The Maine Memory Network (MMN) is a collaborative online
museum which “strives to help communities and schools learn about, celebrate,
and share their local history.”[1]
It was created by the Cultural Affairs Council of Maine, is overseen and
maintained by the Maine Historical Society, and is in its second decade of
successful operation.[2]
The museum has elements of a top-down hierarchy, in that it was formed with a
directive and vision from the Council, and elements of a bottom-up structure,
in that collections are contributed to the site by community organizations from across the state,
as well as individuals.
In the collaborative model used by the MMN, the contributing
partners (CP) have autonomy: They choose which items from their collections to
be uploaded to the site and they handle the scanning and cataloging of the
items.[3]
MMN staff performs quality checks on the material before it goes live on the
site, but at the same time, recognizes local expertise and knowledge. In other
words, they are checking for simple errors, not overriding the information
provided by the local organization.
The museum boasts over 45,000 historical items which range
from Abenaki baskets, to photographs of nineteenth century railroad workers, to
letters from well-known and little-known inhabitants of Maine.[4]
The site encourages interaction by its users, allowing them to comment on
items, and even to identify individuals, places, and events in photographs when
those are unknown by the contributor. Additionally, a page for educators, that
includes lesson plans, actively fulfills their mission statement.
As the site has grown, so has the depth of material: Many of
the letters appear in their original form, and with a transcription that makes
them more accessible to more people. A link from the homepage takes the user to
a page entitled “Maine History Online.” From there, the user can access
information by theme (“Living off the land and sea,” “Trade and Transport,”
among others) or by time period. These pages contain photographs and primary
source materials with scholarly historical essays that relate the particular
episode in history, give context to the items, and link the state narrative to
the larger national and global narratives.
The site boasts 270 contributing partners (historical
societies, libraries, schools, etc) representing 159 towns (of 432) in Maine.
In addition, there are 6 contributing partners out of the state, including the
Boston Public Library, and the National Archives in Waltham.[5]
A map showing the locations of the partners reveals the largest percentage in southern
and coastal Maine, which are areas with the largest population centers.
However, even in this area, not all towns are represented, which may indicate the
challenges of bringing CPs on board. As much of my own family hails from the
towns of Rockland, Warren, Union, and Thomaston, Maine on the south coast, I
was disappointed to see very little involvement, if any, from these towns.
An article written in the early years of the MMN outlined
some of the difficulties: The site has a volunteer training process in place
and keeps it as simple as possible, but the challenge is that many libraries
and historical societies are mainly volunteer operations, with few or no paid
staff members. The upshot is that even if the process is simple, there is no
one to carry out the work.[6]
Again, personal experience bears this out: In my research I look for local
historical societies and find, in many cases, that they are housed within the
local library and are staffed by volunteers a few hours a week. Their web
presence is minimal and seldom changes. Participation in the MMN might be a
viable way for their collections to be preserved and accessed, but only if
someone is available to do the work.
As with any new venture, there was a flurry of articles when
the MMN went live on the Web in 2003, and since then, articles about the site
have become more difficult to find. Although this is a natural progression
(news is only news when it is new), I was concerned that the site was no longer
attracting new partners and that it was becoming less dynamic. That does not
appear to be the case. Although growth is slower, new organizations continue to
join. In March of 2014 a historic house in Hallowell, Maine noted on its
website that its staff had undergone the training provided by the MMN and would
be working to upload the collections to the site.[7]
The Hubbard Free Library of Hallowell is listed as a CP on the MMN website;
perhaps personal connections between staff of the two organizations led to the Homestead
joining or perhaps it was something else. It would behoove the MMN to
investigate how and why organizations join in order to incorporate those
practices into their outreach.
The MMN is considered a successful collaboration in the
literature: A study carried out in 2013 by Ithaka S+R and the Association of
Research Libraries on sustainability in digital collections chose the MMN as
one of the 8 organizations in its final analysis, out of a field of 188.[8]
While this article was not focused on collaboration, 6 of the 8 organizations
chosen for the study involved collaboration between institutions. Clearly the
pooling of resources between partner institutions enhances their ability to
sustain their collections, and thus ensure greater access.
Local institutions, acting as partners to the MMN, also
benefit from the collaboration as their collections are accessed by greater
numbers of users. In at least one town, the local fire department submitted
photographs to the MMN, adding to the historical knowledge of that town. How
many residents would think of their fire department as a resource? Other organizations
that have contributed to the MMN include the Maine Conservation Corps, Mt.
Desert Island Hospital, L.L. Bean Corporate Archives, and Camp Winnebago, none
of which might be commonly thought of as historical resources. The great
benefit of a collaborative website, such as the MMN, is the ability to jump
from one collection to another via links, or to have the collections of various
organizations filtered through search terms into one place for viewing.
The MMN mission statement stresses the goal of education for
the site and the active pursuit of this has also benefitted local schools as
well as the site itself. Not only is the MMN a resource for teachers and
students, in some cases students have become active partners by learning to
scan and upload articles to the website. Some are involved in writing the
descriptions and some are training older volunteers and workers in modern
technology.[9] Who
knows what budding historians, catalogers, and museum curators are included in
the ranks of these high school students? Exposing students to the collaborative
environment has the potential to guide them into previously unknown careers.
The MMN has now been operating for over 12 years and
continues to be an important resource for Maine history. The challenge, as I
see it, is to keep the site dynamic and growing in order to continue to attract
new users and retain current users. If, each time the site is accessed, the
material is the same, it will lose its appeal. In order for this to occur,
outreach must be a priority for the MMN. They must continue to find creative
ways to help local organizations find the staff to participate and become CPs,
such as using high school students. Towns that are homes to colleges and
universities can partner with local historical societies and libraries to offer
internships to students. One solution might be to create a page on the MMN
website where organizations can put out a call for student volunteers to assist
them in digitizing and cataloging their collections. I daresay there are SLIS
students who might enjoy such an opportunity over the course of a summer.
[1] “Maine’s Statewide Digital
Museum, Archive, and Educational Resource,” Maine Memory Network, https://www.mainememory.net/aboutus/index.shtml
Accessed 21 February, 2016.
[2] “Project History,” Maine Memory
Network, accessed 17 February, 2016, https://www.mainememory.net/aboutus/aboutus_history.shtml
[3] Ellen Dyer, “Maine Memory
Network: The Challenges of Collaboration,” NEA Newsletter, vol. 30, 4, October
2003, p 22-25. http://www.newenglandarchivists.org/Resources/Documents/Newsletter/NEA_Newsletter_October2003.pdf
Accessed 20 February. 2016.
[4] “Maine’s Statewide Digital
Museum,” Maine Memory Network, https://www.mainememory.net/aboutus/index.shtml
[5] “Search by Contributing
Partner,” Maine Memory Network, https://www.mainememory.net/search/cp/
Accessed 21 February, 2016.
[6] Ellen Dyer, “Maine Memory
Network: The Challenges of Collaboration,” NEA Newsletter, vol. 30, 4, October
2003, p 22-25. http://www.newenglandarchivists.org/Resources/Documents/Newsletter/NEA_Newsletter_October2003.pdf
Accessed 20 February. 2016.
[7] “Maine Memory Network
Volunteer Training a Success,” Vaughn Woods & Historic Homestead, http://vaughanhomestead.org/maine-memory-network-training-march-1/
Accessed 22 February, 2016.
[8] Nancy L. Maron, Sarah
Pickle, “Searching for Sustainability: Strategies from Eights Digitized Special
Collections,” A report from Ithaka S+R and the Association of Research
Libraries, http://www.arl.org/storage/documents/publications/searching-for-sustainability-report-nov2013.pdf
Accessed 18 February, 2016.
[9] Stephen Bromage, "The
Maine Memory Network: Re-Imagining the Dynamics and Potential of Local History,"
Maine Policy Review 24.1, (2015) : 138 -140, http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol24/iss1/37
Accessed 18 February, 2016.
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