Founded:
The Edmund S. Muskie Archives at Bates College were founded when Muskie, who had just accepted a role as Secretary of State, donated many of his papers to the college in 1980. The college soon set aside an old gymnasium building to house the collection, which until that point had been in the basement of Ladd Library. In 2000 the Special Collections Department moved from Ladd Library into the Muskie Archives building as well, joining the two collections into the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library.
Mission:
The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library supports the academic mission of Bates College by acquiring, caring for, and making accessible historically significant records of the College, rare books, oral histories, and manuscript collections, including the papers of U. S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie for whom the library is named. The library serves a broad and diverse audience by producing exhibits, conducting educational and outreach programs, publishing its holdings, and making its collections and programs publicly available.
Collections:
The Muskie Archives and Special Collections holds an invaluable repository of records, manuscripts, books, oral histories and other materials.
The Manuscript Collections hold mostly independent records of individuals, often in the forms of letters, memoirs, personal journals, etc.
The Archives maintains publications of Bates College such as the college newspaper, yearbook, catalog, etc. as well as the reports of the college president and treasurer. All honors theses written at the college since 1927 are also recorded in the Archives.
The array of the College's book collections is vast. The Bates Authors Collection, Berent Collection of Judaica, Dill Collection, Dominican Collection, Marsden Hartley Collection, Muskie Collection, Rare Books Collection (all pre-1830 books), Stanton Collection and William Lyon Phelps Collection are all housed in the Archives and Special Collections Library.
The Archives and Special Collections are also home to recorded oral histories, most of them on local topics such as the Androscoggin River, Bates College, the Lewiston Strike of 1937, and Mill Workers. The Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Collection also resides here.
Facilities:
The structure that now houses the Archives and Special collections was originally built as a women's locker building. The first floor contained showers, looker rooms, offices and a medical examination room. The second story was dedicated as a gymnasium used for activities and social gatherings. After Merrill Gymnasium was built in 1980 the building stood empty, as its previous purposes had been encompassed by the new gymnasium complex.
At the same time, Bates College was engaged in efforts to obtain the papers of Edmund S. Muskie, a Bates graduate and US Senator. When Muskie was appointed Secretary of State in 1980, he cleared out his Senate office and donated most of the papers he no longer had room for to the College. They immediately accepted the gift, though at the time they had no where to house it. The papers were temporarily kept in the basement of Ladd Library until it was determined that the old women's locker/gymnasium building, with renovations, could house the collection. The renovations were conducted and by 1985 the building had been rededicated. In 2000 the Muskie Archives and the Special Collections Department combined. The Special Collections were moved out of Ladd Library and into the Muskie building at this time.
Hours:
Monday: 8:30 a.m. - noon, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 8:30 a.m. - noon, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 8:30 a.m. - noon, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Thursday: 8:30 a.m. - noon, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Friday: 8:30 a.m. - noon, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday: closed
Sunday: closed