Indigenous thought leaders discuss how to elevate Wabanaki history in annual Donna M. Loring Lecture

Three Indigenous women stood side by side at the front of the St. Francis Room at the University of New England as more chairs were brought in for the growing audience of 125. UNE President James Herbert and First Lady Lynn Brandsma, Ph.D., grabbed some of the last seats, while a nearby overflow crowd viewed the livestream of the lecture on Wabanaki history, the evolution of Native museums, and the erasure of Indigenous cultures. 

Jennifer Neptune, a citizen of the Penobscot Nation and director of the Penobscot Nation Museum on Indian Island in Old Town, Maine, and Betsy Richards, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and executive director of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, came to UNE to talk about the pain caused by the erasure of Native history and how Native museums have evolved to help address the problem.  

The museum directors praised the advocacy work done by the woman seated beside them: Donna M. Loring, a Penobscot elder who, in 2009, donated her literary papers to the Maine Women Writers Collection, housed at UNE, enhancing representation of Native people in an archive accessible to the public. 

The Donna M. Loring Lecture is made possible by the Donna Loring Endowed Fund, which was started with generous gifts from Capt. Joanne Murphy, Loring’s commanding officer during the Vietnam War, where she served. The annual public lecture series honors Loring’s service and civic work by creating a forum for education and discussions around Indigenous rights, civil rights, social justice, and environmental issues. 

Loring has served as a council member of the Penobscot Nation, the Penobscot Nation’s police chief, and the Penobscot Nation’s Representative to the Maine State Legislature, where she sponsored the 2001 law requiring teaching Native American history in Maine schools. She also served as an advisor to both former Gov. Angus King and current Gov. Janet Mills.  

The Loring Lecture held at UNE on Oct. 28 explored how museums can serve as critical spaces for advancing cultural truth-telling and Indigenous sovereignty. The three Indigenous thought leaders discussed how some museums have shifted from colonial institutions to living sites of accountability and cultural progress.  

The two guest speakers highlighted examples of organizations and educational institutions across Maine that worked with Indigenous curators and communities to elevate Native storytelling. 

Richards’ vision is for museums to “move from places of conquest” to places that elevate democracy, dialogue, empathy, and visions of a shared future — and inspire museum visitors to take action. She spoke of how the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor is unique in incorporating input from Wabanaki people in its work with a mandate to include representatives from Native communities on the museum board.

She called it a model for more inclusive storytelling.

“We feel that Indigenous thought leadership, particularly Wabanaki thought leadership, is vital to all of our conversations on a healthy planet and society for us all,” Richards said. 

Richards offered signs of hope, including a 2017 survey that showed 78% of Americans are interested in learning more about Native culture and histories and seeing Native history included in K-12 education. 

“When only some stories are told and repeated, we lose the truth of the world and its histories,” she said. 

Neptune, of the Penobscot Nation Museum that celebrates the art and culture of the Wabanaki people, offered examples of how positive change has occurred, educating and uniting communities when curiosity melds with cross-cultural collaborations. 

“Part of that comes from decolonizing work and sometimes it comes from Indigenizing work, and sometimes it's a mix of both ... Each step forward is a step forward,” Neptune remarked.  

“When we work together, when we build these relationships together, when we collaborate, when we're open, when we trust, when we try, when we take chances with each other,” she added, “it can lead to amazing things.”