2008 is the 25th anniversary of Samantha Smith’s historic letter to then Soviet leader Yuri Andropov.  She had been worried about the possibility of a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.  She asked Andropov very pointedly why he wanted to “conquer our country.”

Who was Samantha Smith?  She was a 10-year-old girl from Manchester, Maine who prompted worldwide media coverage when Andropov invited her and her family to visit his country during the summer of 1983.  Samantha brought back many mementoes from her grand voyage – camp uniforms, dolls, books and pamphlets, a samovar, pins and buttons, and an autographed pair of ballet slippers to name some.  These objects were given to the Maine State Library.  Her parents took numerous photographs also.

These photos along with copies of the letters (also housed at the Maine State Library) received from Andropov as well as one from the first woman cosmonaut,  and editorial cartoons from major American dailies have been digitally assembled as a joint project of the Maine State Library, the Maine Historical Society and the Maine Memory Network.  This is the first digital exhibit devoted to Samantha in Maine.

Samantha and her father, Arthur, were tragically killed in an airplane crash in Auburn, Maine in 1985.  She was 13 years old.