in the country, and was connected to national and global markets. For the next century, Maine was an international leader in the manufacture of pulp and paper.

Looking Out: Maine's Fire Towers

Maine, the most heavily forested state in the nation, had the first continuously operational fire lookout tower, beginning a system of fire prevention that lasted much of the twentieth century.

Music in Maine - Music stores

"Bull Moose is now one of the nation's largest sellers of music, movies, games, and books with eleven retail locations in Maine and New Hampshire and…"

Music in Maine - Music and Television

"Inspired by national tv shows featuring teens and music like American Bandstand, Astor’s performance skits included music, dance, and comedy routines."

Music in Maine - Rock and Roll, Punk, and Elvis

"… other than these rock and roll concerts? The national acts that played in southern Maine had a very local impact."

Music in Maine - HEAR

"Dwayne Tomah, a member of the Passamaquoddy Nation from Sipayik (Pleasant Point), discussed the importance of wax cylinder recordings made in 1890 by…"

Music in Maine - Radio Cowboys and Country Music

"… major impact on the musical culture of Maine, the nation, and the world. Following a carefully screened nomination process, potential inductees…"

Music in Maine - Country Music

"He won a national talent contest hosted by Arthur Godfrey in 1957, and over his career had twenty-two Billboard country hits."

Music in Maine - Community Music

"… creating a solidarity between farmers across the nation. Rural communities in Maine used Grange buildings as community centers, hosting dances and…"

Dressing Up, Standing Out, Fitting In

Adorning oneself to look one's "best" has varied over time, gender, economic class, and by event. Adornments suggest one's sense of identity and one's intent to stand out or fit in.

Music in Maine - Music in Maine

"Music in Maine Music is something we share as humans—non-verbal forms of storytelling and expressions of beauty and emotions through sound."