Tracing the Midcoast was built by members of “The Cultural Geography of Allen Island,” an American Studies course at Colby College in Fall 2016. We explored how people have created and recreated Maine’s Allen Island—as a material place and an idea—and how those material and cultural constructions reflect beliefs about Midcoast Maine, nature, the past, modernity, community, and the individual.
Team members include Connor Benjamin, Namita Bhattacharya, Aidan Black, Andrew DeStaebler, Evan Dwyer, Rebecca Gray, Gabe Harrington, Lucas Hickok, Gregory Katz, Daniel Lehman, Marla Montoya, Luke Rector, and Chang Zhang. The course is taught by Ben Lisle. Isabel Friedman ’18 is the digital fellow for Tracing the Midcoast.
The project has been supported by the expertise of many. Thanks to David Morey, Peter Ralston, and Philip Conkling for generously sharing their knowledge about the Midcoast and Allen Island. Whitney King, Jake Ward, and Jim Baker got us back and forth from Port Clyde to the island. Cody the Dog and many nameless sheep entertained us when we were there. Mark Wardecker, Jason Parkhill, and Tim Stonesifer in Academic ITS provided technical expertise and shot spectacular drone footage. Erin Murphy in Cinema Studies has supplied technical and aesthetic guidance. Erin Rhodes and Pat Burdick in Special Collections designed a class research session and hosted the project launch.
For more information on Colby’s partnership with Allen Island, see “Maine as a Laboratory: New Partnerships Bring Colby Students and Faculty to Allen Island, Herring Gut Learning Center.”
Tracing the Midcoast is part of the Digital Maine network.