Maine's Capital Area

This is the first of several events in April, related to our 2017 A Capital Read book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Sloot.

In the 1912, the State of Maine evicted a multi-racial community who had set up home on Malaga Island, a small island off the coast of Phippsburg. Families scattered along the Maine coast, setting up homes where they could, while eight members of the small island group were institutionalized in the Maine School for the Feebleminded. Join us to hear Kate McBrien (Maine Historical Society) and Joanna Torow (Maine State Museum), describe the remarkable people who created this unique island home and the political and economic events that led to their demise.

Kate McBrien is Chief Curator and Director of Public Engagement at Maine Historical Society in Portland. Kate directed the creation of MHS’s Baskets from the Dawnland and 400 Years of New Mainers exhibitions and has directed or curated twelve exhibits at MHS. Previously, as a curator at the Maine State Museum, Kate curated the exhibition Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives which won the 2013 AASLH Award of Merit for exhibition excellence. Kate serves on the Board of Directors for the New England Museum Association and speaks regularly about the museum field.

Joanna Torow has 20 years of experience working with museums and other cultural organizations in Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. She is currently the Chief Educator at the Maine State Museum in Augusta where she has worked for the last fifteen years. Joanna served on the team that produced the award-winning Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives exhibit that was on display at the Maine State Museum in 2012. She continues to teach an hour-long museum program about the island community for middle and high school students. She holds a Master of Arts in Museum Education from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
 www.lithgow.lib.me.us