LEWISTON — Museum L-A will present a new and final installment to its “Portraits & Voices: Shoemaking Skills of Generations” exhibit with a display featuring L.L. Bean.

An opening reception for the exhibit will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 12. Admission is free. At 6:30 p.m. following light refreshments, Jack Samson, L.L. Bean senior manager of manufacturing, will give a presentation titled “Guaranteed to Last: 100 Years with L.L. Bean.”

L.L. Bean operates its boot-bottom molding operation in Lewiston, where it  produces all of the rubber bottoms for its Maine Hunting Shoe and Bean Boot.  Nearby, at its Brunswick factory, the company manufacturers its most iconic products: the Maine Hunting Shoe, Bean Boot, and Boat and Tote Bags.

“This is a great finale to our shoe exhibit,” said Rachel Desgrosseilliers, Museum L-A’s executive director. “It fits in so well with what we are doing — now and in the future.”

“L.L. Bean’s Maine Hunting Shoe has evolved over the years, but L.L.’s original design remains the same. Our employees’ skilled craftsmanship and commitment to quality remain key to the boots’ popularity,” Samson said .

The exhibit, on view through June, includes a display cube featuring trousers and artifacts from early 1900, like those sold when L.L. Bean had his early business interests in Auburn. The sides of the cube showcase photos from the period: the Auburn storefront, L.L. Bean and his brothers, the horse-drawn buggy from which he sold trousers and an excerpt from his book describing his life at that time.

The second display cube includes present-day items: L.L.Bean 100th Anniversary Bean Boots and Boat and Tote Bags. Photos capture the company’s Lewiston boot-molding operations along with descriptions and photos of area employees who work at the L.L.Bean facility in Brunswick.

Current and former shoe workers may have their photos taken at the reception for inclusion in the “The Many Faces of Shoemaking” wall collage in the “Portraits & Voices” exhibit.

Museum L-A is in the Bates Mill at 35 Canal St. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 333-3881, email at [email protected] or visit www.museumla.org.