Category: Press Releases

Award of $735,000 Will Fund New Collections Installations, Research, and Related Public Programming

Mystic, Conn. (July 2, 2018) – Mystic Seaport Museum announced it has received a $735,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support the curation and development of three new collections installations and related programming. These projects will provide new perspectives on the art and ensure the continued preservation and refinement of the collections while also promoting public access.

Mystic Seaport Museum, the preeminent U.S. maritime museum, preserves the most significant public collections of marine art and artifacts in the western hemisphere. Through this initiative, the Museum will reimagine the artistic merit and educational potential of its permanent collections of decorative, folk, and self-taught art. These objects – not always considered as works of art and substantially hidden from public view – will be placed on display so they can be appreciated and studied afresh through the eyes of a new generation of scholars, artists, and curators.

The proposed installations and associated research and public program activities will encourage new scholarship around the themes of “The Sea as Muse,” a window into the world of immigrant craftsmanship and decorative arts; “The Sea as Studio” for folk art such as scrimshaw; and “The Sea as Commons,” through a curatorial investigation by contemporary artist Mary Mattingly.

“The Henry Luce Foundation is pleased to support Mystic Seaport Museum in this effort to expand the scholarship and knowledge around parts of its collections that will benefit from a fresh perspective,” said Teresa A. Carbone, program director for American Art at the Henry Luce Foundation. “We are excited to offer new audiences access to compelling art objects and introduce new voices into the Museum’s continuing research and interpretation of its collections.”

“This grant will enable Mystic Seaport Museum to bring rarely-seen collections to light and augment our curatorial capacity. Our staff has expertise largely in maritime history and the humanities. Introducing differing disciplinary perspectives will invite complementary yet distinct presentations and generate new narratives around selected objects. This plan reaffirms the Museum’s commitment to research, in recognition of our role as a nexus for public discourse on the American maritime experience,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum.

The grant will support a guest artist-curator and two scholar-curators, emerging career professionals who will gain from interaction with Museum staff while also introducing new voices to the Museum. In addition, two pre-professional inclusive internships will offer promising young students immersive professional experiences at a major museum; and three teacher-fellows will adapt the exhibit content into “resource sets” that will be archived and made available for Museum and classroom teachers beyond the exhibit installations. Teachers will use the content to encourage their students to dig deeper into the stories of the objects and their creators and make connections to their own lives.

The grant was inspired in part by a two day “think tank” hosted at the museum earlier this year, and sponsored by the Luce Foundation and the Chipstone Foundation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The event brought together museum staff with scholars from several disciplines to consider how the museum’s collections can be reinterpreted for future audiences.

The three installations are scheduled to open on the museum’s McGraw Gallery Quadrangle in 2019 and 2020.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

 About the Henry Luce Foundation

The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to bring important ideas to the center of American life, strengthen international understanding, and foster innovation and leadership in academic, policy, religious and art communities.

About the American Art Program

A leader in arts funding in the United States, the Henry Luce Foundation’s American Art Program was established in 1982 to support museums, arts organizations, and universities in their efforts to advance the understanding and experience of American and Native American visual arts through research, exhibitions, publications, and collection projects.

 

 

 

 

Mystic, Conn. (June 28, 2018) — Mystic Seaport Museum announces it will inaugurate its artist-residency-program with leading American contemporary artist, Kevin Sampson of Newark, New Jersey. Beginning Saturday, June 30, Sampson will be embedded at the Museum, living aboard a vessel docked on its waterfront, and working in an open studio where he can engage with the Museum community in the lead up to an exhibition of his work Monument Man: Kevin Sampson in Residence.

Sampson began his career as a police officer in New Jersey and was the first African American uniformed police composite sketch artist in the United States. Following his career, he developed a unique artistic practice transforming found materials such as cement, bones, tiles, fabric, paints, and wood into powerful sculptures that speak to family, memory, and loss through the lens of the African-American experience.

During the weeks he will spend in residence at the Museum, Sampson will make a new art installation, inspired by the Newark Ark of Kea Tawana. One of the more unusual vessels ever imagined, the 86-foot long, 20-foot wide ark was the work of a single woman, Kea Tawana, who constructed it from found materials in Newark’s destitute Central Ward beginning in 1982. Essentially complete in 1988, the city forced Tawana to deconstruct it or face demolition as an illegal structure. Sampson’s installation USS Kye Kye Kule will be created using a donated wooden Bevin’s skiff and materials collected from the Museum grounds. The name comes from a traditional African call-and-response song where the leader sings a line then the group repeats it. In this case, Sampson will be responding to Kea’s Ark.

Visitors will be invited to watch the artist at work in a temporary outdoor studio and to engage with him as he draws the very fabric of the Museum into a new and powerful vision of the American maritime experience. A selection of Sampson’s other works will be on-display in the adjacent C.D. Mallory Building. The new work will join the others in the gallery at the end of his residency.

“Kevin Sampson is showing our audience that there is a completely different perspective on what the American maritime experience is from what they might expect. We are excited to provide him a voice and platform to share that story,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum.

“The opportunity to work at Mystic Seaport Museum is a chance to become inspired by its exhibits and its history, and it’s a wonderful occasion to further explore my connections with the sea and its vessels,” said Sampson. “I have been making boats or vessels out of found objects, in one form or another, for over 30 years. I have always felt that in another life I lived that life somehow on the sea.”

Sampson’s residency begins June 30 and continues to July 14. Monument Man: Kevin Sampson in Residence will open June 30 and run into spring 2019.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

 

 

Mystic, Conn. (June 12, 2018) — The largest gathering of wooden boats and enthusiasts in New England will converge at Mystic Seaport Museum for the 27th annual WoodenBoat Show Friday through Sunday, June 22-24.

The WoodenBoat Show, hosted in a partnership with WoodenBoat Publications, offers something for all wooden boat enthusiasts and maritime history buffs. More than 100 traditional and classic wooden boats of every type will be on display, from hand-crafted kayaks to mahogany runabouts, to classic daysailers and schooners.

In addition to taking in the historic vessels and beautiful boats, visitors can find everything they need to outfit their own watercraft and learn new skills at demonstrations and workshops throughout the weekend. A variety of exhibitors will offer items for sale including maritime art, antiques, tools, books, nautical gear, and much more.

Throughout the weekend, Mystic Seaport Museum staff and guest experts will conduct demonstrations of a variety of boat-building skills, including wood-epoxy boat building, caulking, laminating wood, using an adze, and Viking boat building. There will also be tours of the Mayflower II restoration in the Museum’s shipyard.

Other popular features are the “I Built It Myself” display of home-built boats and Family BoatBuilding, where families and teams work to build their own pre-purchased kits during the weekend. The kits open at 9 a.m. Friday morning and tools are put down around 3 p.m. Sunday, leaving, in most cases, a boat awaiting only final finish work.

Visitors can also try their hand at rowing or sailing a small boat at the Museum’s boat livery, or in one of the boats participating in the John Gardner Small Craft Workshop, which is run concurrently with the show by the Traditional Small Craft Association.

Museum admission provides access to both The WoodenBoat Show and Mystic Seaport Museum. Three-day passes are available.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mystic, Conn. (June 8, 2018) — The Fellows of the G.W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport Museum announced their 2018 award winners at their annual meeting last month. The honorees are Michael P. Dyer of the New Bedford Whaling Museum and Dianne Meredith of the California State University-Maritime Academy.

The G.W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport Museum is the home to one of the most comprehensive maritime collections in America, and a major center of maritime research. The Fellows of the G.W. Blunt White Library is a group that was formed in 1980 to support the Library and its collections. Two prizes for scholarship are awarded each year by the Fellows. The first, the Gerald E. Morris Prize Article, is named for a former Librarian and Director of Publications who established it in 1980 to encourage scholarship and publication in the field of American maritime history. The award is given for the best article published each year in “CORIOLIS: the Interdisciplinary Journal of Maritime Studies,” an online publication of Mystic Seaport Museum. The second award, the John Gardner Maritime Research Award, is named for the late John Gardner: author, editor, curator, small-boat designer, builder and regular user of the G.W. Blunt White Library and a proponent of maritime research. The award is given to a person who has made a significant contribution in the maritime research field.

During their 2018 annual meeting, the Fellows of the G.W. Blunt White Library named Dianne Meredith the Morris Prize winner for her article “Early Maritime Russia and the North Pacific Arc,” an examination of how Russia’s Pacific coastline influenced its maritime identity. Meredith is currently an Associate Professor in the department of Global Studies & Maritime Affairs at California State University-Maritime Academy.

Michael P. Dyer was named the Gardner Maritime Research Award winner. Dyer is the Curator of Maritime History at the New Bedford Whaling Museum and won for his book “O’er the Wide and Tractless Sea: Original Art of the Yankee Whaler,” which was published to wide acclaim in 2017.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mystic, Conn. (June 7, 2018) — An exhibition of unique works created by the nation’s leading maritime artists, “The Plein Air Painters of the Maritime Gallery Exhibition and Sale,” will open at the Mystic Seaport Maritime Gallery Sunday, June 17.

The exhibition is a collection of the work of more than 30 of today’s leading maritime artists, who will take to their French easels on the Museum grounds and nearby locations beginning Tuesday, June 12 to capture the timeless beauty of the Museum’s historic ships, shoreline vistas, and scenes along the Mystic River in the tradition of the plein air painters of the 19th and 20th centuries.

A special participating artist this year is Geoff Hunt. Best known for his series of book covers for Patrick O’Brian’s Captain Aubrey Adventures, he was the former President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. Other featured artists include David Bareford, Paul Beebe, Del-Bourree Bach, William Hobbs, and Leif Nilsson.

“This annual exhibition and sale is a wonderful opportunity to see the work of many of the top maritime artists working today as they draw inspiration from the Mystic Seaport Museum grounds and the surrounding area,” said Monique Foster, director of the Maritime Gallery.

The artists’ works will then be available for viewing and purchase in the exhibition from June 17 through September 23.

An opening reception at the Gallery will be held Saturday, June 16, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. the reception is free and open to the public. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the participating artists, as well as purchase paintings fresh off the easels. Interested parties are requested to RSVP at 860.572.5388 or by emailing gallery@https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/.

The gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 860.572.5388 or visit the gallery’s website.

Image for Download

Thomas Adkins, Mid-Day Morning, Mason’s Island, Oil, 9” x 12” (Photo Credit: Rieta Park/Mystic Seaport Museum)

About the Maritime Gallery
The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport is the nation’s foremost gallery specializing in contemporary marine art and ship models. For more than 35 years, the Gallery has been privileged to exhibit the works of leading international maritime artists. Located at historic Mystic Seaport Museum, the Gallery overlooks the beautiful Mystic River attracting art lovers and collectors from around the world. For more information, please visit mysticseaport.org/gallery.

Mystic, Conn. (June 4, 2018) — On June 16-17, Mystic Seaport Museum will be transformed into a celebration of Viking culture, complete with craft demonstrations, live performances, and on-the-water activities.

The weekend coincides with the opening of two new exhibitions this spring: The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden, a display of one of the world’s finest early Viking-age collections; and Science, Myth, and Mystery: The Saga of the Vinland Map, the story of a controversial parchment map that created a firestorm in 1965 as it suggested Norse knowledge of the New World before Columbus sailed.

“Vikings seem to be everywhere in popular culture today, yet very few of us know what it was like to live the life of a Viking,” said Arlene Marcionette, public programs project manager at the Museum. “How did they accomplish basic activities like gathering food, cooking, sailing, and voyaging?”

Visitors can explore the exhibitions, walk through a Viking encampment by Draugar Vinlands, sample Scandinavian fare, hear live music and watch dramatic performances, and see a Nordic boat-building demonstration. There will be hands-on activities and games for children and adults throughout the day, and a special Planetarium show on Viking navigation.

Other highlights from the weekend include:

• Craft demonstrations and displays including woodworking, blacksmithing, Norse jewelry, and cooking
• Children may build a toy Viking longship
• Mead brewing demonstrations and sales
• Games of Kubb
• Fjord horses
• A display and demonstration of Norse boats
• Sea Music with Lynn Noel, the Scandinavian Women’s Chorus, and the Icelandic group FUNI
• A dramatic Vikings performance by Flock Theatre
• A Viking beard contest
• Birds of prey demonstration from the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center

The reproduction Viking longship Draken Harald Hårfagre will be open for free tours.

Viking Days activities are included with regular Museum admission (separate charge for food, beverages, Planetarium shows, toy boat building and children’s crafts).

For a complete list and schedule of all activities please visit mysticseaport.org/vikingdays.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mystic, CT (May 31, 2018) — Mystic Seaport Museum will welcome between 50 and 75 new American citizens on Thursday, June 14, at its 7^th annual Naturalization Ceremony.

Held in the Tom Clagett Boat Shed on Flag Day, the ceremony has become a favorite of museum guests and staff as friends and family members join the new citizens to celebrate their achievement.

The event is hosted in conjunction with federal officials from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department. On this day, Museum admission is free for ceremony participants and their families.

In 2017, 74 people from 32 countries were granted citizenship during the ceremony. The event begins at 10:30 a.m.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

 

Mystic, Conn. (May 24, 2018) – Musicians from around the world will come to Mystic Seaport Museum to celebrate the musical traditions of the Golden Age of Sail at the 39th annual Sea Music Festival, Thursday through Sunday, June 7-10. The Festival is the premier sea music event in North America.

The weekend’s festivities include daytime and evening concerts, special performances for children, instructional workshops, a scholars’ symposium, and a unique opportunity to witness sea music at work aboard the Museum’s historic ships.

As one of the world’s premier sea music events, performers come from around the world and across the United States. This year’s highlights include the music of Matthew Byrne from Newfoundland, The Vox Hunters from Rhode Island, FUNI from Iceland, Dan Zanes from New York City, Walter Askew from California, the group 3 Ravens from Massachusetts, and the English an Irish duo of Jim Mageean & Pat Sheridan. They will be joined by the Mystic Seaport Museum Chantey Staff, including Geoff Kaufman, Craig Edwards, Denise Kegler, and Don Sineti.

“We are very proud to present this extensive program of song and story from some of the foremost performers and scholars of sea music,” said Denise Kegler, program manager for performances at Mystic Seaport Museum and a Festival organizer. “They are the people responsible for keeping the traditions alive for future generations.”

To celebrate the recent opening of two new exhibitions, The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden and Science, Myth, and Mystery:  The Vinland Map Saga, the Festival features performers with Viking themes to their music and storytelling. The group FUNI will perform traditional Icelandic folk music and Lynn Noel will perform “Gudrid the Wanderer: First Viking Woman in the New World.” On Saturday afternoon, FUNI and Lynn will be joined by Matthew Byrne from Newfoundland for a workshop on the North Atlantic Crossing, a musical exploration of the Viking voyages to North America.

For families with children, Grammy Award winner Dan Zanes will perform with Claudia Eliaza on an expanded Family Stage. On Sunday, Dan and Claudia will be joined by Mary Anne Roberts of Rokus Korus for a special workshop on “Haiti and the Sea.”

Mystic Seaport Museum is rare in its ability to showcase chanteys in use on our historic vessels. For 2018, the Festival will feature four workshops of “Chanteys at Work” on the ships Charles W. Morgan, Joseph Conrad, and L. A. Dunton. In these workshops, festival musicians join with Museum chantey staff to lead visitors in setting sail, lifting cargo, weighing anchor, and other shipboard tasks.

On Sunday, a rousing, but reverent, hymn sing of traditional hymns and religious songs will be led by Judy Cook, Stephen Sanfilippo, and long-time supporters of the Festival, the Heavenly Twins.

All workshops and daytime concerts in the Festival are included in regular Museum admission. Special tickets are required for evening concerts and can be purchased online, in person at the Museum’s entrances, or by calling 860.572.0711. Weekend passes are also available. College students will be admitted into the Festival for the youth rate upon presentation of a current student ID.

As part of the Festival, the Museum will also host the annual Music of the Sea Symposium Friday and Saturday, June 8-9. The Symposium, co-sponsored by Mystic Seaport Museum, Williams College and the Williams-Mystic Maritime Studies Program, features presentations of themed papers by some of the country’s leading maritime music scholars and explores subjects from history and folklore, to literature and ethnomusicology, along with many other related topics. Admission to the Symposium is included with Museum admission and Festival passes.

For more information, including ticket packages, musicians’ bios, and a schedule of performances, visit mysticseaport.org/seamusicfestival

This event is made possible by the Friends of the Festival, who raise funds each year to generously support sea music at Mystic Seaport Museum.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that is hosting The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden through September 30, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

 

 

Funds Will Support Restoration of L.A. Dunton, the Museum’s 1921 Gloucester Fishing Schooner

Mystic, Conn. (May 17, 2018) — Mystic Seaport Museum announced today that it is the recipient of a National Maritime Heritage Grant. The $103,703 award will fund the survey and documentation of the fishing schooner L.A. Dunton in preparation for restoration at the Museum’s Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard.

Built in 1921 in Essex, Mass., the 123-foot long Dunton is one of the last surviving examples of the Grand Banks fishing schooners, once one of New England’s most common fishing vessels in the beginning of the twentieth century. The Dunton was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994.

“We are very grateful to be the recipient of this grant to support our continued stewardship of the L.A. Dunton, which provides an irreplaceable connection to the fishing history of New England,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum. “The funding will enable us to move ahead with critical infrastructure improvements and necessary documentation.”

The Dunton was acquired by Mystic Seaport Museum in 1963. Since that time the vessel underwent several restorations, the most significant in 1973-1977 when the vessel received new topside framing, planking, and deck. The below deck spaces were restored to the original fisherman configuration. Bottom portions of her hull have never received comprehensive restoration. The planned work will address the vessel’s bottom, topsides, deck, and rigging to maintain her historic and structural integrity.

This planning grant will address steps required in advance of the restoration including upgrades to the Museum’s shiplift; a complete structural survey of the vessel to determine materials needed, work flow, and staffing; and documentation of the Dunton’s current condition using modern laser-scanning technology. The documentation work will allow the Museum to record the vessel’s present shape and detail, and recreate her original form and structural integrity.

The award is part of $2.6 million in maritime heritage grants given out by the National Park Service to assist funding 34 preservation and education projects in 14 states and the Northern Mariana Islands. In partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), the National Park Service awarded grants for projects that teach about and preserve sites and objects related to our nation’s maritime history.

The National Maritime Heritage Program Grant awards are made possible through a partnership between the two federal agencies, which both share a commitment to maritime heritage preservation and education. They are funded through recycling of vessels from the MARAD’s National Defense Reserve Fleet. The grant program supports a broad range of maritime education and preservation projects, without expending tax dollars, while ensuring that the vessels are dismantled in an environmentally sound manner.

Other organizations receiving grants include the USS Constitution Museum, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, New York’s South Street Seaport Museum, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, and the Maritime Museum Association of San Diego.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that will host The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden installation beginning on May 19, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mystic Seaport Museum to Open “Science, Myth & Mystery: The Vinland Map Saga” May 19; Exhibition Explores How a Map Ignites a National Debate About the First European Contact with America

Mystic, Conn. (May 10, 2018) — At a moment in time in American culture when debate rages over what is real and what is “fake news,” Mystic Seaport Museum brings back to the limelight a controversy from more than 50 years ago that rocked the scientific, historical and cultural realms of U.S. society.

“Science, Myth & Mystery: The Vinland Map Saga,” which opens May 19, 2018, explores the stories around and behind the publication in 1965 of a scholarly examination of a piece of parchment known as the Vinland Map. This exhibition is made possible in partnership with the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University.

Publication of the Vinland Map threw into question the long-held belief that Christopher Columbus was the first European to reach American shores, in 1492. The map was dated by Yale researchers to about 1440, igniting a firestorm of debate about the moment of first contact — could it be that Vikings from Scandinavia reached North American shores as early as the year 1000?

“Science, Myth & Mystery” brings the Vinland Map itself to public view outside of New Haven for the first time in the United States in more than 50 years. The exhibition will place the visitor into the moment in time in October of 1965 when the map was first unveiled. It brings to life the fascinating journey of the map from its initial discovery in 1957 to its acquisition by Yale in 1965; the authentication research conducted by a team of hand-picked specialists; and the hoopla surrounding the unveiling on October 11, 1965 (the day between Leif Ericson Day and Columbus Day that year).

“This is an incredible opportunity for Mystic Seaport Museum to take a rare artifact that holds a key place in American history and bring it into the conversation that we see happening today at kitchen tables and in university hallways in a relevant and important way,” said Nicholas Bell, senior vice president for curatorial affairs at the Museum. “Being able to provide in this exhibition the context of the times, along with never-before-seen details of the research that went into the map, makes this a terrific addition to an already robust roster of projects we have ongoing here.”

“The Beinecke Library aims to excite scholars and the public to engage the past, in the present, to inform the future,” said Edwin C. Schroeder, the library’s director. “The history of the Vinland Map, acquired more than 50 years ago, offers insights into art, science, and society that remain relevant today. We are delighted to partner with an esteemed fellow Connecticut cultural institution to bring this artifact and its context to a contemporary audience.”

In addition to the story of the map, “Science, Myth & Mystery” chronicles the findings of Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad, husband and wife explorers and archeologists who discovered a Norse settlement on the Newfoundland coast that dates to the year 1000. They used what is known as the Vinland Sagas — Norse oral histories that detail Viking explorers traveling to Iceland, Greenland and even farther west and south — as the basis for their search. Starting in 1961, they uncover Viking artifacts near a small town called L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland dating to the year 1000. Their discoveries were made public in 1964, laying the groundwork for the acceptance of the Vinland Map’s authenticity the following year.

The exhibition brings the map from its controversial unveiling in 1965 through its battery of tests over the years and right into the 21^st century, with details about 2018 tests presently being conducted by the Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage.

“Science, Myth & Mystery” runs through October 31, 2018, in the Museum’s R.J. Schaefer Building.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum, founded in 1929, is the nation’s leading maritime museum. In addition to providing a multitude of immersive experiences, the Museum also houses a collection of more than two million artifacts that include more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography. The iconic Thompson Exhibition Building is a state-of-the-art gallery that will host The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden installation beginning on May 19, 2018. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.