This message is forwarded at the request of Ed Churchill, Maine State
Museum, who is directing this fascinating project. Please respond directly
to Ed if you can help.
Maine Home Life Exhibit
Needs for Quotations and Graphics
The Maine State Museum is developing a major long-term exhibit
on Maine home life. This exhibition will focus on several major universal
themes such as food ways, home maintenance, and child care as well as on two
units which will examine home life within the context of the impact of
winter and as it relates (or doesn't) to the mythical images of the region.
We will also want our visitors to consider the meaning of the word "home"
both in terms of their own experience and what it has meant to the people in
Maine, especially in the past. The exhibit will cover the time period from
mid 1780's to present.
In order to provide the depth and immediacy of these various
themes it will be necessary to come as close as possible to the people
themselves. Certainly one of the best ways to do this is through their own
words. It is from their writings that images, dreams, descriptions, and
emotions flood into our presence. Likewise, graphics bring the past to us
in ways that cannot otherwise be felt and understood.
Such quotations, descriptions, and images will have numerous
applications on display panels, in video and audio presentations, in school
programs, and as parts of various publications among other things! This is
an area where one can never have too much material and we will be most
appreciative for anything that can be passed along to us.
If you have materials, ideas, suggestions that you think would
be appropriate for our Maine Home Life exhibition you can get to us in the
following ways:
By mail: Ed Churchill
Maine State Museum
83 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0083
By phone: 207-287-6658 (Ed Churchill's office)
207-287-2301 (Maine State Museum's general number)
By email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
<mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> >
By fax: 207-287-6633
Listed below are the specific units of the overall exhibit.
Thank you for your help with this project.
Home Life Exhibit Units
Intro Area
Sets the stage for rest of exhibit.
*Attic and shed areas, places to store
old items (and perhaps memories attached
to them). Forward or backward in time.
*A place to allow people to express
and share what "home" means to them
Foodways
The importance and symbolism of food.
How it is obtained, stored, prepared and used.
*Scene: 1940's summer kitchen
*Display: Kitchen gadgets, canning items,
ads, storage items
Best Foot
Ways we display our homes and ourselves
Forward
for company or special events.
Area to show specific ethnic group
celebrating special event or holiday will
change yearly.
*Parlor scene: interior of fairly well
to do farm 1880-1890 period.
*Display: status objects for
house or self; identification items
(religious, fraternal organizations, etc.)
* Display: Costumes/textiles related to
BFF or general domestic life.
Home Health Care
home. Exhibit considers who provided it,
when and what methods were used.
early 1900's
*Display: Dr. John Hubbard's medical material,
patent medicines, home remedies,etc.
Home Care &
How we maintain the structure and
Maintenance
contents of our home.
Display: Tools, cleaning supplies, paint
scrub board, vacuum cleaners,
Children in
Infant Care, training and culturation, concept
the Home
of play.
Display: Toys, books, furniture, clothes
sleds, wagon, games, crafts
Leisure &
How we spend our non-working time: to
Recreation
relax, recharge and enjoy ourselves.
Scene: dining room and porch of
African-American B95family 1940's.
Display: Games, musical instruments,
crafts, TV, radio, jokes, picnic basket,
Bar-B-Que stuff, coin book
Bathroom
Essential area of the home for addressing
bodily needs and personal care.
Scene: Early 1900's bathroom
Display: soap dish, toothbrush holder,
razor, makeup, bubble bath, hair cream,
hair brush & comb, magazines
Maine Winter
The effect of winter on Maine homes:
preparing for it, getting through it, and
getting over it.
Scene: Acadian kitchen & root cellar, 1880's
Display: heater tape, drying racks, mittens
gloves, boots, snowshoes, skates
Maine: Myths
How the State's geographic size and location
and Realities
has affected both perceived and actual aspects
of living in Maine.
Scene: Cranberry Island: 1970's, summer,
outdoors, clothes on line.
Scene: Indian Island, living room, arranged for
priest's visit, but with basket making tools,
materials, and product visible in next room.
Food out on table.
Display: Brochures, postcards, tourism
literature
Linda H. Lord
Director, Library Development
Maine State Library
64 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
Telephone 207-287-5620
Fax 207-287-5624
E-mail [log in to unmask]
|
