Maine State Museum November Roundup

Museum Roundup

News & Updates from the Maine State Museum

November 2022

Campaigns of all sorts take shape in this month’s Roundup. We start with the extended and recently successful “campaign” to make the many stories of the Maine Labor Mural accessible online. We conclude with a distinctive remembrance from the museum’s collection that recalls a revered Skowhegan, Maine woman whose campaign, both floral and political, extended well beyond our state to the national scene.

The Latest...

We Had a Blast at MaineFest!

Table set up at an outdoor fair. A family talks with a museum educator.

Saturday, October 15^th was a sunny fall day in Augusta’s Capitol Park! We had 271 attendees at MaineFest, a free family event celebrating all things Maine outdoors.

This was the second year of the event, which Maine State Museum hosted in partnership with the Children’s Discovery Museum of Central Maine. Eight organizations set up tables offering different hands-on activities for kids of all ages, ranging from painting to seed planting.

"Stories from the Collection" featured in Gardiner Adult Ed Classes

Painted mural panels showing Maine workers.

Join curator Angela Goebel-Bain for “Exploring the Maine Labor Mural” on November 8th from 6:30 - 8:00 pm.

Maine State Museum staff will offer the “Stories from the Collection” series this fall and winter through Gardiner Adult Education. Find more information and register here.

A New View of the Maine Labor Mural

The museum building may be closed, but you can discover the many stories behind the Maine Labor Mural online! This richly detailed interactive web exhibit is here.

The web pages abound with detailed images of the mural, as well as related photographs, narratives, and artifacts from the museum’s collections. The web pages also contain first-ever interviews with the Maine Labor Mural’s artist, Judy Taylor, who explains the inspiration, artistic approach, and research that she brought to the mural’s creation.

(Detail) Rosie the Riveter, Maine Labor Mural.

Maine State Museum curator of historical collections, Angela Goebel-Bain, researched and developed the web pages content. The award-winning digital design company, Digital Gizmo, created the web pages. Funding was provided by the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts; and the Maine Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Click here to explore!

A Rose for Maine

1964 political pin with the text "Skowhegan's Margaret Chase Smith for President."

MSM 79.34.1

Campaign buttons or pins continue to be a popular way of expressing the wearer’s support for a political candidate or cause.

The Maine State Museum has many political buttons and pins in its collection. One of the oldest dates to 1860 and features Abraham Lincoln and his running mate from Maine, Hannibal Hamlin.

An especially appealing campaign pin in the museum collection is pictured on the left. It advanced the presidential candidacy of Margaret Chase Smith. Smith, who was serving in the U.S. Senate at the time, was one of Maine’s most respected political figures. She was the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress and, in 1964, became the first woman to actively seek the presidential nomination of a major political party. At the Republican Convention later that year, she came in second to Senator Barry Goldwater.

Throughout her political career, Smith often donned a fresh red rose as she advocated for it to be declared the official flower of the United States. The rose finally won that campaign, five years after Smith left office.

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