AUGUSTA, ME - “Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives,” the newest exhibition at the Maine State Museum in Augusta, opens to the public on Saturday, May 19, 2012. The museum will be open free of charge all day.
The exhibition tells the controversial story of the poor, mixed-race community that lived on Malaga, a 42-acre island at the mouth of the New Meadows River in Phippsburg, Maine. Archaeological artifacts, historical photographs, objects, documents, and news stories from the time help bring the story to life.
In 1912, Maine’s state government evicted the people who lived on Malaga Island. The Maine State Museum exhibition and public programs explore the events that preceded and followed the eviction one hundred years ago.
“The Malaga Island community, numbering about 40, included fishermen, laborers, and their families. They were caught in a time of great change for Maine in the early 1900s,” explains Museum Director Joseph R. Phillips. “As fishing and shipbuilding economies declined along the coast, Maine officials looked to tourism as a new source of economic growth. Not pristine or traditional, Malaga Island’s community did not conform to a marketable image of mid-coast Maine. Racism, eugenics, and social reform also played a part in the resulting government-sanctioned effort to send people from their homes. All traces of the community were removed, even the school and cemetery.”
“For nearly 100 years, Malaga Island was scarcely spoken of, except negatively,” adds Curator Kate McBrien, who developed the exhibition. “Descendants and people in surrounding communities felt the need to hide the island’s painful past. When archaeologists from the University of Southern Maine began excavations on Malaga, the long-missing fragments of peoples’ lives began to re-surface to provide a record of a multi-faceted, vibrant community. These archaeological fragments form the core of the exhibit and, with historical photographs and documents, allow us to glimpse and understand more about Malaga Island’s people.”
The museum’s year-long exhibition about Malaga Island will include extensive educational programming, such as gallery programs for students, teacher training workshops, webcasts, and teacher and student materials. These will all be available in the fall.
“The Malaga Island story is a rich one, full of educational potential,” comments Maine State Museum Chief Educator Joanna Torow. “Teachers are already expressing great enthusiasm for using materials and programs about Malaga Island to explore civil rights, civic engagement, and the role of government in Maine, both past and present.”
The Maine State Museum has partnered with several organizations and individuals to develop and present “Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives,” including Malaga Island descendants, historians Allen Breed and John Mosher, NAACP Portland Branch, Maine Freedom Trails, Inc., University of Southern Maine Departments of Anthropology and Environmental Science, and Phippsburg Historical Society. Maine Coast Heritage Trust, which currently owns and manages Malaga Island as a nature preserve open to the public, is another key partner in the project.
“Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives,” is presented through grants to the Friends of the Maine State Museum and the Maine State Museum from several foundations, including the 1772 Foundation, Davis Family Foundation, Emanuel and Pauline A. Lerner Foundation, Libra Foundation, and Maine Community Foundation’s Green Meadow Fund.
“Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives,” will be on view at the Maine State Museum in Augusta from May 19, 2012 – May 26, 2013. Opening day activities will include gallery talks by University of Southern Maine archaeologists, the Maine State Museum’s curator, and a representative from Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Educational activities for school-age children and their families will be available all day. For more information, see the museum’s website, www.mainestatemuseum.org.
