MHS Annual Meeting Recap
We held our Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 25, at the Center for Moosehead History, and I’m very pleased to say it was a good night for the Moosehead Historical Society. We had about 55 people attend, including members, volunteers, board members, staff, and friends of the Society.
We opened the evening with a short slideshow set to Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me.” The slideshow looked back at the people who built and carried this Society over the years. I thought it was a fitting way to begin, because the Historical Society has never been just about buildings, photographs, documents, or artifacts. It has always been about people — those who started the work, those who kept it going, and those helping carry it forward today.
For those who were not able to attend, we are pleased to share the opening tribute slideshow here: MHS Video Tribute
At the end of the slideshow, we unveiled our new logo publicly for the first time. The logo features Mount Kineo, Moosehead Lake, the hotel built at Kineo in the 1880s, and a steamboat — images that immediately place us here at Moosehead. It also includes the words “Preserving Moosehead’s History Since 1962,” which says plainly what this Society was created to do. To me, the new logo is not a break from the past. It is a way to carry that work forward with a clearer identity as we continue to grow.
My Director’s Report was intentionally shorter than in past years. I did not want to give a long formal report. Instead, I wanted to tell the story of the year.
That story included our growing presence in the community — walking tours, school visits, presentations at the Senior Lounge and Shaw Public Library, Forest Heritage Days at the Junction Campus, the Fourth of July parade, and strong attendance at our History by the Lake programs. People continue to show us that they care about local history, especially when it is connected to real people, real places, and their own memories of this region.
I also talked about the quieter work that happens behind the scenes. We continue to receive important donations, catalog collections, digitize photographs and records, and upload materials to our PastPerfect Museum online collection. Those tasks take time, but they are at the heart of our mission. Every photograph scanned, every object cataloged, and every record preserved helps protect Moosehead history for the future.
We also talked about sharing history beyond the walls of the museum. Our quarterly newsletter, Insight, continues to be one of the real benefits of membership. We also launched the Moosehead History Dispatch, our monthly email newsletter, and we continue to share local history through the Moosehead Lakeshore Journal, including the monthly Then and Now series and stories such as the Richard Francis Lavigne remembrance.
I thanked our staff, volunteers, trustees, members, donors, and community supporters. None of this work happens by itself. The progress of the past year belongs to many people. I also shared that our regular annual giving has increased for three years in a row, not counting the large special gifts connected to the new museum. That tells me people continue to have confidence in the Society and want this work to continue.
Board President Sean Billings then spoke from the Board’s perspective about the new Jewett Family Building, which will become the future home of our Lumbermen’s Museum. Sean recognized Steve and Barbet Mason for their early and generous support of the logging collection and exhibits, and Ed and Arlene Jewett for the remarkable gift that is making the new building possible. This project will allow us to tell the story of Moosehead’s logging heritage in a much better and more accessible way.
One of the major announcements of the evening was our new audiovisual system in the auditorium. Kathy Bishop, our Assistant Executive Director, introduced the system and explained why it matters. Yes, it will help people see and hear presentations more clearly. But more importantly, it will allow us to record programs, preserve them for the future, and share them with people who cannot attend in person. That is a big step forward for the Center for Moosehead History.
We ended the evening with Moosehead history trivia, and it was a lot of fun. Nine teams took part, answering 15 questions drawn from our programs, publications, and recent research. There was a tie for first place, but in the end everybody went home having learned something, remembered something, and shared a few laughs. That is exactly what we hoped for.
All in all, it was a very good annual meeting. I left feeling grateful — grateful for the people who came, grateful for the work being done, and grateful for the support this community continues to show the Moosehead Historical Society.
The Society’s new audiovisual system was used publicly for the first time at the Annual Meeting. The 98-inch screen, improved sound system, and recording capability will help us present programs more clearly, preserve them for the future, and share them with people who cannot attend in person.
The evening ended with Moosehead history trivia, using the new screen to display questions for all nine teams. The 15 questions were drawn from Society programs, publications, and recent research.
Annual Meeting guests joined in the Moosehead history trivia game, working by table to answer questions, share memories, and have some fun with local history. A tie for first place made the ending even better.