AUGUSTA — The Maine State Museum will offer free admission on Thursday, Aug. 1, and accept donations that day to support the construction of a new children’s museum, the EverWonder Children’s Museum in Newtown, Conn.

Other Maine museums donating a portion of admission that day to the cause are the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor, Maine Historical Society in Portland, Maine Maritime Museum in Bath and Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport.