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PORTLAND, Maine

Cathleen Miller curator of UNE’s Maine Women Writers Collection participates in New England Archivists Conference on Northern New England poets

Cathleen Miller
Cathleen Miller

Cathleen Miller, curator of the Maine Women Writers Collection, recently participated in the panel “Beyond Frost: Northern New England Poets in the Archives” at the New England Archivists Conference in Burlington, Vermont. Panelists discussed Frost’s dominance in the poetry of New England and explored how place imbues poets’ works, what has and has not been collected in archives, and the difficulties in acquiring poetry collections. Through the lens of poetry archives, panelists portrayed Northern New England’s diversity and complexity.

As part of the panel, Miller presented on the poetry of Celia Thaxter, whose poems of island life centered her firmly in relationship to the land and sea. The Maine Women Writers Collection’s group of Thaxter archival materials was collected primarily through purchase.

Miller also examined some of the challenges faced by literary archives. She discussed the financial obstacles resulting from the scarcity of available materials and addressed the difficulties that archives face in collecting the works of Native writers of the region, a problem that the Maine Women Writers Collection is addressing by building relationships with Wabanaki writers.

New England writer Celia Thaxter was the focus of a talk given by UNE’s Maine Women Writers Collection curator Cathleen Miller a
New England writer Celia Thaxter was the focus of a talk given by UNE’s Maine Women Writers Collection curator Cathleen Miller at the New England Archivists Conference.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.