Penobscot Marine Museum

Purpose: Sustaining Cultural Heritage The Penobscot Marine Museum was founded in 1936 as a repository for artifacts from Searsport's nineteenth-century shipbuilding and seagoing history. Over the years, the museum's mission has expanded to encompass the broader story of Penobscot Bay and its people. In 2003, more than 16,000 people visited the museum to see the maritime exhibits, use the research library, and attend programs for students, families, and senior citizens. This project, which will address the museum's educational outreach program, includes four specific elements: (1) revising and expanding the museum's current teaching modules; (2) creating new modules to represent more of the museum's holdings; (3) integrating the modules with the Maine State Learning Results (MSLR) guidelines; and (4) preparing all materials in digital form for distance learning. The goal is to expand access to Maine's maritime heritage to all students in the state. The expansion of current topics and creation of new ones ensures diverse, comprehensive, and engaging presentations to schools that will enrich classroom curricula. The MSLR component allows public school teachers to meet state-mandated outcomes through museum programs. Digitization will overcome barriers that now prevent many Maine students from accessing the cultural heritage resources of the Penobscot Marine Museum.