Today some of the characterizations and terms Mark Twain used in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer can touch feelings of pain and promote stereotypes. Participants in this panel discussion will explore how language changes over time, what we can learn from Twain's characters about life and relationships at the time, and understand how important it is to recognize history for what it is and what it means to our lives today and in the future. Members of a panel moderated by Raney Bench, curator of education for the Abbe Museum, will address these and other issues and guide the discussion of this important topic. This program is a collaboration of College of the Atlantic, the Acadia Senior College, Mount Desert Island Historical Society and the Abbe Museum.

 

Panelists:

Raney Bench, Curator of Education, Abbe Museum

Ed Snyder, retired Executive Director of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobbying group working for peace, civil rights and economic justice.
Jamie McKown, Professor of Government and Polity at College of the Atlantic, James Russell Wiggins Chair in Government and Polity. 
Robert Bernheim, Director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center, Augusta. Robert is a historian and educator focused on issues related to human rights.

 

Sponsored by:

Funded by a National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read grant.

 

Learn more about The Big Read >

Curator of Education, Raney Bench, will lead a guided tour through Indians and Rusticators: Wabanaki and Summer Visitors to Mount Desert Island 1840s-1920s. During the tour, the discussion will focus on the relationship between Native and non-Native people during the era of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Compare and contrast prevailing attitudes of Native people at the time, and their interactions with non-Native visitors and community members, as told through this immersive exhibit experience.

 

Sponsored by:

Funded by a National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read grant.

 

Learn more about The Big Read >

As part of The Big Read, Raney Bench, Curator of Education for the Abbe Museum will lead a discussion and deeper look into the characterization and stereotypes surrounding Injun Joe in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Explore why some of the less prominent stereotypes in the book have become more contentious and the diverse portrayal of Native people in the story.  Participants will learn more about where such notions of Indian identity and character come from and why they remain to this day.

 

Sponsored by:

Funded by a National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read grant.

 

Learn more about The Big Read >

Tim Garrity, historian and Executive Director of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society will talk about the fire of 1947 that forever changed Mount Desert Island, burning over 1000 acres of forest, and many of the luxury summer homes and hotels that made Bar Harbor such a popular retreat. This is the second talk in our annual winter series, connected with our blockbuster exhibit Indians & Rusticators: Wabanaki and Summer Visitors on Mount Desert Island, 1840s -1920s.

 

Sponsored by The Lynam Trust.

Celebrate winter break and come in from the cold with free admission for families and people of all ages. The Abbe Museum will be free all day in celebration of winter break.  Games, gallery hunts, crafts and hands-on activities will be available throughout the day.