The Secretary of State of Maine is elected at the start of the first session of the Maine Legislature for a two year term, concurrent with the State’s other constitutional officers. The basis of the office is Article V of the Maine Constitution. At present the Maine Secretary of State is responsible for administering elections, chartering corporations, the Maine State Archives and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

The Maine State Archives has in its holdings a pictorial record of the Secretaries of State going back to Maine’s admission to the Union in 1820. Presented here are twenty five portraits of Maine’s Secretaries of State from 1820 through 1965.