These shoe lasts were made in Lewiston.

 LEWISTON – Museum L-A announces an opportunity for people who worked in or with local shoe manufacturers to reserve a personalized shoe last to become part of the upcoming exhibit “Portraits and Voices: Shoemaking Skills of Generations” set to open Sept. 25. This initiative is part of a continued effort by Museum L-A to incorporate original art installations created by the community into its exhibits.

Shoe lasts can be reserved for $50 each and will be artfully displayed in the exhibit’s main gallery. Each “Legacy Shoe Last” features an antique wooden shoe last personalized with a name and connection to the local shoe industry inscribed on a leather tag. The inscribed name can be theirs or someone he or she designates as an honoree.

“Monies raised will be used to help pay for the shoeworkers’ exhibit – for the research, creation and installation of it,” notes Rachel Desgrosseilliers, Museum L-A’s Executive Director. “Lots of fabrication and creative energy goes into making the exhibits come alive,” she continued. This exhibit will be the largest thus far in the Museum’s Portraits & Voices series.

Shoe lasts serve as a form in the creation of a shoe. Museum L-A has collected wooden shoe lasts from the period of time when the Twin Cities were the home of several shoe-last manufacturers. 

 For more information or to reserve a “Legacy Shoe Last,” please contact Museum L-A Development Director Jennifer Dube-Works at 207-333-3881 or jdube@museumla.org.

 LEWISTON –  Admission to Museum L-A will be free on Friday, Sept. 3 and the first Friday of each month to follow. It will provide an opportunity for everyone to visit the Museum regardless of their financial situation. “We are a community museum and we want to be sure we give a chance for all to come visit us,” said Rachel Desgrosseilliers, Museum L-A’s executive director. “Our history is so rich that we don’t want anyone to have to miss out,” she continued.

LEWISTON  – It’s time to get a first or final look at Museum L-A’s two current special exhibits, Portraits & Voices: Brickyard Roads and Rivers of Immigration: Peoples of the Androscoggin. Admission will be free on August 31 – the final day for both exhibits. The rooms will then be prepared for Portraits & Voices: Shoemaking Skills of Generations, slated to open Sept. 25. The Museum’s permanent exhibit on the second floor will be open during the transition period.

"OF BRICK" - a brick "carpet" featured in "Brickyard Roads" exhibit

“It’s your last chance to see these exhibits as they are now,” noted Rachel Desgrosseilliers, Museum L-A’s executive director.  “We plan to move some elements of both exhibits upstairs to our permanent exhibit rooms and the artifacts and photographs on-loan for these exhibits will be returned,” Desgrosseilliers continued.

Brickyard Roads is the second in the Portraits & Voices series based on oral histories of workers in Lewiston-Auburn’s textile, brick and shoe-making industries.  This exhibit tells the story of the local brickmaking industry with first-person oral histories, documentary photographs, films showing the process – past and present, specially-commissioned artwork celebrating the art of brickmaking and more. Desgrosseillers noted that the exhibit has been a great success connecting generations as the younger folk learn about the back-breaking, manual work done by elder generations and how technological innovations have enabled modern-day plants like Morin Brick in Auburn to mass produce quality bricks in a fraction of the time it did in the past.

Rivers of Immigration presents an overview of Lewiston-Auburn’s cultural diversity ranging from the mid-1800’s through present day. This exhibit not only showcases the cultural diversity of the Twin Cities, but also reminds us that history repeats itself in the immigrant experience. Stories are told through photographs, personal histories and an interactive writing wall where visitors have added their own family’s experience as immigrants. “It’s been wonderful to see how this exhibit and programs have served as a bridge to understanding between people of different cultures,” Desgrosseilliers said.  “They’ve been a ‘safe, neutral’ place for people to ask questions and learn about each other and get to know each other,” she continued. “We had hoped this exhibit would have this type of impact on the community and so pleased to see that it did.”

Timeline from "Rivers of Immigration" exhibit

Collaborating with the Museum for this exhibit were Catherine Besteman, Professor of Anthropology at Colby College, Anne Kemper, Counselor/Coordinator of the Lewiston Adult Education Adult Learning Center, as well as members and leaders of the local Somali Bantu community. Several photographs illustrating the timeline were donated by local families to help tell the stories of their Irish, Italian, Greek, French-Canadian and Lithuanian ancestors who settled in Lewiston-Auburn.

 LEWISTON  – Museum L-A invites all workers of Lewiston-Auburn’s shoe industry – both past and present – to be part of a photo collage for the upcoming exhibit Portraits & Voices: Shoemaking Skills of Generations.   The collage, tentatively titled “The Many Faces of Shoemaking in L-A,” will include new photos as well as images donated to the Museum. Faces only will be included in the collage.

Shoeworkers are encouraged to stop by the Museum to have their photo taken on one of the following dates:  Aug. 24-25, Sept. 1-2 from 9 a.m. to Noon, and Sat. Sept. 11 from 10 a.m. to 12 Noon. The Museum also welcomes donations of prints or digital images of family members, living or deceased, who have worked in the local shoemaking industry.  Donations of photos taken at local shoe shops and related businesses are also being sought by the Museum to be part of its archival collection and to be considered for inclusion in the upcoming exhibit.

The exhibit on the shoemaking industry of Lewiston-Auburn is the third in the Museum’s award-winning “Portraits & Voices” series featuring oral histories, timelines, photographs and original works of art.  It is slated to open in the Fall.

Museum L-A is located in the Bates Mill Complex, at 35 Canal Street in Lewiston. For more information, call 333-3881, email info@museumla.org or visit www.museumla.org.

Museum L-A will be hosting a book signing event with David A. Sargent on Saturday, August 21st from 1:00 pm. to 4:00 pm with a brief presentation of his book, “Remembering Lewiston-Auburn on the Mighty Androscoggin”, at 2:00 pm. Sargent’s remarks will include how people from many countries have been drawn to the Twin Cities.  The museum will be open free of charge from 10:00 to 4:00 as part of the annual Lewiston-Auburn Balloon Festival Celebration. Complimentary tours of the museum will also be available.

The event is being sponsored by Androscoggin Bank as the final “Voices” lecture in a three-part series held in conjunction with the Museum’s Rivers Immigration: Peoples of the Androscoggin exhibit.

David A. Sargent is a native of Auburn, Maine. He has pursued a lifelong interest in writing and history which was built on the Maine-flavored poetry and journalism of his father, brother, and aunt. In the 1960’s he was a general assignment reporter for the Lewiston Daily Sun. In recent years, he founded, edited and published Business Focus, a monthly newspaper. Sargent has carefully chronicled the history of Maine communities in his “River Views” columns which have appeared twice monthly in the Lewiston Sun Journal since 2005. He presents this collection from the early industrial days to the modern splendor of the balloon festival in “Remembering Lewiston-Auburn on the Mighty Androscoggin.”

Sargent lives with his wife, Judy, on historic family farm built by his great-grandfather after the Civil War. They have two daughters and six grandchildren.

For further information contact Museum L-A at 207-333-3881.

LEWISTON   – Youths age 8 through 12 are invited to register for Museum L-A’s upcoming Summer Vacation History Camp. This year’s theme is “Change Over Time” and will take place July 13, 14 and 15 from 10 a.m. to 12 Noon. Registrants may sign up for all three days or single days.  The fee is $10 per day or $25 for all three days. Museum L-A Educators Joan Beal and Diane Williams developed the programs and will lead the sessions. Camp activities and programs are:

-Day 1 “Bobbin Girl”  Read and hear the story “Bobbin Girl” and complete activities related to the life of child workers in the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts.

-Day 2 “Weave and Spin”  Card, spin and weave cotton by hand, then tour Museum L-A to see how textiles were produced during the Industrial Age.

-Day 3 “Purchasing Power”  Participants will explore the answers to these questions: What would your family income be in 1900 if you worked in the mills? What could you buy and how much would it cost? How is it different from today?

“This year’s history camp will be a fun, hands-on way for children to get a glimpse at what it meant to work in Lewiston-Auburn’s textile mills,” notes Beal. “We’ve had fun designing the programs. The looms and spindles are waiting.”

The camp is being sponsored by Austin Associates, P.A., Certified Public Accounts and also made possible through a Rural Business Enterprise Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture. Registration is limited to 12 participants each day. For more information or to register, please call 207-333-3881 or send an email to jbeal@museumla.org. Museum L-A is located in the Bates Mill Complex at the corner of Canal and Chestnut streets in Lewiston.

 LEWISTON   –  Museum L-A is holding a “Helping Hands and Hearts Day” on Saturday, June 19 from 9 a.m. to noon at the site of its future location – the former Camden Yarns Mill on Beech Street. Volunteers are needed to help spruce up the grounds of the building in preparation for special events to be held this summer.

“We are looking for volunteers to rake, sweep, weed-whack, pull weeds and pick up rocks and stones,” said Museum L-A Executive Director Rachel Desgrosseilliers. She also noted that equipment is also needed to do the work. “The community has been so responsive to our requests for help,” Desgrosseilliers added. “We have been able to accomplish so much and are very thankful.” 

Anyone interested in helping out on June 19 is asked to call the Museum at 207-333-3881.

Muticultural panel to share stories of resettlement in L-A

LEWISTON   – Discover more about Lewiston-Auburn’s diverse immigrant population when Museum L-A’s popular “Voices” lecture series continues at 7 p.m. on June 10 with “Journey to America, Weaving a Cultural Tapestry.” It is the second of a three-part series being held in conjunction with the Museum’s current exhibit “Rivers of Immigration: Peoples of the Androscoggin.”

 Featured speakers are Mexican, Somali, Sudanese, Somali Bantu and Chinese neighbors who now call the Twin Cities their home. They will share how they came to resettle in Maine and some of the challenges and benefits of their relocation.

 Museum L-A’s 2010 “Voices” lecture series is being presented free of charge and underwritten by Androscoggin Bank. Museum L-A is located at 35 Canal Street in the Bates Mill Complex – at the corner of Canal and Chestnut streets. For more information, please call 207-333-3881 or email info@museumla.org

LEWISTON — Museum L-A is pleased to announce its participation in the Blue Star Museum program offering free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2010. Museum L-A is one of only two Blue Star Museums in Maine.

The free admission program is available to active duty and deployed military and up to five of their immediate family members. Eligible military include active-duty Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and active-duty Reserve and active-duty National Guard. Immediate family members who are eligible for free admission include spouse, sibling or child of active duty military. To qualify for free admission, a Geneva Conventions Common Access Card (CAC) for active duty military personnel or a DD Form 1173 for active duty military family must be presented to Museum L-A staff upon arrival. Children under the age of 10 without military ID are welcome to attend with their parents or siblings who either hold a CAC Geneva Conventions ID or a DD 1173 active duty military family ID.

Blue Star Museums is a partnership among Blue Star Families, the National Endowment for the Arts, and more than 600 museums across America.  Blue Star Families is a national, non-partisan, non-profit network of military families from all ranks and services including guard and reserve, with a mission to support, connect and empower military families.  The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts – both new and established – bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. To find out which additional museums are participating, visit www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.  The site includes a list of participating museums and a map to help with visit planning.

Museum L-A is currently offering two special exhibits in addition to its second-floor gallery focusing on the textile and shoe making industries of Lewiston-Auburn and the people who worked in them. Portraits & Voices: Brickyard Roads tells the story of the local brickmaking industry through first-person oral histories, documentary photographs, films showing the process of the past and present, specially-commissioned artwork celebrating the art of brickmaking, and more.  Rivers of Immigration: Peoples of the Androscoggin showcases the cultural diversity of Lewiston-Auburn, historically and in the present, with an illustrated timeline, interactive writing wall, photographs, and personal histories contributed by local English-language learners. Museum L-A is located in the historic Bates Mill at 35 Canal Street and open from Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call 207-333-3881 or email info@museumla.org .

LEWISTON   – On Sunday, June 27, Museum L-A is holding its first duathlon and is looking for volunteers to help with a variety of race-day activities.   LADU is slated to be historic in proportion and go down in the 2010 race books as the biggest duathlon in the state of Maine. This new race will be a 3-mile-run, 14-mile-bike and 3-mile-run in which athletes will race past historic millscapes, scenic paths and the mightiest river in Maine to benefit the preservation and celebration of L-A’s rich heritage underway at Museum L-A.

Museum L-A will need 100 volunteer to ensure a successful and safe event. Volunteer opportunities include duties such as athlete check-in, transition area support, bike and run course support. All volunteers will receive a race-day volunteer T-shirt and Maine State Park Passport. Please contact Museum L-A at 207-333-3881 for more information or visit the LADU section of the museum’s website at www.museumla.org/ladu.

Karla Leandri Rider of Museum L-A, left, and Irma McGuinness of Walmart Supercenter Auburn, right, are in charge volunteers for the upcoming LADU race on June 27.