Big changes are happening around Portland Harbor Museum! We are having a very successful season, and I am looking forward to introducing myself to many of you. Linda McLoon left PHM in July, after a very successful career here. The museum and Board of Trustees miss her very much. I have taken her place and hope to carry on with the wonderful job she did.

As you read previously, I come from a museum and education background. In 1997 I graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College and went on to teach elementary and middle school social studies on Nantucket Island. During the summers between school years, I worked at the Nantucket Historical Association as a docent coordinator and educator.

My love for maritime history crystallized during these experiences. I decided, after three years, to return to Maine, where I grew up, and attend graduate school at the University of Southern Maine in the American and New England Studies program; I will be finishing this year. I completed the Portland History Docents program this spring and volunteered at PHM before being hired. I am thrilled to be here in a full time capacity.

The best news of the summer is that attendance is up at the museum! We had approximately eight hundred people through the museum this July and that equals the number of people who came through during the Op Sail July last year we are gaining recognition!

We had our annual fund raiser, Chowderfest, in June and it was a success! We raised approximately $5,000 for the museum and our participants had great fun bidding on the magnificent prizes our donors offered. Thank you to all who participated and/or donated something!

Our lecture series is also warming up! We had two successful lectures during the summer and will continue the Sunday afternoon series this winter. Attendance at these lectures is very high, which is great news for the museum. This summer we had a lecture on Peaks Island and Mason Philip Smith repeated his incredibly popular lecture on German submarine landings in North America in WWII.

We are looking forward to this winter's lectures given by distinguished speakers such as Earle Shettleworth and Joel Eastman. Thank you all for your continued support of Portland Harbor Museum and I look forward to having more contact with you!