On Writing a Land Acknowledgement

Recently, the museum began work on an institutional land acknowledgement. The process was approached with thoughtfulness and care, and we hope this synopsis of our process will be read with the same mindset.

Before the self-selecting staff working group of Luke Gates-Milardo, Allie Travers, Teresa Gandler, and

Andrea Headley, met for the first time, they reviewed a few foundational histories that informed our understanding of

colonization in the region in which the museum resides—including Maine Memory Network’s pages on the Kennebec and Pejepscot Proprietors, the Treaty of Arrowsic, and the Phipps Proclamation.

In the initial meeting, some basic questions were posed to lay the groundwork. These served as guideposts in each session to remain focused:

Why create a land acknowledgement?

• To acknowledge as fact the people whose ancestors are the original inhabitants of this land and to combat the attempted erasure of communities, cultures, and traditions

• To spark interest in further education, both for our institution to commit to more learning and to

inspire our visitors to do the same

• To counteract false founding myths that begin Maine’s maritime history with colonial settlement

• To publicly recognize the lasting injustices brought about by colonial expansion

• To embrace the truth of this place and its history

What is the end goal?

• To create a safe space for inviting, listening to, and sharing stories across cultures and

communities

• To develop and foster relationships with the Wabanaki people that demonstrate our desire to

learn, improve, and decolonize our institution

• To educate visitors on the deeper history of this place and to encourage learning from the cultures

and customs of its Indigenous communities

• To combat erasure

How will it have the largest impact?

• By being placed in a location easily visible to all who enter the museum

• By living on our website

• By being clear and succinct, allowing all to read and understand it

• By being the first of many actions taken, eventually allowing for similar acknowledgements

to exist across the grounds and galleries, including installations by Indigenous artists, interpretive

signage about Indigenous river usage, and exhibitions that relay a full, inclusive version of

Maine’s maritime identity

• By informing our Plaza inlay map’s inclusion of Indigenous place names

• By becoming one focus of the staff and Board’s educational journey

How broad is our definition of place?

• We recognize our 26-acre campus, the Kennebec River, Merrymeeting Bay, and the broader reach

of Maine’s waterways as within the scope of this statement creation

• We recognize Indigenous practices as examples of environmental stewardship and therefore vital to

the definition of place

• We recognize place must include the painful colonial history and its impacts still today

We also looked at similar institutions’ land acknowledgements for best practices on their useof language and scope and found inspiration on the websites of the Abbe Museum, the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, and the Portland Public Library.

After two collaborative writing sessions, we shared a draft statement with our land acknowledgement consultant, Director of Cultural and Historic Preservation for the Penobscot Nation James Eric Francis, Sr. He provided guidance for not only the statement, but also for actions to make the statement more impactful.

We plan to display the statement on the museum grounds and website this winter. And we plan to continue the work, of which this is the first step.

Land Acknowledgement

Maine Maritime Museum is located on the unsurrendered homeland of the Wabanaki, who have stewarded these lands and waters for generations. The Wabanaki nations include the Abenaki, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot.

We acknowledge the ongoing impacts of colonialism—the histories untold, lands unceded, and efforts to erase Indigenous peoples and cultures. We commit to listening to Indigenous communities, learning true and inclusive histories, and acting as trustworthy stewards of this region’s stories and spaces.