Save the date for Saturday, October 4th for PMM’s SardineFest. It will be a day of celebration of all things sardines and packed (like sardines) with music, family fun, speakers, food, and more. The webpage will be updated as we finalize the schedule.

There is still space available for exhibitors with a connection to Maine's maritime industries. If you are interested in exhibiting, you can find out more here.

We are also collecting clean, empty sardine cans for crafts. These can be dropped off at the Museum Store Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm.

Interested in volunteering to help at the event? Email us at museumoffices@pmm-maine.org to be added to the volunteer list.

By Cipperly Good, the Richard Saltonstall Jr. Curator of Maritime History

On Wednesday and Thursday, July 23 and 24 of this year, one of the birchbark canoes in the care of the Penobscot Marine Museum ventured north to Moosehead Lake. There it joined 17 other birchbark canoes at the Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival. On Wednesday, it underwent an inspection for watertightness, and then went on to participate in an exhibit of its contemporaries. On Thursday, it launched into the waters of Moosehead Lake, to the beat of a Penobscot drumming circle, to join the Birchbark Canoe Flotilla.

In 2006, the Penobscot Marine Museum commissioned Abenaki canoe builder Aaron York, with assistance by Penobscot canoe builders Gwenhuwhet and Hugga Dana, to build the birchbark canoe with funds from a 2006 NEH Grant. Although part of our permanent collection, its stated purpose is to get wet. This spring, we were honored to be invited to the Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival in Greenville Junction to participate in the Birch Bark Canoe Gathering & Exhibition and Birch Bark Canoe Flotilla!

More Eastern Illustrating Negatives Unearthed!

By Kevin Johnson, Photo Archivist

It has been a little while since I last reported “new” Eastern Illustrating negatives. Just when it seems that the collection has been put back together, more negatives appear. On a recent vacation, I took a ride to Springfield, Vermont to pick up some negatives that a postcard dealer had acquired. Little did I know there would be more than 1,000! The dealer, Paul Cook, had acquired the estate of another collector, which included this group of negatives. Cook generously agreed to donate the negatives to PMM to join our collection. 

Another collection of nearly 100 Maine plates owned by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission was loaned to us to be digitized. Collected over the years by Earle Shuttleworth for the Commission, these plates include new views of Belfast, Bayside and Eagle Lake among others. 

If that's not enough to get you excited, more towns continue to be adopted! Mary Hansen adopted the negatives from Kittery and an anonymous donor adopted some views of Greenville, Guilford, and Larabee. Keep checking our Digital Museum to see these new views as they are added!