page_title: Robert Abbe
section_title: Museum
hierarchical_section_title: Robert Abbe / Museum
caption_attribution_description: English: Abbe Museum in Acadia National Park
context_page_description: Robert Abbe was an American surgeon and pioneer radiologist in New York City. He was born in New York City and educated at the College of the City of New York and Columbia University.
  Abbe was most known as a plastic surgeon, and between 1877 and 1884 he served as a surgeon and professor of surgery at the New York Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital, and the New York Babies Hospital. During this time, he would spend summers travelling, and he amassed a large collection of Native American artifacts and archeological materials.
  He is credited with the lip switch flap, which now bears his name. An Italian surgeon named Sabattini described the flap 60 years earlier. Although Sabattini published his technique, it was printed in a book with a limited circulation.
  He died of anemia, possibly due to his work handling radium.
context_section_description: Abbe has been called "the best-loved summer resident of Bar Harbor." Those who knew him recognized his unique spirit, and many who visit the Museum today feel the specialness of the man and the museum.	
  While summering in Bar Harbor, Abbe was fascinated by the ancient Native American tools found in nearby shell heaps. As he began collecting these artifacts, he realized the need for safe permanent storage. Even during a long illness, probably a result of his exposure to radium, he labored to establish the museum.
  His dreams of a museum became reality with the help of friends such as George Dorr and Charles Eliot, the founding fathers of Acadia National Park. The dedication of the museum on August 14, 1928 was also a memorial to Robert Abbe. He had died just five months before.
  Abbe amassed a sizeable collection of Native American archaeological material during his summers on Mount Desert Island. Opened in 1928, the Abbe was one of the first museums built in Maine. Its founding coincided with that of the national park, which was established as Lafayette National Park in 1919 and became Acadia in 1929. The Abbe was conceived as a trailside museum to complement the park's offerings. Today it is one of only two remaining private trailside museums in national parks, the other one being the Borax Museum in Death Valley, California.
  Robert Abbe was a man of many talents and interests. He was a photographer and an artist, painting, creating line drawings and molded maps. His large map "The Land of Dawn" is on display in the museum. The watercolor sketch on the right, of the museum, was completed by Abbe shortly before his death.
caption: Abbe Museum in Acadia National Park
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