Boothbay Region Maritime Foundation held its Maritime Photo Show and Exhibit Aug. 19 at Boothbay Harbor Opera House. The 38-photo silent auction started Aug. 6 and is sponsored by a Maine Community Foundation grant originally issued for last summer before the show was canceled due to COVID-19.

BRMF President Deanne Tibbetts said the auction represents a showing of community support beyond ensuring maritime waterfront access via Carter’s Wharf. The Foundation is also establishing a database of historic photos to keep the memory of the region’s maritime history and heritage alive. With no building, the digital collection is available for all to peruse and to use in school projects and curriculum, local history activities and research and genealogy.

“The BRMF board was looking for a way to preserve and share maritime heritage with others (that’s) accessible to all and not fee based (and) enhances and expands upon the wonderful local resource of the Boothbay Region Historical Society,” said Tibbetts. “We also wanted to really emphasize not just fishing, but boatbuilding, various boat tours, and the overall commercial aspects of the waterfront’s history as well.”

The project came together in 2019 when Tibbetts made a call to Penobscot Maritime Museum asking if there was any interest in the concept and archivists Kevin Johnson and Matt Wheeler were instantly taken by it. The partnership took off during the first “digitization day” which was held in November; the efforts brought Department of Marine Resources’ Elaine Jones to the table with 165 photos as well as participation by Boothbay Region Historical Society, 100 photos from Boothbay Register editor Kevin Burnham, 89 through Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library’s Joanna Breen, and 116 from Stickney family donations and many other people.

PMM’s Johnson attended the reception and said the vast partnership created by the project has brought over 400 photos online so far with another 400 ready for digitization, mostly from DMR and the Historical Society. “We have the largest photo collection in the state with a lot of this kind of stuff in the database already … We got to work not just with Deanne, but with the Boothbay Region Historical Society and help digitize some of their photos … Then the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library and Boothbay Register got involved. So it's growing.”

Tibbetts said the show would not have been possible without the Opera House’s Cathy Sherrill and Kevin Kiley for hosting the show and helping set up the collection. The show will run through Sept. 30 and is open Wednesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on the evenings of performances. Auction winners will be announced at the end of the last showing. Tibbetts and Johnson said the digital gallery’s 400-plus photos can also be reproduced by PMM though usage is determined by donors’ preferences and can be limited to personal use only.