Spring 2024
From the Executive Director, Raney Bench
Every year I plant my garden over Mother’s Day weekend, a tradition that my friends and neighbors love to taunt me about because early May can still be cold, with the possibility of overnight frosts. But I persist and have yet to lose any plants. Is this hubris on my part? Not really, it comes from an understanding that our shoulder seasons are getting longer, spring comes earlier, and winters are more mild. The Society’s collaboration with science partners like Schoodic Institute and Gulf of Maine Research Institute allow us to recognize changes in our climate by comparing the present with the past. By working with artists, school kids, and the community we are developing innovative approaches in communicating how these changes are affecting MDI, and will increasingly in the future. I explain more below in “Landscape of Change.”
Beyond our climate change work, there are more ways than ever to get involved with the Society and to learn about MDI history. We have free hybrid programs throughout the summer, offered in partnership with three local libraries so there’s something for everyone. Chebacco author talks offer insight and further conversation about their articles, plus authors and community historians talk about everything from MDI’s connection to slavery in the West Indies to the tumultuous life of Madeleine Astor. Check our website or Facebook page for more information! And become a member to support this important work. Thank you!
Winter Program Review - by Lisa Taplin Murray, Assistant Director
Just as our island communities thrive on partnership and cooperation, the MDI Historical Society prioritizes collaboration with individuals and organizations doing important work on MDI. Each year, I plan our public programs to engage and enrich the lives of avid islanders and respond to our members’ needs for historical context for current events and a deeper connection to the people and places that make up our island communities. I am particularly grateful for the excellent libraries and librarians we have on MDI- Their expertise, resources, and beautiful facilities are an immeasurable asset to our community.
We offered nine public programs in early 2024 and our annual Vintage Classroom program for over 100 area 3rd graders and teachers. We have offered this program for nearly 30 years, more recently with actors from Barn Arts. We received a lot of press this year from WABI TV and the Bar Harbor Story blog. Go to https://mdihistory.org/vintage-classroom to view the coverage.
We hosted two History Happy Hour collaborations this year. In February, along with the Bar Harbor Historical Society, we welcomed over 50 people at Jack Russell’s Steakhouse for a very competitive game of history-based trivia. In April, working with librarians and students from COA’s Thorndike Library, we packed Atlantic Brewing Midtown for a night of “Human Ecology” themed trivia. If you haven’t yet attended, History Happy Hour is a fun way to learn more about the island (past and present) through games and experiences. This free program takes place every other month, from October through April.
In March we welcomed Brent Richardson for an evening of storytelling at the VIA’s Community building in Town Hill. Brent recounted his grandfather’s stories from the mid-20th century of the people and way of life on Indian Point and surrounding MDI towns. In April we hosted a conversation with a panel of young island leaders at the Northeast Harbor Public Library, discussing their values and hopes for MDI’s present and future and the obstacles they face when advocating for change. We hope to offer this panel discussion again as an ongoing series.
Working with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Acadia’s Schoodic Institute, we hosted our first Community Supper in Southwest Harbor this spring, bringing people together to discuss the winter storms' impact on the working waterfront. Attendees shared stories and photos, both historic and current while enjoying an evening with friends and relatives.
If you missed any of these events, we archive many of our programs on our webpage at: https://mdihistory.org/program-archives
From the Collections - by Patrick Callaway, Collections Manager
One of the weekly chores everybody faces is the need to go to the grocery store. In 2024 we are used to having a variety of items waiting for us, ranging from fresh meat and vegetables, to frozen and canned goods, as well as a selection of our favourite beverages and condiments from around the world. This selection was not always the norm. A recent donation to the society provides a relatively extensive record of the items available in the local store. G.R. Hadlock of Isleford’s advertising circular dates to about 1910, and gives us an insight into the world of the early 20th century consumer.
Two features of the list are particularly interesting to us as historians. First, we see here the inclusion of branded food and household products from national companies like Quaker, Kellog, and Karo. This is suggestive an industrializing system of mass food production and transportation. It also hints at the existence of branding, advertising, and perhaps the suggestion of a type of brand loyalty on the part of consumers. This is significant within the context of the time as branding was often used as an assurance of wholesomeness and safety for a sometimes skeptical public. It is not a coincidence that all of the soaps and cleaners are branded products. One of the first developments of the industrial food economy in the late 19th century was the commodification and marketing of by-products like soap.
We also see the availability of items that we would not expect to see produced at a commercial level. Canned lamb’s tongue and canned dandelion greens are uncommon foods in 2024, which suggests that either these products were more broadly consumed in the early 1900s or that there was a general supply of these commodities and companies were seeking a consumer market.
In a time of rising food prices there is the temptation to see these prices with nostalgia. In context, the prices are much less attractive. $1.00 in 1913 equates to $31.55 in 2024. The first ederal minimum wage was not set until 1938, and it was only 25 cents per hour ($5.54 in 2024).
Landscape of Change
The climate change initiative we began in 2021 called Landscape of Change continues to evolve and grow, focusing on a different aspect of how climate change is impacting MDI each year. Using historical records, images, and stories from the collections at the Society, the collaboration documents the scope, speed, and scale of climate change, and communicates this through exhibits, art installations, maps, school and public programs.
Given the historic storms that battered MDI last winter, we are continuing a project called CoastLines, which is documenting, preserving, mapping, and recording the impacts of sea level rise and increasing community awareness. We have invited people to submit pictures and stories about storm damage to the Society to add to our collection, and to contribute to a live map https://www.anecdata.org/projects/view/59/data/map. To help avid-islanders see what rising seas means on the landscape, artist Jennifer Steen Booher created the CoastLines stencil that we are using in marshes and along shorelines to install markers that predict where sea level rise will be most impactful. Our partners at Schoodic Institute have made easy instructions so anyone can try it on their own! Borrow the stencil and instructions and you too can explore your favorite coastline to see how it will be affected by rising seas. Email raney@mdihistory.org to learn more.
Upcoming Programs -Save the Date
Click here for more information and to register
June 12, 2024, 5:30 pm-Northeast Harbor Library: Mary Cabot Wheelwright’s “Journey Towards Understanding” with Carl Little HYBRID
June 13, 2024, 7:00 pm-Jesup Memorial Library: The Wild Gardens of Acadia: A Unique Teacher for Cultivating Native Plants with Anne Kozak HYBRID
June 25, 2024, 5:30 pm-Southwest Harbor Public Library: The Influence of the Seasonal Economy on Mount Desert Island’s Year-Round Housing Patterns with Raney Bench HYBRID
July 11, 2024 5:00 Garland Farm Tracey Logbook with John Taylor IN PERSON
July 18, 2024, 5:30 pm-Northeast Harbor Library: Ruth Moore’s Microcosm: Narratives that Deconstruct Notions of Inside and Outside with Ella Kotsen HYBRID
August 8, 2024, 7:00 pm-Jesup Memorial Library: Eden's Other Sons: MDI Seafarers, Shipbuilders, and the Slavery-Based Economies of the West Indies Trade with Anna Durand HYBRID
August 14, 2024, 6:00 pm-MDI BioLab: Voyager Gratitude Event IN PERSON
August 22, 2024, 5:00 pm-Neighborhood House: MDI Historical Society Annual Meeting IN PERSON
August 28, 2024, 5:30 pm-Northeast Harbor Library: The Mount Desert Island Committee for Peace, 1962-1966 with Patrick Callaway HYBRID
September 11, 2024, 5:30 pm-Northeast Harbor Library: Plain Madeleine with Mac Smith HYBRID
September 24, 2024, 5:30 pm-Southwest Harbor Public Library: Learning from LaRue Spiker with Jenna Jandreau ONLINE
You can learn more about our programs and register to attend at mdihistory.org/events or on Facebook and Instagram @mdihistory.
In Memory of Ann Benson, Charlotte Singleton, and Mike Kennedy
Ann Benson Receives Plaque from Bill Horner, 2016
Ann Benson was a long-time board member and tireless volunteer who spent countless hours cataloging, documenting, and housing the archive and collections at the Sound Schoolhouse. Ann inspired a dedicated group of volunteers who met once a week for lunch to talk about their work and set priorities. Ann’s generous nature and commitment to professional museum standards made volunteers feel welcome and useful, and fostered a number of friendships. Betsy Hewlett and Maureen Fornier shared that they became friends thanks to Ann and that they will always be grateful to her. The staff and board at the Society continue to benefit from her leadership, and we too are forever grateful. The Ann Benson Award for Volunteer Service will continue to be awarded in August each year in honor of Ann.
We are also sad to note the passing of Charlotte Singleton, previous and transformative Executive Director for the Society who shepherded the Society through challenges related to growth and stability, setting us on a new course of community-driven history with Chebacco and other initiatives.
We also said goodbye to Moorhead (Mike) Kennedy, longtime summer and year-round resident of MDI, former board member, and donor of one of the largest family collections to the Society’s archives. Mike was among those taken hostage in Iran and held captive for 444 days from 1979-1981, while his wife Louisa worked tirelessly to bring about their freedom. Although he and his family lived in many countries, MDI was always home, a consistent presence in a life of travel and service. The Kennedy collection is in the process of being cataloged and digitized and will be made public in the coming years.
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