BAR HARBOR, Maine (WABI) – First District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and the President of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) stopped by the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor on Wednesday.

Documenting Wabanaki history and heritage, the Abbe Museum has been a regional staple for nearly a century.

The visit and conversation with tribal members is part of a three-day tour for Pingree and NEH Chair Shelly Lowe as they explore Maine’s cultural landscape through projects funded by the state or the federal NEH.

Officials say the multi-day tour in Maine was aimed at raising awareness of the importance of federal funding for humanities efforts.

“A lot of the humanities, like the National Endowment for Humanities, are about dialogue,” said MP Pingree of Wednesday’s museum tour and collaborative conversation with Indigenous community members. “So when you go into a museum like this, you’re looking at the collection, but it’s also about sparking dialogue.”

President Lowe is the first Native American woman to hold the position and emphasizes the importance of including a diverse set of voices when discussing Maine’s history and culture.

“When you visit an institution like the Abbe Museum, you see the culture, not just the history and what happened here in the past, but you see that the culture is alive. You see that the culture is present in everyday life. You see that these knowledges and languages ​​are thriving and that they are alive or being taught,” says President Lowe. “It’s important to us that everyone understands that these cultures are thriving and that they’ve been here and that they’ve been here for thousands and thousands of years.”

Pingree is the ranking member of the subcommittee that oversees the NEH as well as co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus.

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