Special Collections in Maine Contemporary Archives Exhibit

Materials from the UMaine COVID-19 Community Archive are included in a new collaborative online exhibit, It’s Been a Year: Selections from Community Covid-Era Collections.

Many archivists and librarians have been collecting primary source materials related to their communities’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, these cultural heritage professionals formed the Maine Contemporary Archives Collaborative, a network that connects digital archives projects from across the state. To mark one year of COVID-19, members of the collaborative developed this online exhibit.

The exhibit features artwork, photographs, writing, and recordings representing communities from Aroostook to York Counties. The Maine Contemporary Archives Collaborative hopes this selection of items will inspire people to create and submit their own reflections and materials to the project in their area. Participating organizations will preserve and provide access to contributed materials so these can serve as primary source records for researchers, students, and community members into the future. Including diverse voices, experiences, and perspectives will help to create a more thorough representation of life in Maine during this time.

The mission of Maine Contemporary Archives is to foster collaboration to collect, preserve, and provide access to materials related to Maine community members’ experiences of current events. Fogler Library Special Collections has been an active participant in this project, a DigitalMaine initiative supported by the Maine State Library and made possible with Federal Cares Act-LSTA funds received from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For more information, contact Matthew Revitt at matthew.revitt@maine.edu or Maine Contemporary Archives at https://ourmainearchives.omeka.net/contact.