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Founded in part by Dr. Robert Abbe in 1926,
and opened to the public at Sieur de Monts Spring
in 1928, the Abbe was initially an archeological
museum that existed to preserve and display Native
American artifacts for the education and enjoyment
of the public.

Over nine decades, the museum expanded its
scope to include ethnographic materials, and accep-
ted extensive collections of Native American baskets.
As a result, the Abbe now holds the largest and best
documented collection of Maine Indian basketry,
which includes contemporary exhibits of the contin-
uing Wabanaki craft tradition. In all, the Museum’s
collections currently represent 12,000 years of Native
American tradition and history in Maine.
The Abbe houses these collections in the season-
Sieur de Monts Spring, Mount Desert. Photo courtesy of the Abbe Museum.
al Sieur de Monts Spring location (open mid-May to
mid-October), as well as at their year-round museum,
which opened in September 2001 in downtown Bar Harbor. The 17,000-square-foot museum has a research lab, state-of-the-art collec-
tions storage, and runs educational programs for both adults and children.

In 2015, the Abbe Museum adopted a Strategic Plan which launched it as a global leader in decolonizing museums.

“It’s a big shift culturally,” Stefanie said. “From Native American museums serving as warehouses for archeological artifacts,
to being, instead, institutions that actively strive to be better at telling the truth of the Native American experience.”
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Left: “Indian Corn Basket” by Frances Soctomah, Passamaquoddy.
2018 – brown ash, sweetgrass, and commercial dyes – 3” x 3” x 14”.

Below: “Eagle Basket” by Fred Tomah, Maliseet, in the Abbe Museum Gift Shop.
Photo by Sawyer West.

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