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Tidying Up in Family Ties
Visitors to the reopened Maine State Museum in late October will find several new and exciting exhibits, as well as some updates to the beloved At Home in Maine.
This popular display explores diverse themes of home life through centuries of Maine’s past. The final section of the exhibit, titled Family Ties, focuses on different stages of life and highlights objects related to marriage, infancy, childhood and adolescence.
Family Ties has been updated with new objects and new stories related to these stages of life. Several new wedding mementoes and gifts will be on display, including a shingling hatchet given by famed marathon runner Andrew Sockalexis to his sister Mary Alice Sockalexis and her husband William James Fallon for their wedding in 1913.
Tools for caring for an infant and the toys that kept them entertained will be on display, including a piece from a baptismal ensemble created by French-Canadian immigrant, Maria Stella Lalanne Tarte for her first child, Charles Wilfred Tarte of Biddeford, Maine in 1889. This ensemble passed through the Tarte family for four generations and was worn by 148 babies.
Childhood will be illustrated with iconic toys, such as an Easy Bake Oven that was enjoyed by Melanie and Stephanie Ruark of Augusta, Maine. Finally, adolescence will be represented with several objects related to school and coming of age. This includes a signed ball from Maine’s first ever high school state baseball championship game in 1947. The baseball and glove belonged to Melvin Massey who played first base for the Gardiner High School team when it defeated Auburn’s Edward Little High School.
These new stories in At Home in Maine are just a few of the many changes and improvements planned to greet visitors when the doors to the museum open once again.
