Maine State Museum

Maine State Museum The Maine State Museum seeks to share what is meaningful about Maine and its place in the world. **The museum is temporarily closed.

Unfortunately, the major renovation project at the Maine State Museum will likely mean that the museum will not reopen until 2026.**

As the dates for the museum’s reopening become more definite, more information will be available on the museum’s website. The Maine State Museum is the state’s foremost general museum, collecting and exhibiting the finest of Maine’s natural and cultural heritage. Th

e museum’s collection includes almost one million objects and specimens, representing the breadth of Maine’s rich legacy. In representing the state’s best efforts to preserve its dynamic history, the Maine State Museum helps Maine people understand the present and imagine and prepare for the future. Find our Social Media Guidelines at: https://mainestatemuseum.org/about-us/social-media-guidelines/

📖✒️ Welcome to Journalling June! We’re cracking open the diaries, personal letters, and other texts of the famous, the i...
06/02/2026

📖✒️ Welcome to Journalling June! We’re cracking open the diaries, personal letters, and other texts of the famous, the infamous, and the forgotten to find out how different (or surprisingly similar) daily life really was–in their own words. 📖✒️

This letter, from Samuel Sewall of York to his brother Dummer Sewall in Bath, dated June 1783, describes the town’s celebrations that followed news of the end of the American Revolutionary War. The day began with an American Salute and some celebration at the local Brick Tavern and ended with the roar of celebratory gunfire. The war was formally concluded later that year with the September 1783 Treaty of Paris, which officially recognized the Thirteen Colonies as free, sovereign, and independent states.

Image ID: Letter from Samuel Sewall to Dummer Sewall, York, Maine, June 1783, MS2022.55

Transcription below:

'As this was the place of your nativity, perhaps it may not be disagreeable to be informed of the conduct of the Inhabitants on the Day of their rejoicing in consequence of Peace, give me leave to congratulate you on the occasion and give you a Sketch. The bright morn was begun with an American Salute. A respectable number of Gentlemen Dined at the Brick-Tavern where good humor & decorum were conspicuous.

At the opening of so bright a June as Peace what could be considered more Suitable for the occasion than a general discharge of the destructive instruments of War (how happy for the human race if they were converted to the Utensils of husbandry) but as Powder in sufficient quantity for the grand design could not be collected from private property, an expedient was hit on to make up the deficiency from the Public-Stock. It is true I was unwilling at first to part with one half ton that fell to my lot to secure, for I did not then consider that it was impossible to apply that Villanous Composition to a better purpose than a Sacrifice to Peace-the indulged Multitude would hear with admiration that dangerous, black Villainous, loud, expiring Roar.'

Last year, the museum acquired a rare powder horn that was used and inscribed by Thomas Simons, a soldier who served at ...
05/29/2026

Last year, the museum acquired a rare powder horn that was used and inscribed by Thomas Simons, a soldier who served at Fort Pownall in Stockton Springs, Maine. Private Simons was assigned to the garrison periodically from 1765 to 1770.

A powder horn is fabricated from the hollowed-out horn of a bull. In the days prior to self-contained paper or brass cartridges, these horns were used by each shooter to transport their personal ration of gunpowder. Soldiers often etched their names, designs, and images into the cortex of powder horns in a way similar to that of sailors creating scrimshaw on whale bones and teeth.

This powder horn was brought to the attention of the Maine State Museum archaeology department by a local colleague who had used the detailed map found in the intricate carvings to locate archaeological features such as the redoubt (or outpost) that protected the southwestern flank of Fort Pownall.

The Simons family powder horn has truly been a clue to the past that will find a safe home in the collections of the Maine State Museum so that it may be studied by researchers for generations to come.

📷 Image ID: Carved powder horn, ca. 1780s, MSM collections, 2025.37

🌊🦦 In April 2025, a groundbreaking study led by current and former Maine State Museum staff was published in the 'Journa...
05/27/2026

🌊🦦 In April 2025, a groundbreaking study led by current and former Maine State Museum staff was published in the 'Journal of Quaternary Research', illuminating some mysteries of the now-extinct sea mink.

➡️ Read about the elusive sea mink here: https://mainestatemuseum.org/news-videos-and-stories/gone-but-not-forgotten/

🖼️ Image ID: Plate XVII from Charles T. Jackson’s 1837 ‘Atlas of Plates Illustrating the Geology of the State of Maine,’ shows a sea mink (bottom left) on the rocky coast. MSM 2017.8.1

🦀✨It's Maine Makers May! Today, we're highlighting the work of James B. Hamlin. ✨🦀This silver horseshoe crab was made by...
05/24/2026

🦀✨It's Maine Makers May! Today, we're highlighting the work of James B. Hamlin. ✨🦀

This silver horseshoe crab was made by Maine silversmith, James B. Hamlin (1898-1994). James grew up on his family farm in North Bridgton, Maine. He attended Bates College and lived in New York after serving in World War I, where he began taking silversmith classes at the Cooper Union. He studied under Danish engineer and master craftsman, Lauritz Eichner, whom he worked for from 1939-1942.

James made this horseshoe crab in 1939 for the New York World’s Fair. It has more than 100 moveable parts and took him over 200 hours to create. In a 1975 Portland Press Herald article, James remarked that he vowed never to make another. James returned to Maine in 1954 where he spent the rest of his life working and teaching in his silversmith studio in North Bridgton.

📸 Image ID: Miniature Silver Horseshoe Crab, New Jersey, 1939, MSM 2000.96.2

✨🏛️ It’s official: the ‘My Maine Museum’ digital exhibit highlighting student voices is now live on our website! ✨🏛️The ...
05/21/2026

✨🏛️ It’s official: the ‘My Maine Museum’ digital exhibit highlighting student voices is now live on our website! ✨🏛️

The ‘My Maine Museum’ pilot program, developed and coordinated by the museum's education division with Skowhegan teacher Allison Poulin, was designed to show K-12 students that the Maine State Museum is their museum, and their lives are an important part of Maine’s past and present.

202 participating students from five schools statewide selected for the program were challenged to “create history” with a final project that celebrates a person, place, or thing meaningful to their lives in Maine. Their images and words are now available to view on the museum's website at MaineStateMuseum.org/My-Maine-Museum.

👐 It's Maine Maker's May! Today, we're highlighting the work of Edith and Arthur Kelley. 👐When Edith (1923-2008) and Art...
05/16/2026

👐 It's Maine Maker's May! Today, we're highlighting the work of Edith and Arthur Kelley. 👐

When Edith (1923-2008) and Arthur Kelley (1916-2006) of Allagash, Maine hired a driller to dig a well at their summer home on the banks of the St. John River in 1960, grey clay began flooding their basement.

Edith had studied ceramics and discovered that when fired, the clay turned a bright red/orange color and became hard as a rock. They began making pottery for sale at their shop in Allagash, which they called Allaware Pottery. Edith’s sister, Mary Walker (1913-1998) joined them and introduced hand painted one-stroke designs taken from the natural surroundings, as seen in this mug.

📸 Image ID: Allaware Mug, Allaware Pottery, Allagash, Maine, 1960-1980, MSM 2006.33.5

🦫🎩 The Maine State Museum recently acquired this 1831-1850 bandbox covered in block-printed wallpaper that depicts beave...
05/13/2026

🦫🎩 The Maine State Museum recently acquired this 1831-1850 bandbox covered in block-printed wallpaper that depicts beavers.

Bandboxes came in various sizes. Some held small personal items to store in the home or during travel. Others, like this example, were large enough to hold hats.

The choice of a beaver motif on this bandbox seems a nod to the beaver hats that were wildly popular in Europe and America from the 1600s until the early 1800s when silk hats surpassed them in fashion.

During the colonial era fur trade, North American beavers were the most prized pelts. The beaver’s thick undercoat, adapted to cold northern climates, was felted and formed into warm, waterproof hats. By the 1700s, Wabanaki hunters had depleted Maine’s beaver population to meet the French and English trade demand for beaver hats, and the fur trade largely moved west.

This bandbox was sold and owned in Machias, Maine. The bottom of the box is inscribed in graphite “Wm. Brown/Machias.” William Brown (1797-1866) was a Machias merchant. The interior bottom is inscribed “Mrs. Julia Ann Ham.” The bandbox was owned by Julia Ann (Goodhue) Ham (1806-1891) who married Capt. Benjamin Ham (1801-1847) in 1831 in Machias. 🦫🎩

📸 Image ID: Bandbox with beaver motif, 1831-1850, maker unknown, Machias, Maine, MSM Collections

🦫🎩The Maine State Museum recently acquired this 1831-1850 bandbox covered in block-printed wallpaper that depicts beaver...
05/13/2026

🦫🎩The Maine State Museum recently acquired this 1831-1850 bandbox covered in block-printed wallpaper that depicts beavers. 🦫🎩

Bandboxes came in various sizes. Some held small personal items to store in the home or during travel. Others, like this example, were large enough to hold hats.
The choice of a beaver motif on this bandbox seems a nod to the beaver hats that were wildly popular in Europe and America from the 1600s until the early 1800s when silk hats surpassed them in fashion.

During the colonial era fur trade, North American beavers were the most prized pelts. The beaver’s thick undercoat, adapted to cold northern climates, was felted and formed into warm, waterproof hats. By the 1700s, Wabanaki hunters had depleted Maine’s beaver population to meet the French and English trade demand for beaver hats, and the fur trade largely moved west.

This bandbox was sold and owned in Machias, Maine. The bottom of the box is inscribed in graphite “Wm. Brown/Machias.” William Brown (1797-1866) was a Machias merchant. The interior bottom is inscribed “Mrs. Julia Ann Ham.” The bandbox was owned by Julia Ann (Goodhue) Ham (1806-1891) who married Capt. Benjamin Ham (1801-1847) in 1831 in Machias.

📸 Image ID: Bandbox with beaver motif, 1831-1850, maker unknown, Machias, Maine


MSM Collections

🧺 It's Maine Makers May! Today, we're highlighting the incredible work of Lena Polchies. 🧺These handkerchief baskets, ma...
05/09/2026

🧺 It's Maine Makers May! Today, we're highlighting the incredible work of Lena Polchies. 🧺

These handkerchief baskets, made of ash splint and braided sweetgrass, were created by Helena (Lena) Nicolar Polchies (1888-1963) a member of the Penobscot Nation from Indian Island Penobscot Reservation. Basket making is one of the oldest art forms in Maine and a tradition passed from generation to generation. Lena learned the skill of basket making from her mother, Madeline Martha Hubbard Ranco (1868-1954) and continued making baskets for most of her life.

Fancy baskets like this one were sold to tourists or used in the home. Basket makers would often specialize in different forms and designs, making their work distinguishable. Lena seemed to specialize in these elaborate handkerchief baskets, which were used to store handkerchiefs, gloves or sewing notions.

📸 Image ID: Handkerchief baskets, Helena (Lena) B. Nicolar Polchies (1888-1963), Indian Island Penobscot Reservation, Circa 1930s, MSM 69.50.3, 81.147.21, 81.147.22

✨ It's so nice to see the museum filled with students once again before we officially open in October! ✨📝 Last month, un...
05/07/2026

✨ It's so nice to see the museum filled with students once again before we officially open in October! ✨

📝 Last month, undergraduate and graduate history students and faculty from the University of Maine visited the Maine State Museum and Maine State Archives to learn about collection care, exhibit development, and internship opportunities.

🔬 Students were met by museum curatorial and conservation staff, who led a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum spaces and discussed new exhibits and the museum's reopening work.

Address

230 State St
Augusta, ME
04330

Telephone

+12072872301

Website

https://mainestatemuseum.org/support/2025-maine-state-museum-statewide-preview-events/

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