Research Guides: Wabanaki in Midcoast Maine: 2000-present

2000-present

Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission archive
On June 29, 2012, five Wabanaki Chiefs and Maine’s Governor Paul LePage signed a mandate commencing the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Under the leadership of five appointed commissioners, the TRC was charged with examining Maine’s child welfare practices affecting Wabanaki people; the focus of the Commission was on "truth, healing, and change." Over the course of three years, the TRC collected statements from nearly 150 individuals and focus groups. The TRC published a final report on June 14, 2015, detailing key findings and recommendations for further action. At the conclusion of its work, the TRC transferred its extensive archives to Bowdoin College Library's Special Collections & Archives. In addition to the statements, the archives includes TRC founding documents, the final report of the Commission, and research, policy, and administrative records that document the work of the TRC.

Akins, Vicky, and Paul Frost, editors. Hear Our Words, See Our Thoughts : Writings by Ckuwaponahkiyik, People That Live Where the Sun Peeks Over the Horizon at Us. Wabanaki Writers’ Project, 2009. Volumes 1-3.
An anthology of prose and verse compositions by Wabanaki high school student writers and mentors (Vicky Akins, Paul Frost, Roger Paul, Melanie Ruark) participating in a multi-year grant-funded writing program.
Thirteen Moons = Treize Lunes = ’Sanku Kisuhsok
Thirteen Moons, a tri-lingual publication, uses poetry to tell the story of Father Sebastian Rale, a Jesuit priest who lived with the Abenakis at Norridgewock for thirty years and compiled the first Abenaki-French dictionary. The poems tell of his life among the Abenaki and his and their destruction at the hands of Anglo settlers and scalp hunters. The poem was written by Robert M. Chute, a professor of biology at Bates College, and translated into the Passamaquoddy language by David A. Francis, the keeper of the language for more than 40 years.