Development of First Amendment freedoms exhibit under way at Gannett House as renovations continue

AUGUSTA – The new First Amendment Museum, located at the Gannet House, 184 State St., has announce it has received a $7,430 grant from the Maine Humanities Council. These funds will support the development of a travel-ready exhibit introducing visitors to the origins, evolution and contemporary issues around the five freedoms of the First Amendment. The exhibit will bring together stories highlighting the complicated subjects fostered by the First Amendment in order to expand public discourse around what this amendment means to us as participants in our democracy.

“The development of the exhibit will help the new museum build its capacity to be a trusted source of stimulating resources around the First Amendment” says Executive Director Rebecca Lazure.

Planning for the exhibit is under way with assistance from project scholars including Dmitry Bam, associate professor at the University of Maine School of Law, and Joshua Roiland, assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Maine, who are helping the new museum capture the essence of the First Amendment’s freedoms using relevant national and regional stories. The exhibit will be displayed at various venues, including libraries and schools around Maine, while capital improvements are under way at the Gannett House.

Additional funding for the exhibit comes from the John and Patricia Gannett family, who has made an initial contribution making the 2015 purchase of the Gannett House possible as well as initial startup and building envelope maintenance costs. Additional grant support and donations are also being sought for the project. The Maine Humanities Council, Maine’s affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities since 1975, offers humanities programs and grants for all Mainers.

Rehabilitation of the Gannett House continues with exterior building work under way this spring. Lead abatement of the exterior trim is complete. Two chimneys have also received much needed care from G. Drake Masonry of Dixfield. The south chimney was taken down to the roofline and rebuilt using the original Flemish bond method.

This month, Lewiston-based Hahnel Brothers Co. will be on site beginning removal and restoration of the red slate roof. The Gannett House Project is a 501c3 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to stimulating and inspiring public understanding of the rights and responsibilities inherent in the First Amendment.

For more information, call 207-557-2290,or visit www.gannetthouseproject.org or @FiveFreedomsME.

CAPTION: A view of the Capitol dome beyond Gannett House’s iconic red slate roof. (Photo by Rebecca Lazure.)