sides of the St. John River, up to the St. Francis River and the county of Témiscouata in Quebec. The Wəlastəkwewiyik (Maliseet) occupied the land from time immemorial. The first people of European descent to settle permanently in the region were Acadians who had fled deportation from their ancestral homes in eastern Canada. Acadians came to the Madawaska in 1785; they were joined by French Canadians in ever-rising numbers in the nineteenth century. In spite of the 1842 international boundary settlement that divided people into two nations, the region remained integrated through culture and kinship ties. Those relationships survive despite new obstacles to travel created in the wake of the attacks of 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic. The region still boasts the highest percentage of French descendants and the highest percentage of French-speaking people in the United States. The Acadian Archives/Archives acadiennes secured state funding in 1989 and officially opened the following year. From the beginning, the institution aimed to share a local cultural experience that differed significantly from Franco-American communities in other parts of Maine. Archival holdings quickly grew. Besides a small collection of physical artifacts documenting the rich craft traditions of the region, they include a vast array of manuscript materials: rare newspapers like the Journal du Madawaska, nineteenth-century maps, scrapbooks, the ledgers and corporate documents of local businesses, songbooks, diaries, etc. Climate-controlled rooms notably hold 500 collections, more than 20,000 photographs, 830 audio and visual recordings, microfilm reels, and parish registers from Quebec, New Brunswick, northern Maine, and other French-heritage communities. The Archives’ oldest item is a seventeenth-century commission awarded to Charles de Saint-Etienne de la Tour for the colonization of Acadia by Louis XIV. The Archives serve as a cultural center for the St. John Valley. The institution works with local historical societies to digitize and disseminate their materials. It hosts artistic, historical, and thematic exhibits in its gallery and invites guest speakers and musical performers. Its latest lecture series drew an audience spanning the country and speakers from New Brunswick to Louisiana. It also offers workshops, creates educational activities for public schools, and supports UMFK students as well as genealogists and historians. Finally, visitors and patrons can peruse the Archives’ specialized lending library, which boasts educational trunks about Maine’s beginnings, St. Croix Island, the story of Evangeline, and the St. John Valley in addition to thousands of circulating books. Athletics The Maine–Fort Kent (UMFK) athletic