30 years: the Maine Humanities council one year at a time: a few highlights
1976
An experimental pilot program is succeeded by a new 501(c)3 organization—the Maine Council for the Humanities and Public Policy (MHC)—Maine’s affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). In its first 16 months of operation, MHC makes 42 grant awards totaling $216,950. Guidelines emphasize that a public policy issue involving scholars in the humanities must be the focal point of a project.
Humanists as Mediators (University of Maine Law School): leads to establishment of Alternative Dispute Resolution within the Maine Court System.
In and Out of Maine (Maine Public Broadcasting Network): a televised conference on population change and migration with seven documentary programs created with input from scholars.
1977
The first Seminar in the Humanities and Public Policy gathers state legislators, executive department heads, and scholars in the humanities for intense intellectual discussions of common concerns.
Citizens and their Schools (Maine Lyceum): a series of programs on education policy, including a conference, several small group discussions, and a radio broadcast.
Old Age: Tradition Shared or Shelved (Maine Committee on Aging): oral history and reader’s theater presentations on aging.
1978
“Cut and Run”: Critical Problems of Work in the Maine Woods, a film about forestry, was screened and discussed in 20 communities and on public television. It proved controversial when paper companies contested the film’s claims about safety and current practices as compared to woodcutting days gone by.
The MHC presents a Humanist in Residence at the Maine Department of Mental Health and Corrections, in which James Harrod serves under the Department’s Commissioner, drafts a philosophy of mental health, organizes a statewide conference on families and public policy, and testifies to advocate a legislative study on the Department’s impact on families.
Can the Philosopher Serve the King? (Bates College): a conference in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Sir Thomas More.
1979
The Police and the Public (Bangor Community College): creation and screening of two films exploring two viewpoints typically assumed to be opposing, also featuring public meetings about the image of the police.
1980
MHC sponsors two—day conference in Bethel: “The Humanities in Society.”
The Kennebunks: A Watering Place (Brick Store Museum): the first full—scale interpretive exhibition funded by a MHC grant, covering tourism, architecture, and social history in the Kennebunks from 1870 to 1920. The exhibition attracts 7,000 visitors.
1981
The Maine Humanities Council is renamed, in keeping with diversification of programming and grantmaking, to reflect the broad scope of the humanities—in time to face potential for significant cuts from NEH: the Reagan administration asks for 50% cut in the NEH budget for 1982. In anticipation of cuts, the MHC closely reviews past and present programs, but the cuts never materialize.
New Perspectives in Local History conference organized by the Council. See related article, page 7.
1982
MHC applies for the first NEH Exemplary Award grant and wins $75,000. MHC establishes film collection at Maine State Library and associated film discussion grant program.
Spirit of Place: 200 Years of Maine Poetry (College of the Atlantic). See related article, page 1.
The Holocaust Remembered (Bates College): the first statewide conference on the Holocaust sets the stage for a summer program for teachers and the establishment of the Holocaust Human Rights Center of Maine and “Maine Survivors Remember the Holocaust,” a film produced for Maine Public Broadcasting.
Marsden Hartley, Visionary of Maine (University of Maine at Presque Isle): exhibition of paintings and related poetry by Hartley begins a year—long tour of the state.
1983
NEH Exemplary Award funds Maine at Statehood: The Forgotten Years, 1783—1820, the first large—scale project conducted by the Council. See related article, page 6.
Nuclear War Discussion Project (Nuclear Issues Educational Project): events in 8 communities draw over 1,000 participants.
1984
Print and Protest in the Age of Luther, in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther, features a conference, traveling exhibit, and public programs in libraries to “encourage the public’s recognition that history is not the narrow discovery of ’what happened,’ but instead, the matrix of relations for all human thought and endeavor.”
1984 Is Now (Classical Association of Maine): programs in 38 secondary schools around the state, held in the evenings to encourage intergenerational discussion.
Justice and the Law in Literature (State of Maine Supreme Judicial Court): reading and discussion program involves the entire Maine judiciary in a study of Kafka and Montaigne.
1985
Dorothy Schwartz is appointed Executive Director of the MHC. A pilot project (funded by a grant) of scholar—facilitated reading and discussion programs in public libraries is the origin of Let’s Talk About It, which continues today in partnership with the Maine State Library, offering groups in 35 libraries each year.
From Stump to Ship (University of Maine, New England Archives of Folklore): restoration of 1930s film documenting Maine logging barnstorms the state with huge audience turnout. This project leads to founding of Northeast Historic Film in Bucksport.
Music in Baroque Culture, the MHC’s second Exemplary Award project of $75,000 from the NEH, offers statewide interpretive concerts, lectures, an institute for teachers, and a poster exhibit that is distributed to every high school in Maine.
1986
MHC receives third NEH Exemplary Award for Masters Seminars in the Humanities for Maine Teachers on the topic of the U.S. Constitution.
Factory Island: Bricks, Mortar, and Hope (York Institute Museum): investigates Factory Island as an economic and ethnic center of the Biddeford—Saco area from the 18th century to the present through a collection of workers’ oral histories, a photo—mural exhibition, and a lecture series.
The Maine Novel in the Twentieth Century (Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance). See related article, page 1.
Languages of the Bible (Classical Association of Maine and Bible Society of Maine): conference on teaching the Bible and statewide study groups in biblical Hebrew and Greek.
1987
MHC sponsors a conference entitled AIDS: Plague, Panic and the Test of Human Values at the Augusta Civic Center. The keynote speaker is Susan Sontag. It draws an audience of 600 and significant media attention for a topic then considered quite controversial.
1988
The Land of Norumbega wins another NEH Exemplary Award. See related article, page 7.
Exhibition Programs of Maine distributes film and exhibit resources to schools and local communities across the state.
Maine Literature Project for Middle Schools (MWPA and Maine Council for English Language Arts): led to the anthology Maine Speaks. See related article, page 1.
Hard Times and After (University of Maine): Research and reprints of some of the hundreds of FSA photographs taken in the St. John Valley between 1940 and 1943, resulting in an exhibition and book.
1989
In collaboration with the New Hampshire Humanities Council, In the Beginning: Word, Text, Context offers seminars on biblical language and text.
1990
The MHC helps nurture creation of Maine Association of Museums.
Forgotten Connections: Maine’s Role in the Navajo Textile Trade (Hudson Museum): an exhibition of textiles, basketry, pottery, and photos from the Southwest, attracting over 20,000.
Batteau Machias (Machiasport Historical Society): capitalized on interest generated by “From Stump to Ship,” but with a new focus on river driving. A boat replica constructed by Industrial Arts high school students is on display at the University of Maine at Machias.
Bonsoir, Mes Amis (Maine Alliance of Media Arts): shows the vitality of Franco—American cultural expression through the lives of Ben Guillemette and Lionel “Toots” Bouthot, produced and directed by Huey and screened in six major Franco—American communities.
1991
The Maine Grange (University of Southern Maine): an exhibition of photographs of Grange halls by Rose Marasco is combined with lectures and oral history testimonials.
1992
Modeled on a program in Vermont, New Books, New Readers begins offering reading and discussion programs to adult basic learners at 7 pilot sites. Early support from the Maine State Library and the NEH helped the program to grow, and continuing foundation support keeps it thriving at over 30 sites per year.
A Midwife’s Tale (Old Fort Western): research and scripting for a film directed and produced by Laurie Kahn—Leavitt, based on Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s Pulitzer Prize—winning book. The film premiere in 1997 draws an audience of over 1,000 to the Augusta Civic Center.
1993
Different People, Different Places: Native Americans, Europeans, and the Environments They Created, a reading and discussion program, is co-sponsored with the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Humanities Councils.
1994
The MHC wins last and largest ($163,000) NEH Exemplary Award for The Century Project: Modern Times in Maine and America, 1890—1930. See related article, page 7.
Growing Up Reading (Island Medical Center): This early literacy project in Stonington and Deer Isle supplements free picture books with training in how to share them with children—a model that will later inform the MHC’s current Born to Read program.
1995
Crisis at the federal level: Congress threatens to cut funding for the humanities. Constituents respond to a call for support. Articles galore in newspapers across the state, editorials for and against the MHC. Grant programs are suspended for one year; a committee is formed to find new sources of funding.
1996
Evangeline (Northeast Historic Film): restoration and screening of 1929 film revives interest in Longfellow’s poem.
1997
The Maine Center for the Book, a division of the National Center for the Book at the Library of Congress, is created as the programming arm of the Council. As part of the new Center, Teachers for a New Century offers content—rich professional development programs for Maine teachers K—12 on subjects ranging from Asian Studies to 19th—century poetry.
The first Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health Care® reading and discussion group is formed at Eastern Maine Medical Center. Within five years, groups are established at 25 hospitals across the state, bringing together doctors, nurses, receptionists, trustees, administrators, and others. National expansion begins in 1999, eventually encompassing 17 states (and growing).
Born to Read is founded to promote reading aloud to young children, based on new brain research. Expansion into all of Maine’s counties and partnerships with other stakeholders ensue. The program has since trained hundred of volunteers and thousands of early childhood professionals in early literacy.
Maine’s Soul Survivors: Legacy of the Holocaust (Holocaust Human Rights Center of Maine): photographs, lectures and discussions as opportunity for healing.
1998
The MHC joins the Maine Cultural Affairs Council (CAC), which was founded in 1991 as a forum for interagency planning. Other members are the State Museum, the State Library, the State Archives, the Maine Arts Commission, the Maine Historical Society, and the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. The first Winter Weekend program, on The Odyssey, is held. The Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize is established to recognize exemplary work in the humanities.
1999
The New Century Community Program begins with the first combined appropriation of $3.2 million from the Maine legislature to the CAC.
2000
The MHC begins a $1 million capital campaign for a new building and moves to 674 Brighton Avenue. The Stories for Life program brings probationers and probation officers together to read and discuss great short stories in Auburn, Bangor, Biddeford, and Hallowell.
2001
One month after 9/11, the Council organizes Let Freedom Ring. Sixty-four libraries across the state host almost 1,000 Maine people for reading and discussion programs using excerpts from W.H. Auden’s “1 September 1939” and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech (January 6, 1941).
The Maine Center for the Book brings the national Letters About Literature contest to Maine. Students across the state write letters to authors, living or deceased, describing how the authors’ works changed the students’ views of the world.
2002
The MHC launches the Thoughtful Giving program with an NEH grant to explore philanthropy as civic engagement. Initial work with the Bangor Rotary Club leads to more reading and discussion programs in libraries and other settings.
2003
The Harriet P. Henry Center for the Book is named in honor of longtime MHC supporter and former board chair. Working with local public schools, the MHC wins the first of its two Teaching American History grants from the U.S. Department of Education for a three—year institute on American biography.
Toward Harmony: Understanding a New Diversity in Lewiston—Auburn (Bates College): conference in response to rapid influx of refugees and resultant tensions in the community includes a diversity forum in schools and performances of African dance and music.
2004
The MHC holds a three—day institute in New Harbor to explore connections between literature and civic life.
Réveil: Waking Up French (Penobscot School): an educational DVD by Ben Levine about the revival of the French language in Maine draws large audiences.
2005
The MHC brings the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street exhibit Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon to Maine. The Saco Museum, Musée culturel du Mont—Carmel, and Bethel Historical Society are local hosts. Combined attendance at exhibits and events exceeds 3,000.
A training for Maine librarians presented by the Council and Poets House in New York City, Poetry in the Branches offers ideas for poetry programming with readings and workshops from Maine poets.
2006
Dorothy Schwartz announces her retirement as Executive Director. After a national search, Erik Jorgensen is appointed as her successor.
The Council celebrates its 30th Anniversary with a series of oral history workshops, a traveling performance and discussion on taxes (the Theater of Ideas play Taxing Maine) and Humanities Fest, a free day—long celebration in Lewiston.
A competitive grant from the NEH’s We the People initiative funds a summer institute at Bowdoin for thirty teachers from across the country on “Hawthorne & Longfellow: A Literary Friendship.”
