March 2025: Drafting Table

  Currently on display in our temporary gallery space, this drafting table was used by Bates artists to create countless art pieces for use in bedspreads, tablecloths and more. Featuring designs ranging from a roller-skate to flowers, visitors to our exhibit...

February 2025: Lisbon Street in Winter

Happy February. We hope everyone is staying warm and dry after our latest snowstorm. Here is a photo from our archives of Lisbon Street during the winter time — check out all the storefronts and the snowbanks nearly covering them up. There has been plenty of...

January 2025: Bates Mill Pattern

Our object this month is a design from our collection which will be featuring in our upcoming exhibit Pattern & Process: Industry and the Individual. The exhibit showcases dozens of designs from the Bates Mill during its operation, as well as various pieces...

December 2024: Santa at Peck’s

In celebration of the holidays, we are showcasing this photograph of our long-time volunteer, Jeanine, at age 4 with her sister visiting Santa at Peck’s. Peck’s was known as the “The Great Department Store.” The store was founded in 1880 in the...

November 2024: 1987 Flood

Our object of the month this November is a photograph from our collection of the Androscoggin River during the 1987 flood. While the river has been powering the mills for well over a hundred years, it also floods fairly often! This photo is just one of those many...