Back to Beacon page one    Back to PHM home page

From the Director's Office, Linda McLoon

Portland Harbor Museum continues to march forward and there is lots of good news to report. First and foremost, I'm happy to welcome Maggie Beals to the museum's staff as Curator. Certainly not a new face at Portland Harbor Museum, Maggie has designed and mounted our exhibits on a consulting basis for a number of years. It is a mark of the museum's continuing momentum that we can now bring her on board as an employee. Not only will our exhibits continue to shine, but the Collections will receive much additional attention under Maggie's care. 

I'm also pleased to report that our facility, this grand old former ordnance repair building of Fort Preble which we call home, is currently wearing a more cheerful face, thanks to the efforts of board members and other volunteers. We enjoyed a tremendously helpful Day of Caring in May, when eleven carpenters, painters and gardeners organized by the United Way assisted our own museum helpers to give the museum a bright new look. 

As we approached the 2000 season, it was obvious there were challenges ahead. Our opening hours were increasing from 18 to 45½ each week, which necessitated a whole new flock of volunteers. The shop keepers were facing an intimidating new machine called a Cash Register and museum docents had a large new exhibit to interpret for visitors. All came through with flying colors and have much to be proud of! I'm very appreciative of all those folks who are willing to contribute their time and effort to make our programs go forward. 

The museum's Board of Trustees also deserves its share of accolades. They each bring their own individual talents to the board and all are willing to pitch in wherever they're needed. It's indeed a pleasure to work with this wonderful group, who deserves a tip of the hat for the new heights Portland Harbor Museum has reached. 

OpSail Maine 2000 was a great boost to the museum as we saw attendance figures for July and August triple and Museum Shop Manager Linda Johnson work hard to maintain shop inventory levels. We received unprecedented press coverage, as every local television station visited us at least once and we made the front page of the Portland newspapers on several occasions. Portland Harbor Museum has come of age! 

The three day annual conference of the New England Museum Association, attended by almost 800 people, met in Portland in October. Portland Harbor Museum was able to show off its two permanent and one annually changing exhibitions in an exhibit evaluation workshop held here during the conference, from which we gained a lot of fresh ideas to add to future projects. 

 Not to rest on our laurels, we now look forward to new challenges as we continue to promote the maritime heritage of Portland Harbor. Beginning in 2001, we will join other area institutions in the Portland History Docent program, enabling our volunteers to participate in a ten week program designed to broaden understanding and sharpen interpretive skills. It's our hope that the PHD program will be useful to our current docents as well as expand our docent roster.

David N. Morton
Chairperson

Robert G. Bent
Vice Chairperson

Robert S. Blackwood, Jr
Treasurer

Linda McLoon
Director
 
 
 

Margaret A. Beals
Curator

Cara H. Blazier
Pamela R. Boudreau
E. Jamison Findlay
John R. Houghton
J Michael Laidlaw
Wendy A. Laidlaw
William Leavitt