Margaret Chase Smith Library
Newsletter
A Newsletter for Friends of the Library
Vol. 38, No. 4
During these winter months, the staff of the Margaret Chase Smith Library is planning for many exciting opportunities coming our way in 2023! National History Day events will be back in-person, our usual onslaught of field trips will be back to pre-pandemic levels this spring, much needed updates continue to happen to the facility, and we anticipate an uptick in visitors from the general public. We hope everyone continues to be safe and healthy as we continue to inch our way back to normalcy.
In this issue, you will learn about our recent library activities, educational opportunities, and various researchers and visitors. Each staff member has written what they have been doing over the last few months. Be sure to scroll all the way down. Also highlighted are some photographs of events, projects, educational materials, or people that have been to our facility recently. Finally, check out our up coming events section to see what’s on the horizon.
Speaking of upcoming events…
Leeke-Shaw Lecture Happening in January!
Upcoming Leeke-Shaw speaker, Mehr Sher
The Margaret Chase Smith Library invites you to a presentation on the Afghan refugee resettlement program on Friday, January 20th at noontime. Our speaker will be Mehr Sher. Ms. Sher is the new statewide environmental reporter on the investigative desk for the Bangor Daily News, as well as a Report for America corps member. She brings a global perspective to the topic, having served as a journalist in Pakistan for six years. She received her bachelor’s degree in International Relations at North Carolina State University and earned a master’s in investigative reporting from the Columbia School of Journalism.
Because of Ms. Sher’s work schedule and the uncertainty of winter weather in Maine, the event will be held via Zoom. You can register by filling out the Google Form here.
A Zoom link will be sent to you before the lecture.
This program is being offered in conjunction with the Mid-Maine Global Forum. The MMGF's theme for the 2022-23 academic year is migrations. You can find out about presentations on other migrations besides those of Afghanis at the MMGF website.
For more information on the Leeke-Shaw Lecture on International Affairs, please contact the Library by email at mcsl@mcslibrary.org or by phone at 474-7133.
Directions
by David Richards
As 2022 comes to a close, I have been taking stock of where the Library stands three years into the pandemic. School groups started returning for field trips this past spring. The Library hosted the United States Senate Youth Program student competition for the State Department of Education at the beginning of November and a History Day in Maine teacher workshop at the beginning of December. The Skowhegan Lions Club has booked its annual Speak Out student oratory contest for January and the Maine Health Access Foundation and Daughters of the American Revolution are scheduled to use the facility in the spring. We also have fielded inquiries from Skowhegan History House and the Friends of the Skowhegan Opera House. The shadow of COVID is slowly fading and more and more glimmers of normalcy are returning.
The last part of the puzzle to resolve in the post-pandemic new normal is how to handle large group events. The 2019 Maine Town Meeting drew 90 guests. We have hosted as many as 125 people, the year both Senators King and Collins appeared. That’s not viable in an era of social distancing. That means Zoom and hybrid meetings will continue even after pandemic precautions have lapsed. Because of the speaker’s work schedule and the uncertainty of winter weather in Maine, we have decided to go the Zoom route for the next Leeke-Shaw Lecture on International Affairs, which is scheduled for noontime on Friday, January 20th. You can find out more about that event and register for it by reading the announcement above.
After experimenting with the hybrid format for the 2022 Maine Town Meeting, my inclination is to return to a fully in-person event in 2023. The proliferating universe of viruses may wind up not making that possible, but that’s the plan for now. It’s time to come back together in person, even if we have to be distanced, or masked. That’s my workplace New Year’s resolution. I hope to see you at the Library sometime in the year to come. In the meantime, enjoy the holidays.
The 2022 United States Senate Youth Leadership Program finalists, organizers, judges, and Library staff.
The Lions Club “Speak Out” event in 2019.
Teachers researching and designing exhibits at a recent NHD in Maine workshop held earlier this month.
Communication Corner
By John Taylor
National History Day in Maine 2023
Planning for the 2023 National History Day contest season is well underway! The plan continues to be a return to in-person events. Registration sites have been updated, contest dates and deadlines have been secured, and workshops and conferences have happened.
In October, I had the pleasure to attend the first in-person NHD State Coordinator Conference in nearly eight years. It was hosted by our NHD friends at the Minnesota Historical Society in Minneapolis. It was wonderful to finally be in the same room with many of my colleagues for the first time since the national contest was last held at the University of Maryland in 2019. Many ideas were exchanged and generated throughout the onslaught of sessions that occurred over a two day period. I was also asked to present with my peer from Washington state, Hanna Tofte, about building regional contests with affiliates.
Earlier this month (December) the Library hosted a NHD teacher workshop for the very first time! The main focus was on exhibit design and building, but touched upon many aspects of the research process that can be applied to all NHD categories. This included discussions on the 2023 NHD theme (Frontiers in History), the research process, how to dissect primary sources, the process of writing a concise thesis statement, and how to approach and work with librarians and archivists while conducting research. I cannot thank Nicole Potter (see below to learn more about her experience) and Nicole Rancourt from the Maine Humanities Council for all of their hard work in creating an eventful workshop that included various resources teachers can take back to their classrooms.
As for the 2023 contests, the dates are set! Bruce Whittier Middle School will hold their regional contest on February 15th. The Lewiston Regional will take place on March 3rd at Museum LA and the Bangor Regional will be on March 25th at John Bapst Memorial High School. This will all culminate in a return to UMaine on April 29th, 2023 for the State Contest. For more information you can visit our website or check out all our important dates and deadlines here.
I am looking forward to my tenth season as the State Coordinator for NHD in Maine. I truly believe this will be our best year yet!
2023 MCSL Essay Contest
The Margaret Chase Smith Library is pleased to announce the topic of its twenty-seventh annual essay contest.
This year marks two very important anniversaries within the history of conservation and environmental protection. Interestingly both have a Maine connection. It is the 60th anniversary (1962) since the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Carson, a biologist who spent summers studying the sea at her home in Southport Island, Maine, wrote the influential book that warned of the declining bird populations and environmental harm caused by pesticides and synthetic substances. In fact, her book is credited with kickstarting the modern global environmental movement. It is also the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act (1972). Introduced to Congress by Margaret Chase Smith’s colleague and fellow Maine Senator, Edmund Muskie, the legislation helped set the framework to regulate pollutants and quality standards in our waters.
These two landmark events inspired many environmental milestones, but we are at a crossroads. It was recently reported that the years 2015 to 2022 are the eight warmest years on record. The consequences of this change in climate temperature include intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, melting polar ice caps, catastrophic storms, and declining biodiversity. If this continues, Generation Z will be the ones who will face the dire consequences. This is why the Margaret Chase Smith Library invites students to consider what the proper role of government should be in responding to the issues surrounding climate change.
For a more information and a full list of submission instructions you can click here.
Washington State Coordinator Hanna Tofte and John Taylor presenting at the NHD State Coordinator Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
John Bapst Memorial High School teacher Ben Hale constructing his exhibit on Senator Smith’s presidential campaign during our recent teacher workshop.
John Taylor could not contain his excitement to attend the recent State Coordinator Conference in Minnesota.
learning Lounge
by Kim Nelson
Community Partnerships
Every year my colleagues answer my request for us to pool our money to purchase books for the annual book drive for Skowhegan Free Public Library. Each year I try to increase the number of books from the previous year. This year we were able to purchase 5, our largest donation to date. I spend time looking over the list and trying to find the right books for us to donate. The hope is when these books are checked out, the patron will notice our library and come visit us. Personally, the joy I feel getting us to come together as a staff to assist the public library is immense. I am grateful my colleagues indulge my request each year
The donated books from the MCSL staff included Our Town, American Sign Language for Beginners, If You Go Down to the Woods, I am Maine, and 50 states-500 Scary Places to Visit.
A sampling of the staff’s donation.
Recognition of the staff’s contribution to the Skowhegan Free Public Library.
Research Roundup
by Nicole Potter
Maine Archives and Museums Conference
As the newcomer to the Margaret Chase Smith Library, as well as to Maine, I was delighted to attend the Maine Archives and Museums (MAM) conference alongside John Taylor. The conference took place in-person at the University of Southern Maine back in October. It was wonderful to meet more colleagues in the field as well as to have the opportunity to learn from them. I heard from folks who have completed tasks that we here at the Margaret Chase Smith Library are considering or are currently undertaking, such as large scale cataloging projects and reimagining collection storage. There were also presentations on ways to reach remote patrons/researchers, on encouraging new audiences to visit your organization, and on how to interpret and utilize copyright law. At the end of the day I came away from the MAM conference impressed and inspired by the work that libraries, archives, and museums across the state are engaged in.
Temporary President Eisenhower Exhibit
The following month, November, a new temporary exhibition was installed at the Library. This exhibition, President Eisenhower and the Rangeley Lakes Region, is on loan to the Library from the Rangeley Lakes Region Historical Society, Rangeley, Maine. The materials featured in this exhibition center around Eisenhower’s trip to Maine in June 1955, which featured a fishing expedition in Rangeley. One of the highlights of the trip, and of the exhibition itself, is the friendship the president formed with his Maine Guide, Don Cameron. This exhibition will be on display at the Margaret Chase Smith Library through the beginning of May 2023 and do keep an eye out for future programming related to it.
Continued Immersion Into National History Day
Most recently, on December 2nd, 2023, the Margaret Chase Smith Library hosted a National History Day in Maine Advanced Teacher Workshop. For my part of the workshop, I presented to the attending teachers on how to contact and work with libraries, archives, and museums in order to access primary and secondary materials. Additionally, I assisted the teachers with their own research later that day. Since the start of the pandemic, the Library has not been hosting as many research groups as it once did. I am hopeful that we will soon see more student and outside groups at the Library engaging with our primary and secondary resources, either returning or new audiences.
Nicole Potter taking inventory of the Eisenhower Exhibit.
John Taylor and Nicole Potter attended the Maine Archives and Museums Conference at the University of Southern Maine in early October.
The temporary Eisenhower Exhibit is now open!
Upcoming events
The University of Maine Margaret Chase Smith Library is an EEO/AA institution and does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, gender expression, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information or veteran’s status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Director of Equal Opportunity, 101 Boudreau Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5754, 207.581.1226, TTY 711.