The Museum’s History
As a Museum
For many
years people had dreamed of a Monhegan Museum, and the vacant
buildings of the lighthouse complex, themselves historically significant, represented an ideal
solution. 
The Monhegan Associates, founded by Theodore Edison in 1954
to conserve the wildlands of Monhegan, spearheaded the effort to
establish the museum. In 1960 the Associates established the first
Museum Committee to develop plans for the proposed museum, and at a
sealed-bid, public auction, held on June 1, 1962, the Associates
purchased the buildings. The Museum Committee organized the extensive
renovations of the buildings, which had fallen into considerable
disrepair; solicited historical materials; and created the displays.
When donations of materials related to
Monhegan’s rich and varied
history were sought, generous islanders and visitors responded
enthusiastically. 
Donations of photographs, documents, furniture,
equipment, Indian artifacts, and memorabilia began to pour in, and
continue to do so. Increasingly in recent years the Museum has received
paintings and other art works by members of the art colony that has
flourished on the island since 1890.
By July 1,
1968, renovation of the main building and preparation of the displays
had progressed to the point that the Museum was able to open to the
public on a daily basis for the summer season. The response was
positive and enthusiastic, and has continued to be so as the display
space has been expanded and the exhibits refined.
In 1974 the first of the special, season-long
Monhegan art exhibitions was hung in the gallery space on the second
floor of the keeper’s house. In 1998 these were moved to the new Assistant Keeper's House gallery. The original Keeper's House has become a repository for permanent exhibits of the island's rich natural history and its social history.
In 1983 the Trustees of the Monhegan
Associates, which had been
supporting and overseeing the Museum since its inception, decided that
the Museum would be better served if there were a separate organization
dedicated exclusively to the Museum’s well-being. Consequently, a new
organization, the Monhegan Historical and Cultural Museum Association,
was incorporated in 1984. It was granted tax-exempt status by the
Internal Revenue Service the following year, and during its first six
months of operation in 1985, nearly 300 people became members of the
organization. The Museum Association now owns and operates the Museum,
having received title to the buildings and displays from the Monhegan
Associates in 1985. Once the new Museum Association had been
established, a major restoration of the buildings was begun, thanks in
part to matching grants from the Maine Historic Preservation Commission
with funds from the National Park Service.
