October 25, 2023
Memorial and Archive

As our local history and culture museum, we believe it is important to preserve the community’s response to the tragic mass shooting that occurred in Lewiston on October 25, 2023. We are leading the cultural response to help memorialize the victims and honor the community, as we all seek to help people heal and become stronger together.

We worked with the City of Lewiston, the Lewiston-Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and artist Tanja Hollander to collect memorial items (such as candles, Lewiston Strong signage, posters, hearts, love letters to family and friends) that were left outside of the shooting sites, Just-in-Time Recreation and Schemengee’s Bar and Grille, as well as on Lisbon Street and around the city. Maine MILL has documented and archived all of these objects, which are now housed in the museum’s collection. We continue to receive and archive memorial objects.

The museum has since created a memorial room within the existing galleries and is committed to having rotating objects on display within that room. Maine MILL is also taking oral histories of those that were directly impacted and of our community leaders.

To commemorate the one-year remembrance, Maine MILL commissioned two local artists, Tanja Hollander and Miia Zellner, to create an installation that uses all 261 plastic flower sleeves saved from Just-in-Time Recreation and Schemengee’s Bar and Grille. The work is on view October 16, 2024 – September 6, 2025  in the recently-created memorial room within the museum. Through the medium of reclaimed plastic flower sleeves, the work explores loss, the role of impermanent expressions, and the impetus behind shared community recovery from the effects of mass violence.

Photos courtesy of Tanja Hollander and Russ Dillingham.