On Saturday May 22nd, twenty-two camera club members and friends met at the Penobscot Marine Museum (PMM) for a special group tour arranged by Wayne Hamilton. While I was prepared for a fun day looking at local artifacts I was totally surprised to learn about the extensive work being done with various collections of photographs.
The museums web site describes their efforts very well;
"PMM has one of the largest archives of historical photographs in Maine, with more than 100,000 negatives, prints, slides, postcards and daguerreotypes available for research, reproduction and licensing. Revealing many aspects of life from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, the collections range from the vast archives of the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company and the works of individual professional photographers to intimate family albums. Each collection has a connection with the Penobscot Bay region, either through the photographer, the publisher, or the subject matter. Along with images of Searsport and elsewhere in Maine and New England are photographs of distant lands; boats, ships and waterfronts; cities, towns and countryside; fashion, furnishings, industry, architecture and people."
Our tour started with a presentation by Kevin Johnson, Photo Archivist for PMM. Kevin's slideshow featured historical images from all accross the state and his narative gave us a great appreciation for the significance of PMM's collection. Armed with a new respect for the collection our day continued with a tour of the entire campus.
PMM's campus consists of over a dozen buildings. Prints from their photo collection can be found sprinkled throughout the various buldings, which also include one of New England’s largest displays of classic small craft, with more than 50 boats on view in several buildings . My personal favorite was a birch bark canoe.
We finished up our day with a great lunch at the Brick House resturaunt, just accross the street from the museum. They did an awesome job serving our large group, and I can say for sure the curry chicken sandwich is GREAT!
So, the moral of this story is; if you want to have some extrodinary fun and learn something about our area at the same time, you don't need to go any further then 5 Church Street, Searsport Maine. Tell them the camera club sent you. Happy Shooting!
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Photo by club member Joel Holcomb