NEH chairman coming to Maine to talk about why the bicentennial matters

Maine’s bicentennial in 2020 provides the opportunity to remind people that all history is local and the story of America is told through the stories of its people, says Jon Parrish Peede, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Peede, a Mississippian with a background in literature, will give a public talk about the “the role and purpose” of historical celebrations at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Maine Historical Society in Portland. During a two-day trip to Maine, he’ll also preview an N.C. Wyeth exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art, tour the Wabanaki-themed bicentennial exhibition “Holding Up the Sky” at Maine Historical and visit exhibitions at the Maine State Museum in Augusta about women’s suffrage and Maine’s Jewish communities.