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Then & Now

Maine Contemporary Archives invites individuals, community groups, and organizations to participate in Then and Now, a collaborative online exhibit. This exhibit will showcase Maine communities and collections by pairing historical items with related contemporary items.

How to contribute: Use the link below to Submit a "Then and Now" pair of items, one historical and one contemporary. You will be asked to provide descriptive information about each item and to upload any associated files (text, image, audio, video). You can also email files to: mca.collaborative@gmail.com.

Contribute Items

Some ideas: 
  • Pair a historical view of a neighborhood or natural landscape with a contemporary view of the same scene. Consider using photographs, postcards, or artwork.
  • Record a brief interview with a family member, friend, or neighbor. Ask about one aspect of their life in the past. Then, ask about the present.
  • Digitize a letter, journal entry, or scrapbook page. Pair this with a contemporary email, social media post, or web page.
  • Collect past and present ephemera from local businesses like menus, advertisements, or event programs.
  • Feel free to mix and match item types. For example, you could pair a photograph taken fifty years ago with a soundscape recorded in the same place today.

Need access to an audio recorder or digitization tools? MCA is piloting a program to lend technology kits to Maine libraries and community organizations. Visit our tech kits page to request a kit.

Contributors agree to share items under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.