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. 

Join us for a presentation from author Lenore Skomal, as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication of her book The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter.