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History Collections
About the Maine State Museum Collections
The Maine State Museum builds and maintains systematic collections regarding Maine’s pre-history, history, and natural science. The museum also holds title on behalf of the people of Maine to artifacts and natural scientific specimens located on or beneath state-owned land, including the bottoms of navigable waterways and coastal waters. The museum researches, interprets, and exhibits its collections for the benefit of the public. Its goal is to promote public awareness of Maine’s natural resources and historical richness. The museum provides access to its collections for those interested in pursuing questions about Maine’s cultural and natural history.
History Collections
The people of Maine have faithfully saved treasures from their families’ past and donated many of these meaningful objects to the Maine State Museum. Today, the museum holds tens of thousands of artifacts that reflect daily and community life, work, recreation, and the service of Maine individuals from across the state. These objects work together to tell a rich story of the development of Maine and the resilience of its people.
Explore the Collections
Collection strengths include Maine-made furniture, Maine folk art, Wabanaki objects, ceramics, textiles, artifacts relating to Maine’s heritage industries (including agriculture, ice harvesting, logging, slate and granite quarrying, shipbuilding, and textile production), and artifacts reflecting Maine’s participation in the Civil War. The museum also curates the Maine State House Portrait Collection and historic artifacts in the Blaine House, the home of Maine’s governor.
When the museum reopens fully, historical collections will be on display in three long-term exhibits and several rotating exhibitions. Additional artifacts are available to researchers in climate-controlled storage facilities totaling some 20,000 square feet.
Archival Collections
The Maine State Museum houses extensive archival collections, including manuscripts, rare books, ephemera, and photographs. With over 24,000 images—from daguerreotypes to digital formats—and more than 1,300 linear feet of archives and manuscripts, the Maine State Museum is committed to collecting, preserving, and making accessible these collections that document the lives and histories of Maine’s people.
Highlights of the collection include materials documenting Maine’s involvement in the American Civil War, manuscripts and ephemera detailing Maine’s history of commerce and industry, and the story of Maine as reflected through thousands of personal letters, diaries, and other writings. Photograph holdings include the 1931-1946 archives of the Kennebec Journal, collections of 1900s-1920s glass negatives by photographers from across the state, and work by nationally published photojournalist Kosti Ruohomaa.
Maine Historic Preservation Commission Photographic Collection
The stereoviews and real photo postcards in the Maine Historic Preservation Commission Photographic Collection span nearly a century of Maine’s history, from the 1850s to the 1950s. They document towns and buildings, natural scenery, social events, businesses, and industries from across the state. Additionally, the collection forms a valuable record of Maine photographers and their trade.
The collection was cataloged between 2014 and 2017 by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and the Maine State Museum, with financial support from the Council on Library and Information Resources and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Visit the MHPC website for more information about these photographs.
Image Rights and Reproductions
Requesting Reproductions and Permissions: The Maine State Museum offers images of its collection in its online database to support research and scholarship, as well as to inform and educate the public.
You can request copies of these images for personal, educational, or commercial purposes, or request an image of an object not available in the database by filling out our image usage and request form (linked below).
Questions about image rights and reproductions?
Donate to MSM Collections
Donations of materials relevant to Maine are essential in building our historical record.
History Collection Loans to Other Institutions
During the museum’s collecting moratorium, collections loans to other institutions, as well as research visits, are suspended. When the moratorium ends, the museum’s loan policy will be in effect. The moratorium does not affect the Science and Archaeology collections.
Questions?
For questions about collections, feel free to contact a staff member.