Margaret Chase Smith Library
Newsletter
A Newsletter for Friends of the Library
Vol. 39, No. 2
As we head into the summer months, the staff of the Margaret Chase Smith Library is planning for many exciting events! National History Day will culminate at the national contest in College Park, Maryland, summer programing in conjunction with the Skowhegan Free Public Library will happen, and planning is underway for Margaret Chase Smith Day. We also continue to update the facility with new storage materials and we are constantly refining our emergency planning to better protect our collections We hope everyone continues to be safe and healthy.
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 and check out our up coming events section to see what’s on the horizon.
Directions
by David Richards
It has been a busy spring at the Margaret Chase Smith Library. It’s the first one to feel “normal” since 2019, before the pandemic.
As you will read elsewhere from my colleagues, school field trips returned in force, and with no masks, for the most part. When Shane Gower brought his Advanced Placement US History students to do research at the Library in March, we realized, much to our dismay, that his last visit with the class had been in 2019. The duration of that COVID void hardly seems imaginable in retrospect.
Another event that had fallen into the void was the annual Maine Town Meeting. The last one we were able to host in person took place in October 2019, when 90 people came together to learn about the women’s suffrage movement and the legacy of women in the United States gaining the right to vote a century earlier through ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution. In 2020 and 2021, we had to offer the meeting via Zoom. In 2022, we presented the program in hybrid format, but found that three quarters of the audience opted for remote participation.
Wanting to get people back to the Library, we were determined that this year’s event, focusing on the Supreme Court, would be fully in person. We were pleased with the turnout, as sixty individuals, including Heather Ross’s AP US History students from Skowhegan Area High School, assembled to hear two dynamic and thought-provoking speakers, Dr. James Melcher, a professor of Political Science from the University of Maine at Farmington, and Dr. Dmitry Bam, Vice Dean of the University of Maine School of Law; enjoy the lunch catered by Heritage House; and most important, interact with one another.
To provide additional opportunities for guests to experience civic culture at the Library, the staff has planned many activities throughout the year. A new book discussion series tied to Skowhegan’s bicentennial will begin on June 20th at 6:30 PM with a talk by Amy Calder. She is a long-time reporter for the Morning Sentinel, who has collected her writings into a book, Comfort Is an Old Barn. The series will continue monthly through September. In conjunction with these bicentennial book programs, the Library will also host two lectures dealing with the history of Skowhegan. On July 25th at 6:00 PM, Maine State Historian Earle Shettleworth will give a talk on local architecture. This will be followed by a talk on the Arnold Expedition up the Kennebec River during the American Revolution by Dr. Daniel Soucier, a historian from the University of Maine, on September 26th at 6:30 PM.
For a full schedule of events, scroll to the end of the newsletter or click here for a PDF listing all of the upcoming events. We hope to see you at the Library in 2023!
Maranacook Community High School AP US History Field Trip
Amy Calder’s newest book
Professor James Melcher Addresses the Maine Town Meeting
Communication Corner
By John Taylor
National History Day in Maine 2023
As I write this I am one week away from attending my first in-person NHD national contest in four years! The last time I stepped onto the University of Maryland campus was 2019. It would be an understatement o say that students, teachers, parents, sponsors, and my fellow state coordinators are excited to be back! I expect great results from our qualifying participants from Maine and look forward to getting “my steps in” while traversing UMD from June 12-15.
The students participating in the upcoming national contest all qualified by placing first or second place at our state contest held at the University of Maine on April 29, 2023. It was a surreal day seeing so many in attendance. Surprisingly, in the ten years I have been coordinator, it felt like the least stressful event to run. We witnessed many smiles from students and teachers, and our judges were enthusiastic to spend the day with so many bright young scholars. For a full list of winners visit our webpage and scroll down to “Registration Links”. There you will find winners from both the junior and senior categories and the special award winners.
While in Maryland students will again have their work assessed by judges, but we will also take time to take in the sights. Meetings with our Senators Angus King and Susan Collins will happen, we will be taking a tour of the Capitol Building and Library of Congress, and will meet people from all over the world as we trade buttons with our competitors–a cherished tradition of the national contest.
This year's theme was Frontiers in History. Maine’s button is building off of that theme and focusing on the anniversaries of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Secretary Edmund Muskie’s introductions of the Clean Water Act. Both are featured prominently on the Maine button noting the state’s “Frontiers in Conservation”
Fingers crossed for a safe and successful experience for all!
Special Thank You to My Colleagues
I want to give a quick shoutout and thank you to my colleagues Nicole Rancourt from the Maine Humanities Council and Nicole Potter from the Margaret Chase Smith Library. Leading up to the NHD in ME state contest I needed to take a leave of absence to attend to a family matter. Both of them stepped up and ran the Bangor Regional contest for me. I appreciate all of their hard work and willingness to help at such a trying time for me personally.
2023 MCSL Essay Contest
In early May we announced the winners of the 2023 MCSL Essay Contest. Inspired by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Edmund Muskie’s Clean Water Act, the question focused on climate change and the role the government should play in combating it. We had participants submit from all over the state. Students were passionate about the subject and showed their deep care and concern for the environment.
It was difficult for the staff to decide the final results, but after much deliberation we believe we awarded the most deserving. First place ($1,000) was Edgelynn Venuti from Washington Academy. Second place ($500) was Victoria Leavitt from Windham High School, and third place ($250) was Logan Blanchette from Mount Desert Island High School. All three will be receiving a cash prize. We also awarded five Honorable Mention prizes. To see the full list of winners click here. To read the top three winning essay’s visit our webpage.
The exhibit hall in Wells Conference Center at the University of Maine.
Junior Group Website First Place winners at the National History Day in Maine state contest. From Greely Middle School, Claire Larson and Sarah Weisz.
It was a packed house as we handed out awards in Wells Conference Center at the University of Maine.
learning Lounge
by Kim Nelson
The last few months have flown by as the transition from winter to spring to summer has commenced. The staff hosted 11 elementary school field trips during the months of April and May. Teachers and students alike are enjoying our new stations. Margaret Chase Smith Bingo was specifically requested by one teacher as her students from last year had a great time playing it with me. We are looking forward to more field trips next school year.
I suggested that Nicole and I attend the Maine Library Association Reading Round Up in April as a way to reach out to school and public librarians to promote our field trip program. I also suggested that John come with us to promote National History Day. We decided to have attendees give us their contact information if they wished to receive a free Margaret Chase Smith DVD. We gave away 21 DVD’s, quite a bit of chocolate, and spoke with librarians from all over the state. It was a success for the library and NHD. We are already planning what to entice librarians to stop at our table during next year’s Reading Round Up.
It felt great to be back to National History Day judging. Although I have been judging since 2020, this was my first year in person and it was an entirely different experience. I was able to judge the Northern Region at John Bapst High School and later the State Competition at Orono. The student interviews are the best part of the day. They are excited to talk about what they learned and are proud to show off their work. To be a judge is an incredible experience and I encourage you to think about it for next year.
In April, I held my first program at the library to tie into the President Eisenhower exhibit that was on loan to the library from Rangely Historical Society. I asked Carroll Ware to speak at the library to talk about his new book, “On the Wrong Side of the River: Stories from a Maine Guide”. 27 attendees were entertained by Carroll, and his wife Lila, with stories from their lives as Maine Guides and their adventures both locally and internationally. Refreshments focused on fish or fishing with decorations including a tackle box, bobbers, an antique fly fishing rod, and a photo of Margaret fishing to complete the theme.
I continue to work in the Past Perfect catalog. I am still entering books from our collection as well as continued clean up in the photos portion of the catalog. It is a slow process but an enjoyable one that allows me to put my library degree skills to work and keeps me quite busy during the down time between activities, programs, and planning future programs.
On Tuesday, June 27, 2023, the library will be cosponsoring a slime program with the Skowhegan Free Public Library to enhance their summer reading program. This year’s slime will be mudpies and fireflies. We will be making a mud type slime with vegetables or a glow in the dark slime with glow in the dark bugs. The fun will be from 1-3 pm at the Margaret Chase Smith Library. We will also be hosting John Meader and his planetarium on Tuesday, August 1, 2023. The first showing starts at 10 am and the second showing is at 11:15 am. The planetarium is part of the SFPL summer reading program and a fun experience for local children. Finally, Margaret Chase Smith Day on Saturday, August 26, 2023 will include field day activities out on the library’s lawn to give children and their families a chance to play and enjoy the grounds of the library. More information on this event to come later this summer.
Maine guide Carroll Ware telling tales about his time in the wilderness.
Lots of creative treats were served at the Carroll Ware book talk!
MCS Library staff talking with librarians at Reading Round Up held at the Civic Center in Augusta.
Research Roundup
by Nicole Potter
Elementary Field Trips
This past spring has been an incredibly busy and exciting time at the Margaret Chase Smith Library. One factor is that with spring comes field trips. It was a delight to open the doors of the Library and welcome in a range of students from schools all over central Maine. With younger students, I enjoyed teaching them about how the MCS Library functions differently than the libraries they may be familiar with already, typically their school library or the public library, and how the staff cares for the Library’s archival collections. We then spend the rest of our time examining a selection of documents, artifacts, and bound materials. This included a portrait of Senator Margaret Chase Smith painted in 1955 by Emily Muir, who was, among other things, an American painter and long-time Stonington, Maine, resident.
This painting typically gets the loudest reaction from the school groups out of all the materials I share with them. I think that’s for two reasons - 1) They are taken by the scale of the portrait and the size of the combined canvas and ornate wooden frame; 2) Visual materials, like the portrait, are able to capture the attention of students who struggle to engage with lectures or written materials.
The reason I have decided to share this painting with our field trips groups is not because of the quality of the portrait, although it is an excellent likeness of Senator Smith, or because of the importance of Emily Muir within the historical context of Maine’s artistic history, although she does have a sizeable presence, it’s because of the imagery Muir included alongside her subject. I always ask students to examine this portrait with a critical eye, share what they find, and then question why Muir has included that item - Why is there an elephant in the lower left corner? Who is the woman holding the torch? Why is Margaret pictured holding a pen? It’s been a fabulous experience sharing this object with students and hearing their observations.
High School Field Trips
In addition to welcoming elementary students to the Library, we also had the opportunity to host two separate high school field trips in March and April. One of these groups was the Maranacook Community High School AP US History class, who has been coming to the Margaret Chase Smith Library to engage in primary source research for many years. This visit is regularly scheduled in the spring in anticipation of the AP US History examination.
Part of the exam are document based questions (DBQ), which are essays or series of short-answer questions that are constructed by students using one's own knowledge combined with support from several provided sources. The AP US History Students from Maranacook Community High School are asked to invert this process. Instead of being asked for their response to a DBQ that is supported by previously selected sources, they are instead asked to locate sources within the Library’s collection and develop a DBQ that could be answered using those documents. It’s a fun project to assist them with and it gets the students to think critically about a process they’re already familiar with.
In April, the Skowhegan Area High School Honors Geography class visited to conduct primary source research on Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s World Trip. This was the first opportunity many of these students have had to engage with archival materials and was a fantastic learning experience. Students were divided into groups of two and each group was assigned one of the countries that Senator Smith visited. The Library has a range of types and quantities of materials for each of the countries she visited. As the students conducted their research, it was interesting to see how they dealt with either abundant or lacking resources and, also, what types of materials students were drawn towards. This was the first time that a Skowhegan Area High School Honors Geography class came to the Library and we hope they return soon!
Returning “President Eisenhower and the Rangeley Lakes Region” Exhibition
The beginning of May saw the end of the Margaret Chase Smith Library’s loan of the “President Eisenhower and the Rangeley Lakes Region” exhibition from the Rangeley Lakes Region Historical Society, Rangeley, Maine. We loved having this exhibit and to send it off we were thrilled to host two events at the Library.
The first was an author talk with the local celebrated Maine Guide, Carroll Ware. He spoke about his new book, “On the Wrong Side of the River: Stories from a Maine Guide,” and shared many stories from the book and unpublished anecdotes. This event was coordinated by my coworker Kim Nelson and was incredibly well received and attended.
The second was a paint night at the Library that was hosted by local instructor, Gretchen Washburn. Gretchen led thirteen of us through the process of painting a scene of a wooded coastline at sunset as seen from a canoe. What was wonderful was how all thirteen participants, including myself and Kim Nelson, received the exact same instruction from Gretchen but we produced thirteen different and unique pieces of art. It was a wonderful experience and I hope that Gretchen will return to the Library to host another artistic endeavor soon!
Artist Emily Muir painting Margaret Chase Smith, 1955.
Paint Night led by Gretchen Washburn at MCS Library.
Maranacook Community High School AP US History Field Trip
Upcoming events
The MCSL 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.