Not a member?

Do you enjoy watching our programming on YouTube? Be sure to subscribe to make sure you see all our content.

If you didn't get your copy of the award winning book Maine on Glass: The Early Twentieth Century in Glass Plate Photography before it sold out in 2019, you now have another opportunity! The book was authored by PMM Photo Archivist Kevin Johnson, Maine State Historian Earle Shettleworth and acclaimed history author William H. Bunting. The book explores the Maine photographs made by the photographers of the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. It was first published in 2016 and was the winner of the New England Society of the City of New York for photography in 2017, and was also a finalist for the John N. Cole Award for Maine-Themed Nonfiction for the Maine Literary Awards.

PMM received a gift from the Albert B. Glickman & Judy Glickman Lauder Foundation to help with the reprinting, and to provide a copy of the book to every public library in the state of Maine! The Maine interlibrary loan system will deliver the books to all of the libraries that participate, however, there are 92 libraries who do not participate. If anyone could help us by delivering a copy to one of these libraries, please reach out to Kevin Johnson at 207-548-2529 or [email protected]. You can view the list of libraries here.

Maine on Glass, autographed by all three authors, is available in the Museum Store and online store.

Maynard Bray Collection August 2023

Vintage Color, Vintage Cruising

By Matt Wheeler, Digital Collections Curator

Parallel to Maynard’s long chronicle of boats, builders, and sailors in black and white, he did manage to capture some color images. This month, we’re sharing pictures shot mostly on Kodachrome film, whose brilliant colors, deep contrast, and durability are beloved by analog photographers (some of whom probably have a few rolls of the prized stock stashed away in their freezers). Our selection focuses on cruising—the people and the boats. While many of the people shown in our selection aren’t with us anymore, most of the boats have changed hands, been restored and maintained, and are still sailing.

Visit our Onsite with Maynard blog to read more and browse the images.

Kosti Ruohomaa Collection August 2023

By Matt Wheeler, Digital Collections Curator

In his 20s, Ruohomaa’s professional orbit settled around the high energy of visual arts in southern California. His connection to the journalist Will Connell became the incubator for his photographic talent. During these experimental years, he visited an Angora rabbit farm in Van Nuys. The images he captured there typified his ability to create droll and unusual content from ordinary subjects.

As he matured, his artistic focus settled more often on his roots. He often photographed Maine fishermen at work. These were Ruohomaa’s kind of people, whose workdays started in the dark and

and took them out beyond their homes in Maine harbors in the wind, rain, and chop. In the photographer’s mind, a seasoned lobsterman working out of a Downeast village might have represented a holdout against urbanization and economic drudgery. In the summer of 1959, he collaborated with his friend, the writer Margaret Neeson, on a story about the Post family, who spent half the year fishing from their rustic outpost on Mink Island near Jonesport. The photo essay was produced for Skipper magazine, Neeson’s employer.

To view the new content, visit the museum’s Kosti Ruohomaa site.

Soundings magazine published an article spotlighting the photography of Ruth Montgomery, whose photographic collection resides at PMM.

A huge thank Hamilton Marine for showing their support of the work we do here at PMM by renewing their business membership!