Maine Contemporary Archives garners national award of excellence

The group that created the Maine Contemporary Archives, which includes the University of Maine Raymond F. Fogler Library, earned an award of excellence from the American Association of State and Local History (AASLH). 

The organization announced that it conferred an award of excellence to the Maine Contemporary Archives Collaborative and 37 other people, projects exhibits and publications as part of its 76th annual Leadership in History Awards. The award recognizes an “achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history,” according to the AASLH. 

The Maine Contemporary Archives Collaborative works to collect, preserve and provide access to materials related to Maine community members’ experiences of current events. Its titular project is a DigitalMaine initiative supported by the Maine State Library and made possible with funding from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds and Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), the latter of which was received from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. 

Fogler Library Special Collections is a founding member of has been an active participant in the Maine Contemporary Archives Collaborative and an active participant in the collaborative’s work. The UMaine COVID-19 Community Archive is among the projects featured on the Maine Contemporary Archives website. Materials from that project also appear in the collaborative’s “It’s Been a Year: Selections from Community COVID-Era Collections” exhibit.