One of the largest historical photography archives in Maine, the Penobscot Marine Museum’s photography collections contain 100,000 film and glass plates negatives as well as prints, slides, cabinet cards, postcards and daguerreotypes. The collections range from the vast archives of the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company to intimate family albums. Each collection has a connection with the Penobscot Bay region, either through the photographer, the publisher, or the subject matter. Images are of Searsport and midcoast Maine, elsewhere in the state and New England, and distant lands.

Museum photography collections have traditionally been filed away so that the public had only limited opportunities to see selected images in exhibits or books or by special arrangement. Recent advances in digital technology have done away with those limitations, and PMM is taking full advantage of technology to make its collections available to the public. A dedicated staff and a small army of volunteers have catalogued and scanned tens of thousands of negatives and prints, and more are added weekly. It is our goal to have all of our collections available for free viewing online. If you have a commercial, artistic, or personal use for one of the photos, we offer fine art reproduction prints and image licensing, the proceeds from which will help to fund this monumental project and support the archives themselves.

Purchase and Licensing

Fine art reproductions of our photographs are available for purchase and licensing. Click here for details regarding sizes, prices and restrictions. We are developing and online store which will allow viewers to shop for the photos they want and our search-able database will soon be available online as well. In the meantime, please feel free to contact our photo archivist at (207) 548-2529 ext 210 or with any questions or queries you may have. All print and licensing proceeds help to fund our photography collections department, so buy a print today!


Video by Ned Lightner about the Photography Collections

Follow the links to brief biographies of the photographers and slide shows showing samples of their work. Check back frequently. We'll be adding new galleries and photos to allow each collection to be viewed in its entirety.

Atlantic Fisherman

A collection of more than 1000 prints and negatives from Atlantic Fisherman monthly from 1919-1950’s documenting the fishing industry of the Northeast coast


Frederick Ross Sweetser

Nearly 400 glass plate negatives made by Frederick Ross Sweetser, a Searsport music teacher, uncle to Joanna Colcord, and former resident of one of the museum's historic buildings.


Joanna Colcord

More than 600 glass and cellulose negatives taken by the daughter of a famous Searsport Sea Captain at the turn of the century as well as a 300 page scrapbook detailing her travels.


Charles Coombs

Six albums and over 700 glass plate negatives which, represent both the Coombs family life as well as Belfast and other nearby towns made by an undertaker.


Ruth Montgomery

Close to 500 glass plate negatives from a sea captain’s daughter from Boothbay that document her life and travels.


Elmer Montgomery

The mid-coast waterfronts and the ships that cruised their waters are the primary subjects of over 700 negatives made in the 1930’s and 40’s.


Eastern Illustrating

Nearly 40,000 glass plate negatives made by photographers of a “real photo” postcard manufacturer in Belfast which covers Maine as well as the rest of New England and Upstate New York.


Carroll Thayer Berry

A collection of more than 9000 negatives and slides as well as 4000 plus prints, most of which are of the waterfronts and boats of the mid-coast in the 1950’s and 60’s.


Everett “Red” Boutilier

The archives of a free-lance photographer and journalist from Bremen, Maine whose tireless work ethic produced more than 20,000 negatives and prints with a strong focus on boats and their builders of Midcoast Maine.


Small Collections

In addition to its major collections, the Penobscot Marine Museum has dozens of smaller collections as well as many albums and thousands of prints.