Museum Roundup
News & Updates from the Maine State Museum
September 2021
The St. Mary – The Saga of an Extraordinary Artifact Continues to Unfold
Most everything about Maine’s St. Mary is exceptional. It’s one of the last full-rigged wooden ships built in the country. It survived a collision at sea and a wild storm on its New York to San Francisco maiden voyage. Its damaged steering and a disputed course correction caused it to run aground; its fragmented wreckage landed on a beach near Fitzroy in the Falkland Islands. During a dramatic “rescue,” a section of the hull was removed from the wreckage site and transported home to Maine, where it became the centerpiece of a Maine State Museum exhibit - just 50 miles from the Phippsburg shipyard where it was built in 1890! As this issue of Roundup shows, the fascinating saga of the St. Mary continues.
The Latest...
Who was the "Real" Floyd?
Floyd Reynolds seldom sat still during his work as museum workshop foreman. In this 1980 photo, Floyd (at left) works with his colleagues to assemble a granite quarry boom for exhibit.
A recent story, “What’s in Floyd’s Pocket,” created a lot of buzz among former museum visitors, as well as Floyd Reynolds' family. Discover more about Floyd and how he ended up in the granite exhibit. 
New "Freedom & Captivity" Educational Materials Released this Month
Maine educators are invited to join us for a free online workshop to launch our newest Primary Source Set on the history of incarceration in Maine, developed in collaboration with the Maine Department of Education, Maine State Archives, and Maine State Library.

Behind the Scenes: Who Owned that Plane? 
No matter how long they are in the collection, museum artifacts continue to reveal new information. Angela Goebel-Bain, the museum’s curator of historical collections, recently had a chance to put new eyes and new connections on a few hand planes first donated to the museum in 1969.

Watch the short video below to take a look at Angela’s discovery and see another chapter in the story of the St. Mary! 
Today's St. Mary
Using a diaphragm pump, Ray Kennard collects an air sample from the St. Mary's hull interior. The opening is a viewing window in the museum exhibit.

Husson University chemistry professor Ray Kennard (pictured at left) and archaeological conservator Molly Carlson recently conducted air sampling and analysis to help museum staff learn about chemical changes in the St. Mary hull section during its 40 years in the museum (the hull exterior is partly visible in the upper left of this photo) .

Kennard and Carlson diagnosed “shipwreck disease,” a common condition that causes deterioration due to the chemical effects of iron and wood that have been buried underwater. With this knowledge, museum staff can better plan for the St. Mary’s continued preservation, in part through the new air handling and ventilation system that is currently being planned for installation next year.
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