“wolankeyutomon: Take Care of Everything” focuses, in part, on the conservation and protectio...“wolankeyutomon: Take Care of Everything” focuses, in part, on the conservation and protection of sea life in waters sacred to the Wabanaki people. The exhibit utilizes the work of Leah Rubin ’19.

When visitors to Bar Harbor’s Abbe Museum enter through the large, glass doors of the room housing the exhibit “wolankeyutomon: Take Care of Everything,” the first thing to grab their attention are the numerous whale and seal bones on loan from College of the Atlantic. Encased in glass, the large bones such as the vertebrae of an endangered North Atlantic right whale immediately ground viewers in the seriousness of wolankeyutomon’s focus: we are all responsible for the protection of the land, water, and the Earth’s inhabitants. 

Wolankeyutomon is a Mi’kmaq word that translates directly to “take care of everything”. The Mi’kmaq nation is one of five Wabanaki nations, all of which share a deep, ancestral interconnectedness with the land, water, and resources they bare. The Wabanaki are Native people of Maine, New England, and the Canadian Maritime. Wolankeyutomon reminds viewers of the Wabanaki’s rich interrelation with the planet through a blend of art, science, history, and stories

“For this exhibit, I really feel like the bones help add that human element to animals,” said Jodi DeBruyne, the director of collections and research at the Abbe Museum. “We are talking about conservation.”

While at COA, Leah Rubin '19 cataloged, labeled, and took data from various marine mammal ske...While at COA, Leah Rubin '19 cataloged, labeled, and took data from various marine mammal skeletons as the Marine Mammals Collections Assistant for Allied Whale. Credit: Aubrielle Hvolboll ’20

The fifty items on loan from the COA George B. Dorr Museum of Natural History include baleen from three whale species and the bones from four whale species, a white-sided dolphin, harbor porpoise, and harbor seals, according to Leah Rubin ’19, the collections manager for the Dorr Museum between 2015 and 2019. There are also some fish, invertebrates, shells, a taxidermied seal pup, and a seal fetus on loan. 

“My role was to decide what would go over, fix and clean some of the things that we were going to send over, relabel things, and make sure labels were correct,” said Rubin.

She also helped the Abbe with the necessary permitting for the collections given that many of the loaned collections are from marine mammals and protected under the marine mammal protection act. The Dorr Museum can store and display marine mammal parts thanks to permitting through College of the Atlantic Allied Whale and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For Rubin, the collaboration between the Abbe and the Dorr is first-hand experience in a field she would one day love to work in. 

“It was really wonderful and amazing how responsive and receptive they [the Dorr Museum] were,” said DeBruyne. An integral part of “wolankeyutomon: Take Care of Everything” is collaboration. In addition to collaborating with the Dorr Museum, the Abbe partnered with Maritime Indigenous Artists, Inc. (MIA) to integrate the work of ten Wabanaki artists into the exhibition, said DeBruyne.

The Abbe Museum features original artwork created by indigenous artists from Connecticut, USA to ...The Abbe Museum features original artwork created by indigenous artists from Connecticut, USA to Labrador, Canada.

“It’s great to have that balance of art and science,” said DeBruyne. “I think they go together more often than people initially think.”

One of the featured artists is twelve-year-old Sabattus Shay, whose brown ash canoe basket is exhibited directly beneath a late 1800s to early 1900s brown ash canoe basket. The display speaks to the generational importance of brown ash trees and basketry. 

Wabanaki Natives are involved in the design of each exhibit and museum policy-making as Boards of Trustees, according to the Abbe Museum’s website. The unfaltering participation of Wabanaki Natives in all of the Abbe’s installations reflects the museum’s mission of decolonizing how Native American history is interpreted, recorded, and taught. Because their mission aligns with the work of the Smithsonian, in 2012 the Abbe was the first museum in Maine to become a Smithsonian affiliate. 

Since their opening in 1928, the Abbe’s collection has grown to represent over 12,000 years of Native American history in Maine, according to the Abbe’s website. To see the Abbe’s unique collection and the various collections on loan for the Wolankeyutomon installation, visit the Abbe’s downtown Bar Harbor location before the end of the year.