A presentation on cultivating youth leadership in education, research and technology, through the Island Institute's Island Fellows Program. The Island Institute is a pioneer in cultivating Maine's island and coastal communities. Their initiatives in building leadership, as well as economic and environmental sustainability, bring opportunity and support to these unique cultures. Karen Burns, Chief Talent Officer, will provide insight into these island communities and the Island Institute's Island Fellows Program, which places recent college graduates in multi-year fellowships among Maine's island communities. Burns will share some inspiring stories of the program's success in cultivating youth leadership in education, research and technology. This event will be held online, via Zoom. Members $3; nonmembers $5

Kathleen Goddu, a featured artist in the Interwoven exhibit, will host a lecture and demonstration of traditional Japanese Shibori (indigo-dyed fabric) techniques and the indigo dyeing process. Goddu will introduce the cultural and economic importance of indigo to Japanese culture and textile arts that inspired beautiful textile traditions that continue to influence today’s fashions. Attendees will have the opportunity to view examples of historic Japanese textiles and Goddu’s shibori fabrics up-close. This workshop is part of the Donnell Family Forum, a series of exhibits, workshops, and lectures inspired by the lives of the Donnells, a 19th century family whose home is now a part of Maine Maritime Museum.  

In this online, interactive lecture, author-journalist Dyke Hendrickson presents on his book, New England Coast Guard Stories: Remarkable Mariners. A former editor and reporter with the Portland Press Herald and the Central Maine Morning Sentinel of Waterville, Mr. Hendrickson is the recipient of several writing awards. He has resided in several Maine seaside communities and although he now lives in Newburyport, MA, he is a historian with the Merrimack River Watershed Council and continues to speak, via Zoom, to clubs, associations, and historical gatherings on the history of the Coast Guard and the Merrimack River. In addition to his work in Maine, he has been a writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Boston Herald and as a contributor to USA Today, the Boston Globe and Tennis magazine. Mr. Hendrickson's book, New England Coast Guard Stories: Remarkable Mariners, is available to purchase both in the Maine Maritime Museum store or in addition to your ticket to this online presentation.

Maine Maritime Museum's new exhibit, A Sailor's Treasure: Sea Chests & Curiosities, provides a peek inside the sailor's sea chest - a place where both the essential and the exotic were stowed while at sea. Join Chief Curator Christopher Timm as he shares how the exhibit came to fruition, the stories behind some of the artifacts, and a look at objects from the collection that had to be left unpacked.   Members $3; nonmembers $5 This is a Zoom event.

Perhaps none have had a greater influence on our collective imagination of pirates as Robert Louis Stevenson. The Muppets, Disney, N.C. Wyeth, and countless others have shaped popular ideas of piracy based on Stevenson's Treasure Island. Walk the plank with Maine Maritime Museum's Assistant Curator, Paul Fuller, for a fun and lighthearted peek at some popular piracy myths and an examination of the map of how we got here in the first place.   Members $3; nonmembers $5 This is a Zoom event.

Raid the closet with Maine Maritime Museum's Collections Manager, Kelly Page, for a head-to-toe exploration of occupational garments, imported dress, and some items of surprising composition. See how materials, origins, and purposes reflected in MMM's textile and personal accessory collections weave threads in a number of historical narratives including material culture, technology, fashion, and globalization.   Members $3; nonmembers $5 This is a Zoom event.  

Sarah Timm, Manager of Interpretation at Maine Maritime Museum, will discuss objects from MMM's collection that were collected by 19th century Maine captains and crews during their stops in ports around the world during a period of rapid globalized trade. The souvenirs Maine sailors chose to bring home often tell us more about an American worldview than the cultures they are intended to represent. Explore themes of authenticity, cultural appropriation, and the effects of cultural exchange by tracing how these souvenirs transformed in meaning and function once they arrived to American shores.   Members $3; nonmembers $5 This is a Zoom event.

As owners of the Bath Printing Company, Tom and Ash Kahrl, have inherited a wealth of Bath history preserved in antique printing plates. Join Tom and Ash as they trace Bath history through prints and share the 75-year history of how Bath Printing has served the community. From letterpress to the digital age, learn how the shop meets the needs of a wide-range of local customers through historic examples and print technique demonstrations. This lecture is FREE, but preregistration is required. Generously sponsored by

How Will Maine Fishing Families Weather the Storm: A Conversation Between a Bestselling Maine Writer and a Leading Maine Fishing Advocate Join Maine Maritime Museum and The Maine Coast Fisherman’s Association for a talk with Maine author Susan Conley, author of the new, bestselling novel Landslide, and Monique Coombs, Director of Community Programs at the Maine Coast Fisherman’s Association. Conley is a fourth-generation Mainer who grew up in Midcoast Maine. Her latest novel Landslide is a love letter to her home state that in part asks what can be done to save commercial fishing in Maine—one of the state’s most storied industries. The novel takes us to a modern fishing village where livelihoods are jeopardized by warming waters. As compelling as it is moving, the book speaks to the landslide of change that Maine fishing families face today. Many argue that there isn’t a more sustainable commercial fishery than Maine’s, but how will the state and its fishing families weather the coming changes? Susan will be joined by Maine Coast Fisherman’s Associations Director of Community Programs Monique Coombs, who works with commercial fishermen to bring sustainability to Maine fishing and fishing families, and is also a wife and mother of a Maine fishing family. Susan Conley grew up in Midcoast Maine and is the author of five critically acclaimed books, including her recent, bestselling novel Landslide which was named a New York Times “Editor’s Choice” and a “Best Book” by Good Morning America, The New York Post, and others. She’s been awarded multiple fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, as well as fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, The Maine Arts Commission, and the Massachusetts Arts Council. She's won the Maine Book Award and the Maine Award for Publishing Excellence and has been a featured Tedx Speaker, where her talk the "Power of Story," has been viewed widely. She lives with her family in Portland, Maine, where she’s the co-founder of the Telling Room, a youth creative writing center. Monique Coombs is Director of Community Programs at the Maine Coast Fisherman’s Association where she works with commercial fishermen to develop ways to protect, persevere, and revitalize Maine's working waterfronts, bringing sustainability to fishing and fishing families. Monique is also a wife and mother of a local fishing family with intimate knowledge of the challenges fishing families face. Monique has been published in National Fisherman, Commercial Fisheries News, Heated, HuffPost Green, and Civil Eats. Proceeds from this event will benefit both Maine Maritime Museum and the Maine Coast Fisherman's Association. Copies of Landslide will be available for purchase at the talk and through our online reservations.  

Meet Charles Norris, a local artist and printmaker, as he walks us through his many visual inspirations when recording his own impressions of the Maine coast and its vessels. Norris's long family and professional history in Bath, Popham, other local communities imbues his work with a unique sense of place and heritage. Learn how illustrated maritime books, historical charts, and maritime artifacts influence the artist's approach to design and composition. This lecture is FREE; preregistration is required. Generously sponsored by

Carroll Thayer Berry's prints captured the movement and culture of Maine's shipyards and people in the mid-20th century using a distinctive style of dynamic line and geometry. Join Penobscot Marine Museum's Richard Saltonstall, Jr. Curator of Maritime History, Cipperly Good, as she shares interesting perspectives on this prolific Maine printmaker, garnered from PMM's extensive collection of Berry's photographs and prints. As Good speaks remotely from PMM, lecture participants will also have an opportunity to get an up-close view of Maine Maritime Museum's Berry prints. This lecture is FREE, but preregistration is required. Generously sponsored by

The Arctic and Gulf of Maine are widely recognized as "canaries in the coal mine" for signaling the impact of global warming. Dealing with climate change will take a mix of actions. How can individuals make a difference for a global problem? John Zittel has been working to understand the variety of measures that are possible to address the climate challenge. This unique workshop will foster discussion on how to recognize the problem, identify national and global action, and empower participants to learn how to take local action such as reducing emissions, capturing carbon dioxide, and navigating market and policy options at our disposal. Participants will be empowered to learn and brainstorm ways to initiate local long and short-term solutions. This is a free workshop

In this richly illustrated lecture, Libby Bischof, Executive Director of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education and Professor of History at the University of Southern Maine, explores the role of 20th century women mapmakers in portraying the Maine Coast on maps made for residents and tourists alike, with an emphasis on pictorial maps made by Ruth Rhoads Lepper, Mildred C. Green, Katherine Dudley, and others. These colorful and highly detailed maps combine deep historical research with artistic and cartographic skill, and we'll compare examples from Maine with maps produced throughout New England. Midcoast Maine Map: Ruth Rhoads Lepper, Mid-Coast Maine, 1979. From the Collection of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, Univeristy of Southern Maine.

Join Donald Soctomah, author, Passamaquoddy tribal historian, and storyteller, as he introduces ancestral birch bark traditions preserved in traditional canoe building and ongoing efforts in tribal stewardship of the land and waters. Mr. Soctomah's commitment to teaching native culture has led to an impressive collection of work including publications on histories of the Passamaquoddy tribe, children's books, compilations of tribal music, and historical films. This lecture is FREE, but preregistration is required. Registrants will receive a Zoom link via email. Generously sponsored by

Join James Swinden, president of the Irvine Museum, for a gallery talk and exploration of the new exhibit Arthur Beaumont: Art of the Sea. Free with admission

Historian Seth Goldstein will discuss Maine’s complex relationship with Atlantic World African enslavement. Through a deep dive into what was known as “The West Indies Trade,” Seth will explain how various commodities like lumber and salt cod, produced in Maine, were shipped to the slave plantations of the Caribbean. In return Mainers consumed large quantities of sugar, molasses, rum, and exotic fruits produced by enslaved Africans. Portland, Maine’s largest port and fish export center, was the nexus of this exchange. This event is FREE, but preregistration is required.

Join Chris Timm, interim executive director, for an exploration of the art of James Stilphen, art director and technical illustrator at Bath Iron Works, whose work created a rich world populated by Maine's maritime past, present, and future. This event is FREE, but preregistration is required.

Join local historian Barbara Desmarais for a story and a genealogy workshop. She’ll tell the true tale of the Heustons, a prominent Black family of Bath/Brunswick, Maine by sharing field and archival research she used to qualify Heuston Burying Ground as a national “Underground Railroad: Network to Freedom” site. In the hands-on workshop, she’ll use documents from her own ancestral mysteries to introduce participants to the techniques and common mistakes of genealogical research.

Geoffrey Beaumont, son of featured artist Arthur Beaumont and author of the Art of the Sea exhibit catalog, will share a personal view of his father’s life and work that produced watercolors and pen and ink drawings of naval and maritime life and action on the seas. Beaumont's works are currently on display at Maine Maritime Museum in the exhibit, "Arthur Beaumont: Art of the Sea."

Associate Professor of Africana Studies and English, Tess Chakkalakal, will discuss her collaboration with the Maine Maritime Museum in teaching the Introduction to Africana Studies in which students, for the first time in the history of the course, curated an exhibit at the Museum on the subject of ships and slavery. Professor Chakkalakal will provide insight on class conversations connecting African American literature, multiplicity of perspectives, and the challenges of exhibiting these narratives in a gallery. This event is FREE, but preregistration is required.

Come learn the history and restoration efforts behind the Schooner AJ Meerwald, a wooden oyster schooner being restored in Lincolnville, ME! Schooner AJ Meerwald, New Jersey's Official Tall Ship The 1928 Schooner AJ Meerwald is spending this winter and spring in Belfast undergoing a restoration under Clark & Eisele. During the talk, hear about the history of the AJ Meerwald with Connie McCart, co-author of The AJ Meerwald and New Jersey's Oyster Industry, to learn about the Meerwald and Phillips families and find out why the Delaware Bay's Maurice River Cove was the "Oyster Capital of the World".

A native of Portland and at least the eighth generation of his family to be born in Cumberland County, Bob Greene is a retired journalist and genealogist who has researched the Black history of his native state for years. He helped with the seminal work, “Maine’s Visible Black History, The First Chronicle of its People,” which was co-authored by H.H. Price and Gerald E. Talbot. Greene will expand our understanding of Maine’s maritime heritage to include Black contributions and histories that were always present but often overlooked. This event is FREE, but preregistration is required.

Kate McMahon, a leading scholar in New England’s complicity in the Atlantic Slave Trade, will share her latest research that implicates Maine ship captains, shipbuilding families, and the direct and indirect ways Maine’s shipbuilding industry perpetuated an American economy built on stolen labor.

Learn about the creation of _Looking for Winslow Homer_ in this free artist talk.

Julia Hansen survived the famous shipwreck of the transatlantic passenger vessel, Andrea Doria, in 1956. In addition to sharing the history of this passenger vessel, Julia will recount her personal story of being rescued at sea as a young girl and provide insights to the bygone era of Atlantic passenger travel.