Collection Highlight: LaRue Spiker (1912-1995) was a social, political, and environmental advocate on MDI as well as an accomplished journalist and writer. The LaRue Spiker Collection contains physical artifacts, an extensive selection of writings, and photographs (primarily of island scenery and daily life).

Click this photo to learn more about Spiker and read one of her articles.

Research

Since 1931, the Mount Desert Island Historical Society has collected materials related to the histories of Mount Desert Island. When the Society restored the Sound Schoolhouse in 1999, a curatorial wing was added. The Ralph W. Stanley Library and the society’s collection of historic objects, preserved in a temperature and humidity-controlled room, are located in this wing.

Collections Overview

Our collections document all aspects of the social, economic, political, and cultural history of Mount Desert Island and the surrounding region. Highlights of the collection include:

  • The W.H. Ballard Collection: The W.H. Ballard collection consists of approximately 800 photographs and photographic negatives. Images are of nautical themes, including recreational sailing and racing, fishing, and working waterfront scenes.

  • Champlain Society Logs, Journals and Photographs: The Champlain Society was a group of Harvard students who conducted some of the first surveys of island flora and fauna, providing the foundation for what would become Acadia National Park. Collection contains the notebooks from their observations, journals of activities, and photographs.

  • The Eugene Merchant Collection: Textiles related to Merchant’s military service in WWII and a small selection of photographs.

  • The Robert Patterson Collection: Blueprints, line drawings, and detailed sketches by the architect Robert Patterson. His work during the 1940s-70s included plans for a number of island homes as well as his work on other projects including Dumbarton Oaks.

  • The Fred L. Savage Collection: Blueprints, line drawings, and detailed sketches by island architect Fred Savage. Collection includes materials related to both private homes and public buildings during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

  • The LaRue Spiker Collection: Photographs, a selection of writings, and physical artifacts of LaRue Spiker. Spiker was a social, political, and environmental advocate on MDI as well as an accomplished journalist and writer. Collection consists primarily of photographs of island scenery and daily life on the island.

  • The Alfred Vigue Collection: Approximately 60 photographs detailing the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps on MDI. Images include scenes of CCC camps, worksites, recreation, and daily life.

The current collections includes:

  • Material (approximately 7,500 letters, papers, manuscripts, newspaper articles, pamphlets, maps and nautical charts, architectural drawings, oral histories, and ephemeral material)

  • Photographs (approximately 7,000 prints, slides, negatives, cabinet cards, ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, and albums)

  • Books (approximately 1,000)

  • Objects (over 1,400 chairs, tables, textiles, cradles, musical instruments, nautical objects, signs, paintings, tools, and other human-made objects).

Mount Desert Island Historical Society records are in PastPerfect – collections management software approved by the American Association of State and Local History (AASLH) – and fully keyword searchable by researchers. The database holds records of our museum objects, photographs, books, and archival materials.

Click here to search our catalog (you can search online by keyword, content type, and more)