A celebrated culture-bearer and artist, Reuben Elliot ‘Butch’ Phillips also was part of the team that negotiated the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980.
Reuben M. Schafir
Staff Writer
Reuben, a Bowdoin College graduate and former Press Herald intern, returned to our newsroom in July 2025 to cover Indigenous communities in Maine as part of a Report for America partnership. Reuben was most recently working in Southwest Colorado, where he covered county government, the environment, public health and politics.
Paddlers in birch bark canoes honor Wabanaki culture on Moosehead Lake
Over a dozen feather-light boats, built in the traditional Wabanaki style and known for their nimbleness, gathered at the Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival.
Wabanaki leaders offer perspective on America’s 250th at Bar Harbor festival
The history of Indigenous communities in the region dates back long before the nation’s founding, as highlighted by an art exhibit at the Abbe Museum.