Mainebiz

V O L . X X X I I N O. X X I S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 2 6 22 A U G U S TA / WAT E R V I L L E / C E N T R A L M A I N E F O C U S S ix years after it closed for extensive renova- tions, the Maine State Cultural Building is getting ready to reopen to the public. e most arduous part of the $53 million project occurred early on, with packing and moving hun- dreds of thousands of items to climate-controlled storage locations that would provide housing for an indeterminate time. e building is home to the Maine State Museum, Maine State Archives and Maine State Library. e whole exercise was also an opportunity. Each bureau used the time to design new layouts and infrastructure that would modernize public and back-end use. e museum, in particular, pre- pared more than 19,000 square feet of new exhib- its, displays and gathering spaces. Over the first two years of the closure, museum staff dismantled and moved many of its exhibits to storage locations. "It gave us the opportunity to think about what would come back when the renovation was finished, so we sort of made the classic lemonade out of lemons," says Bernard Fishman, the museum's director. P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R Bernard Fishman, director of the Maine State Museum in Augusta, stands beneath a 45-foot-long humpback whale skeleton, a new exhibit in the soon-to-reopen museum. Declaration of Independence The Maine Historical Society will present for public viewing the Dunlap broadside of the Declaration of Independence at the Maine State Cultural Building on Oct. 21, from noon to 5 p.m., and Oct. 23, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The broadside is one of 26 surviving cop- ies of the declaration printed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, and sent to the Colonies to announce American independence. Culture hub Augusta building that houses state museum, archives and library emerges from long renovation B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r P H O T O / L I B R A R Y O F C O N G R E S S

• Cover