Research in media literacy seeks to understand multiple branches of inquiry, including the practice of media production. Youth in Maine have produced media independently and in organized venues for more than 50 years. This paper describes results from surveying primary source materials produced by youth in Maine between 1960 and the 2000s. Research started with media artifacts, looking to primary source materials to understand what, if anything, can be revealed from their content. A deep dive into the provenance of archival collections uncovered stories of a local history of youth media production, and expanded the inquiry to identify who was teaching it, how it was being supported, as well as what artifacts exist from those events. This local history of youth media production suggests a case where media literacy skills associated with creating media texts spread through practitioners as a result of funding, education standards, advocacy, and missionary style promotion.