With Respect and Remembrance |
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This is a day to remember and to honor all of Maine's veterans: those who distinguished themselves in battle, those who served on the home front, those we have lost, and those who continue to share their experiences and stories with new generations.
The Maine State Museum's collections are rich with documents and artifacts that help chronicle Mainers' participation in wars since America's founding. Some of these can be find on our website and more within the permanent exhibits that we know you've been missing!
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This newsletter focuses on World War II, specifically - inspired by a number of recent additions to the collections around this epochal event. More on that below.
Also, last spring, Maine’s Bicentennial Commission awarded a grant to the Friends of the Maine State Museum to develop a mini exhibit around Mainers’ participation in the war associated with the "Greatest Generation." Because of the pandemic and the museum's projected extended closure, this project is being recast and may take a digital form. We will keep you posted!
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First, a few background statistics: More Mainers - approximately 80,000 - served in World War II than in any previous war. Four received the Congressional Medal of Honor, and you can read about them here. According to the National World War II Museum, there are now fewer than 1,800 surviving World War II veterans in Maine.
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One is Edith Dondis of Rockland, whom we got to know during development of the museum's 2018-2019 exhibit Maine + Jewish: Two Centuries.
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Edith considers one highlight of her long, rich life her time in the Navy’s women’s unit known as the Waves, working from base headquarters in New York City. And she was not the only Dondis family member to play a part in the war: Four brothers served in different branches of the Armed Forces in both the European and Pacific Theaters. All came home safely.
The phenomenon of multiple-sibling-service was hardly unique among Maine’s families, who made enormous sacrifices in the fight for freedom and democracy.
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But this gives us an opportunity to wish Edith a warm, belated Happy Birthday! In June, two months before our country marked the 75th anniversary of V-J Day, she turned 100 years old. Congratulations!
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Since 2017, the museum's collections relating to World War II have grown by more than 300 items! Some have come as part of large collections from surviving or descendant families, while others have been acquired one or two at a time to fill a strategic content gap. |
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As you might expect, these collections include uniforms, medals, diaries, correspondence, publications, formal and candid photographs, mess kits, blankets issued by the various service branches, souvenirs, and weaponry and machinery of all kinds. But this just gives you a small sense. |
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What makes these objects really come to life are the inspiring, heartwarming, and heartbreaking narratives that accompany them, or which curators uncover during painstaking cataloguing work. |
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Above: Curator Angela Goebel-Bain begins to unpack a collection of World War II material.
Right: Leather flight jacket worn by Tech. Sgt. Navigator Milton Weeks of the Army Air Corps on World War II missions in the Pacific
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Cataloguing begins with inventories and condition reports, continues with exhaustive research, and concludes with detailed database entries and formal documentary photographs - all in readiness for future exhibits and to support the work of scholars.
The stories preserved by each item in the museum's collections are very important and help to inspire personal connections with history and natural science. We'll share more and more of them with you in coming weeks and months.
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You might find these two related videos of interest. |
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1) Last October, before Maine + Jewish ended, we recorded an eight-minute walkthrough in order to make a permanent record of the exhibition. If you missed the show, here’s a virtual opportunity to experience it. Watch for the section about Jewish Mainers in wartime.
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2) Captain Jonathan D. Bratten, Command Historian for the Maine National Guard and frequent consultant to the Maine State Museum, shared this link to a new short video produced in conjunction with Veterans Day.
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Please keep in touch with the museum while we continue working and planning for an exciting future, and stay informed about programs and activities that we will begin to offer in new ways. You can be an ambassador by passing along our e-newsletters to colleagues, friends and family!
First, though, please enjoy Johnny Mercer’s wonderful G.I. Jive.
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As always, and especially now, we appreciate your support of the
Maine State Museum and the Friends.
Please stay safe and healthy!
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