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Meet Maine here.
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Meet Maine here.
A 3,800-pound, 45-foot long adult humpback whale skeleton suspended from the Maine State Museum’s new 4,130-square-foot whale gallery as part of the upcoming exhibit, Vector: A Whale’s Life in the Gulf of Maine. Photo by Sweet Thunder Productions.
What’s Been Going On at the Museum?
An Update on the Cultural Building’s Renovation
Are you missing the Maine State Museum? You are not alone. Many people have expressed frustration that the museum has been closed for so long and will not open until 2026.
The reasons for this long timeline? The renovation of the Cultural Building, the 55- year-old structure that houses the State Museum, State Archives, and State Library, has been much more complex than anyone expected. The Cultural Building’s needs required a down-to-the-bones rebuilding to comply with new building codes, achieve energy efficiency, create a safe and stable interior environment, provide better accessibility, replace worn-out finishes, and upgrade technology systems.
The general contractor for this massive renovation project is scheduled to finish in June 2025. Museum staff will then jump into action to implement plans for new exhibits and a family-friendly education center. It will be an all-hands-on-deck effort to pack, transport, and unpack stored museum collections, assemble exhibit cases, paint, install interactives, and re-establish museum workshops and labs.
Many thanks to Maine people and visitors for the continuing support and patience during this lengthy process. Museum staff are excited to unveil a sparkling, dynamic, engaging, and more comfortable Maine State Museum. Stay tuned!
New Exhibits Taking Shape
The 45-foot, 3,800-pound adult female humpback whale skeleton awaiting the installation of its flippers. Photo by Sweet Thunder Productions.
The 4,130-square-foot whale gallery as the whale skeletons are installed by the team at Whales and Nails. Photo by Sweet Thunder Productions.
Dan DenDanto, owner and president of Whales and Nails, as he secures the chains suspending the whale skeletons. Photo by Sweet Thunder Productions.
Exhibit Preparator Ryan Walker (left) and Exhibit Designer Brewster Buttfield (right) working on the White Pine Tree in its early phases.
The Lunder Education Center’s White Pine Tree as its installed on the museum floor. Photo by Sweet Thunder Productions.
Exhibit Designer Brewster Buttfield (left) and Exhibit Preparator Ryan Walker (right) made this bigger-than-lifesize tree go from plans to reality. Photo by Sweet Thunder Productions.
A Behind the Scenes Look at Construction in Progress
The museum outer lobby will have upgraded visitor amenities and new security infrastructure for the entire building.
A sub-contractor cuts steel studs to support new drywall.
New walls get taping and patching before painting.
Museum exhibit designer Brewster Buttfield checks on structural supports for the ramp and tiered seating in the new Lunder Education Center.
New windows bring new light into the education center.
A ceiling grid in the “whale” gallery will support a new, efficient lighting system.
The Museum Staff in Action
Museum staff have been busier than ever in planning the new exhibits and educational interactives that will be unveiled with the museum’s phased reopening. Take a look at just a few of the tasks that staff have tackled to continue current services or prepare for new ones.
Whales and Nails owner and president, Dan DenDanto, and part of a humpback whale skeleton that will be part of the museum’s 2026 exhibit, ‘Vector: A Whale’s Life in the Gulf of Maine.’
Museum conservator Teresa Myers cleans and stabilizes one of around forty bird specimens planned for exhibit in the new education center.
Chief educator Joanna Torow, consultant Don Havey, and exhibit designer Brewster Buttfield examine artifacts planned for an educational interactive that will explore a Revolutionary War shipwreck site.
Curator of historic collections Angela Goebel-Bain (standing at the back) leads an examination of a banner that brings new insights to plans for an exhibit on the Charles V. Minott shipyard in Phippsburg.
Educators Joanna Torow and Kate Webber plan the exhibit of a variety of old phones that will be displayed with the historic Bryant Pond switchboard in the new education center.
