BAR HARBOR – The Abbe Museum will hold a summer celebration of the exhibition “Four Mollys: Women of the Dawn” from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13. In addition to a slide program and American Indian music, the event will feature a silent auction of selected Maine Indian baskets.

The evening will begin with a slide program on “Molly Ockett’s People: The Western Abenakis of Northern New England” by Dr. William Haviland, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Vermont. The program will be held at the Bar Harbor Congregational Church. After the program, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., a reception will be held at the Abbe featuring flute music by Micmac Indian David Sanipass.

During the reception, guests may place bids on a group of specially selected baskets, including works by two recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for Arts: Clara Keezer, who received the award in May, and Mary Mitchell Gabriel, who was honored with the fellowship in 1994. Both are Passamaquoddy master basket makers. Also represented will be American Indian basket makers David Moses Bridges, Debbie Brooks, Sylvia Gabriel, Theresa Neptune Gardener, Peter Neptune, Steve Relton, Donald Sanipass, Mary Sanipass, Vicky Sanipass and others.

Molly Ockett, (ca. 1740-1816), one of the four women in the “Four Mollys” exhibition, was born on the upper Saco River. She became a widely traveled and legendary healer of both American Indians and non-natives.

Haviland, a resident of Deer Isle, was born in Philadelphia and educated at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught at Hunter College and Barnard College in New York City, and then at the University of Vermont, where he founded the anthropology department. Among his many publications, Haviland is author of three college textbooks and is senior author of “The Original Vermonters.” In 1989, he served as expert witness for the Abenakis of Vermont in a landmark case involving aboriginal fishing rights.

The cost of the program and reception is $25 for Abbe members and $35 for nonmembers. Reservations are required and must be made by Aug. 5.

For reservations, call the Abbe at 288-3519.