Page 2 – Mystic Seaport Museum

Adventure Series returns to Mystic Seaport Museum in 2025: This year’s focus is Olympic Horizons

Post author By Sherri Ramella
Post date January 13, 2025

Mystic, Conn. (January 7, 2025) – Mystic Seaport Museum continues its Adventure Series, a captivating lecture series that has been inspiring audiences since 1946. The 2025 Adventure Series: Olympic Horizons features four engaging sessions that explore the connection between Olympic achievement and the broader world of adventure. Olympic athletes Dan Walsh and Maggie Shea will share their personal stories of perseverance and triumph, while Pieter Roos, Curator at Mystic Seaport Museum, will present fascinating tales from the Museum’s diverse collection, which span maritime history, exploration, and innovation. Each session promises to unlock new horizons, offering expert insights and inspiring stories that will captivate history and adventure enthusiasts alike.

To learn more and purchase tickets, visit the Museum website here.

Lecture Details

Dates and times:

January 16, 1:30 and 7:00 p.m., Pushing the Limits: Dan Walsh’s Olympic Journey from Norwalk to Beijing

February 20, 1:30 p.m., Sailing Through Stories: Pieter Roos Brings Mystic Seaport Museum Collections to Life

March 20, 7:00 p.m., Sailing Through Stories: Pieter Roos Brings Mystic Seaport Museum Collections to Life

April 17, 1:30 and 7:00 p.m., Chasing Gold: Maggie Shea’s Olympic Path to the Tokyo and Paris Olympics

Tickets:

Members $20 | Non-members $25

Location:

StoneRidge, 186 Jerry Browne Rd, Mystic, Connecticut, 06355

News Press Releases

MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM ANNOUNCES THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR MARITIME STUDIES (AIMS)

Post author By Sherri Ramella
Post date September 25, 2024

Photo, Left to right: Debra Schmidt Bach, PhD; Leah Prescott, MLS; Michael P. Dyer, MA; Akeia de Barros Gomes, PhD; Elysa Engelman, PhD

MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM ANNOUNCES THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR MARITIME STUDIES
LED BY AKEIA DE BARROS GOMES, PhD, THE WILLIAM E. COOK VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARITIME STUDIES; INITIATIVE UNITES MUSEUM’S RENOWNED HIGHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Museum Appoints Leah Prescott, MLS, as Senior Administrator of Library Resources, Debra Schmidt Bach, PhD, as Director of Exhibitions, Elysa Engelman, PhD, as Director of Research and Scholarship, and Michael P. Dyer, MA, as Curator of Maritime History

Mystic, CT. [September 25, 2024] – Mystic Seaport Museum announces the launch of the American Institute for Maritime Studies (AIMS), an initiative that consolidates the Museum’s scholarship in maritime studies and elevates its role as the nation’s leading maritime research facility and academic institute. AIMS will strengthen the Museum’s graduate and undergraduate programs, including fellowships and internships through the newly created Department of Research and Scholarship. In addition to being the nation’s premier location for maritime scholarships, there will be a particular emphasis on making collections (both objects and manuscripts) more publicly accessible for researchers and the general public. AIMS will engage with institutions of higher education, including the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University, Williams College, and the University of Connecticut.

The Museum has appointed Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes as the William E. Cook Vice President for Maritime Studies at AIMS. De Barros Gomes joined the Museum in 2021 as Senior Curator of Maritime Studies. The Museum has also named Leah Prescott, MLS, as Senior Administrator of Library Resources at AIMS, Dr. Debra Schmidt Bach as Director of Exhibitions at the Museum, Dr. Elysa Engelman as Director of Research and Scholarship, and Michael P. Dyer, MA, Curator of Maritime History and Instructor, Frank C. Munson Institute of Maritime History.

“I am thrilled to lead the American Institute for Maritime Studies as we embark on this important new chapter for the Museum,” says Dr. de Barros Gomes of her new role. “AIMS represents a significant step forward in the Museum’s mission to enhance the scholarship around maritime histories and to tell stories that have been passed from generation to generation.”

AIMS will build upon ongoing research opportunities at the Museum, including fellowships, internships, and visiting scholars, by creating additional opportunities for community engagement and academic initiatives, including publications. Earlier this year Mainsheet: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Maritime Studies debuted. This biannual publication, available both online and in print, sets itself apart with its multidisciplinary approach, global themes and accessibility, and innovative design and distribution. Mainsheet offers a unique platform for scholars worldwide to explore maritime issues spanning the past, present, and future. AIMS scholars and staff will broaden their research through robust connections with national and international universities and museums, and will explore topics related to maritime cultural connections, maritime art, and social and economic issues through a contemporary lens.

As the William E. Cook Vice President for Maritime Studies, Dr. de Barros Gomes will be responsible for bringing strategic vision and thought leadership to the Institute. She will oversee professionals dedicated to advancing the Museum’s academic presence in maritime studies and share those findings and stories with local and broader Museum visitors through exhibitions and programming. AIMS will also continue Dr. de Barros Gomes’s outreach to local communities to engage with oral histories. Previously as the Museum’s Senior Curator of Maritime Studies, Dr. de Barros Gomes was lead curator of the exhibition Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea, on view at the Museum through April 2026. She is also the co-Director of the Museum’s Frank C. Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies along with Michael P. Dyer. Before joining Mystic Seaport Museum, she was Curator of Social History at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. She received a PhD and MA in Anthropology with a focus in Archeology from the University of Connecticut in 2008.

Leah Prescott, MLS, has been appointed the new Senior Administrator of Library Resources. Prescott was previously the Associate Director for Collections and Co-Interim Director at the Harvard Law School Library and served as Associate Director for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections at Georgetown Law Center. Previously at Mystic Seaport Museum, she held several positions over two decades, including Manuscripts and Archives Librarian, Collections Information Technology Coordinator, Information Technologies Librarian, Manuscripts Assistant, and Museum Interpreter. Prescott holds a Master of Library Science and Information Studies from Syracuse University and a BA in American History from the University of Connecticut. She has been a Certified Archivist since 2005 and actively participates in the National Digital Stewardship Alliance, where she co-chaired the Infrastructure Interest Group from 2020 to 2022.

Debra Schmidt Bach, PhD, has been appointed as the new Director of Exhibitions. Bach was previously the Curator of Decorative Arts and Special Exhibitions at the New-York Historical Society, where she curated and collaborated on numerous popular culture and social history exhibitions, including The Art of Winold Reiss: An Immigrant Modernist; Beyond Midnight: Paul Revere; and First Jewish Americans: Freedom and Culture in the New World. Bach lectures widely, has written numerous essays, articles, and blogs, and has contributed to exhibition catalogs and popular culture anthologies, including “Of Great Renown: The History of Rheingold Beer,” in The New York Mets in Popular Culture (McFarland & Co., 2020). Bach received an MA in American Studies from Columbia University and a PhD with a focus on material culture and design history from the Bard Graduate Center in 2015.

Michael P. Dyer, MA, has been appointed the new Curator of Maritime History. Dyer was most recently Curator of Maritime History at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, where he curated several exhibits including most recently the exhibition All Hands: Yankee Whaling and the U.S. Navy (2023–24). He was an editor of Vistas: A Journal of Art, History, Science, and Culture, published by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and is author of several monographs including “O’er the Wide and Tractless Sea”: Original Art of the Yankee Whale Hunt (New Bedford, 2017), and was previously an instructor in Maritime History at the Northeast Maritime Institute at Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Dyer was also a USA Gallery Inaugural Fellow at the Australian National Maritime Museum in 2008, and a 38th Voyager onboard the bark Charles W. Morgan of Mystic, Connecticut, in the summer of 2014.

Elysa Engelman, PhD, has been appointed the AIMS Director of Research and Scholarship. This new position entails working with the curatorial team to produce scholarly output; organizing academic lectures, symposia, and conferences; developing scholarly publications; and managing AIMS-centered internships and fellowships. Engelman was previously Exhibits Researcher/Developer at Mystic Seaport Museum and then Director of Exhibits. She has a doctorate from Boston University in American and New England Studies and a BA from Yale University in English and Theater Studies. Engelman has taught courses in Women’s Studies, Public History, and the Historian as Detective at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point and written on wide-ranging topics including the maritime Underground Railroad, Route 66, Lydia E. Pinkham, and the threat of sea-level rise to maritime museums.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929 to gather and preserve the rapidly disappearing artifacts of America’s seafaring past, the Museum has grown to become a national center for research and education with the mission to “inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.” The Museum’s grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River and include a re-created New England coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art collection storage facilities. The Museum is home to more than 500 historic watercraft, including four National Historic Landmark vessels, most notably the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan.

For more information, please visit mysticseaport.org and follow the Museum on Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram.

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Tags AIMS, American Institute for Maritime Studies, education, maritime studies, museum news, mystic seaport, mystic seaport museum

Press Releases

NOAA weather forecasters, oceanographers, navigators, fisheries scientists and explorers to showcase ocean careers for youth at Mystic Seaport Museum and Project Oceanology

Post author By Amanda Furlong
Post date July 31, 2024

Mystic Seaport Museum and Project Oceanology are pleased to announce that a diverse team of experts from across the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will visit two of their youth programs this week for hands on talks with a goal of sparking interest in NOAA and related ocean careers.

On Wednesday, July 31, the NOAA team will visit Mystic Seaport Museum to meet with high school students who are taking part in a summer youth employment component of the Museum’s Maritime Adventure Program, which engages under-resourced high school youth in experiential maritime education anchored in positive youth development to help them enhance their social, emotional, and leadership skills. On Thursday, August 1, NOAA experts will visit with summer day campers in grades 4-6 and high school residential campers at Project Oceanology, a nonprofit education and research facility based in Groton, Connecticut.

Among the experts will be NOAA weather forecasters, deep ocean explorers, aquaculture and fisheries scientists, whale acoustic specialists, navigators, a NOAA Corps officer, a professional mariner recruiter with NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and representatives from the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute at the University of Rhode Island. The experts will discuss their career paths while also learning about the students’ maritime projects. NOAA will bring a navigation response vessel to Mystic Seaport Museum and to Project Oceanology for students to tour. This initiative follows an earlier visit to Mystic Seaport Museum by NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., and is part of ongoing efforts to enhance educational opportunities for youth in the region.

“We are excited to bring a diverse team of NOAA scientists to Mystic Seaport Museum and Project Oceanology to meet with students from southeastern Connecticut,” said Nicole Bartlett, NOAA’s regional coordinator for the North Atlantic Regional Collaboration Team. “The more we can work with young people from diverse backgrounds the more likely we are to create a stronger talent pipeline to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, our nation’s source of weather, climate, ocean, coastal and fisheries data and services.”

“Welcoming the team from NOAA to Mystic Seaport Museum to provide our students with this unique opportunity to engage directly with experts in ocean sciences and maritime careers is exciting and we’re thrilled to welcome their team to the Museum,” said Sarah Cahill, Director of Education at Mystic Seaport Museum. “This collaboration not only enriches our Maritime Adventure Program, but we hope this experience will spark a lifelong interest in these vital areas and open doors to future opportunities in NOAA and related fields.”

Callie Scheetz, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Project Oceanology adds, “We’re thrilled to have a talented and diverse group of NOAA staff to share their firsthand work experiences with our summer campers. By integrating NOAA expertise into Project Oceanology’s hands-on camp experiences, we empower our campers to envision and pursue career possibilities in STEM.”

Tags education, maritime adventure program, noaa, project o

News

Mystic Seaport Museum is a founding partner of the Connecticut Blue Economy Coalition

Post author By Sherri Ramella
Post date July 16, 2024

Mystic Seaport Museum is thrilled to announce the successful hosting of the official launch event for the Connecticut Blue Economy Coalition. As a founding partner and the largest American maritime museum, Mystic Seaport Museum is committed to fostering a sustainable economic future in maritime industries across Connecticut through the advancement of the blue economy.

The event, made possible by the generous support of sponsors OceanX, AdvanceCT, and seCTer, saw significant participation from esteemed guests, including Senator Heather Somers, Senator Catherine Osten, Representative Holly Cheeseman, Representative Aundre Baumgardner, and Selectwoman Deborah Motycka Downie. Their presence and support underscore the importance of this initiative.

The highlight of the event was the celebratory signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, which outlines the coalition’s goals and strategic initiatives. This marks the first step in leveraging our networks and resources to promote Connecticut’s burgeoning blue economy. Representatives from each participating organization delivered flash talks, detailing their missions and the significance of the coalition.

The coalition’s members include: AdvanceCT, ClimateHaven, GreenWave, Mystic Seaport Museum, OceanX, Project Oceanology, seCTer, Thayer Mahan Inc., and UConn Avery Point.

Mystic Seaport Museum Board of Trustees Vice-Chairman Rich Clary emphasized the initiative’s importance for both the Museum and the state. The event concluded with a memorable boat ride on the historic steamboat, Sabino, recently upgraded with a diesel-electric engine. This allows the vessel to operate under electric power, achieving a 95% reduction in carbon emissions—exemplifying the Museum’s commitment to a sustainable ocean economy.

The mission of the Connecticut Blue Economy Coalition is to be the nexus for the Blue Economy in the State of Connecticut. As a networking and convening coalition of partners, we will bring stakeholders together to best determine strategies for supporting the growth and stability of the blue economy through education, acceleration, advocacy, and communication. Each organization brings its own set of strengths, infrastructure, networking opportunities, and skill sets to the coalition. As a collaboration, we will leverage our combined strengths to accelerate and empower a sustainable future for blue economic growth in Connecticut.

Tags blue economy, economic, sustainability

News Press Releases

Wells Boat Hall

Post author By Sherri Ramella
Post date June 26, 2024

MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM ANNOUNCES WELLS BOAT HALL, A $15 MILLION INITIATIVE TO CREATE A HOME FOR ITS ICONIC AMERICAN WATERCRAFT COLLECTION

New Wells Boat Hall to Be Unveiled in 2025, Pieter Nicholson Roos Appointed Curator, Generous Support Provided By Stan and Nancy Wells

Mystic, CT. [June 28, 2024] – Mystic Seaport Museum is pleased to announce the establishment of the Wells Boat Hall to exhibit the American Watercraft Collection, an estimated $15 million renovation to convert a section of the historic Rossie Mill—currently used as a storage facility—into a dynamic, publicly accessible, exhibition hall highlighting the Museum’s collection of historic small boats. The exhibition, curated by longtime cultural institutional leader Pieter Nicholson Roos, will capture the progression of American nautical innovation, showcasing the unique social history of each vessel and revealing the scope of the extensive collection to the public for the first time.

“We are delighted to bring the American Watercraft Collection out of storage and into the public eye for our visitors and supporters,” says Peter Armstrong, President and CEO of Mystic Seaport Museum. “This renovation not only increases the size of our accessible campus but also allows us to unravel the stories that lie within these amazing vessels.”

The Wells Boat Hall will exhibit over 100 vessels, seldom seen by the public in the last 40 years. Estimated to be the largest and the most diverse small craft and engine collection in the world, the exhibition will feature the first vessel acquired by the Museum, Annie, a 1931 sandbagger, and will span 182 years from an indigenous dugout canoe to a modern-day Mini Transat racer. The public will be invited to engage in the stories of vessels in the collection from labor to leisure, from adventure to commerce, and beyond. Stories will include the Analuisa, a fishing boat used by Cuban refugees to escape to Florida in the summer of 1994, and Tango, the first boat pedaled across the Atlantic and holding the record as the fastest human-powered transatlantic crossing, completed in 40 days, pedaled by Connecticut resident Dwight Collins.

Located on the corner of Rossie Pentway and Greenmanville Avenue, and directly opposite the Museum’s Thompson Exhibition Building, the Wells Boat Hall will be housed in the historic Rossie Mill, built in 1898 as a velvet factory and once the largest employer in Mystic. The 35,000 square-foot warehouse will be renovated to include a new and ADA-compliant visitor entrance with a columned canopy, a new roof reflecting design typical of New England mill towers, and a fully integrated exhibition space. The renovation will allow the Museum to care for and exhibit the watercraft and related artifacts in an environment that showcases their importance and maintains their legacy while maintaining this historic building. The Wells Boat Hall will also double as a flexible community space for lectures and presentations, as well as new educational programs initiated by the American Institute of Maritime Studies at Mystic Seaport Museum.

Pieter Nicholson Roos has been appointed the Wells Boat Hall Exhibition Curator and will curate the exhibit. Roos, the former director of the Mark Twain House and Museum and a strategic advisor on climate change, will provide his decades of experience in preservation and maritime expertise.

“It’s with great excitement that I join Mystic Seaport Museum in unveiling its cherished collection to the public after years in storage,” shared Roos. “With the launch of the Wells Boat Hall, we will allow visitors to embark on a journey through time, finding their own connections to the array of stories on view and ensuring that these historic boats are preserved and remain in our contemporary consciousness.”

The American Watercraft Collection will be housed in the Wells Boat Hall, named after local residents and longtime Museum Trustee Stan Wells and his wife Nancy Wells. It is scheduled to open to the public in the fall of 2025.

About Mystic Seaport Museum

Mystic Seaport Museum is the nation’s leading maritime Museum. Founded in 1929 to gather and preserve the rapidly disappearing artifacts of America’s seafaring past, the Museum has grown to become a national center for research and education with the mission to “inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.” The Museum’s grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, Connecticut, and include a recreated New England coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. The Museum is home to more than 500 historic watercraft, including four National Historic Landmark vessels, most notably the 1841 whaleship CHARLES W. MORGAN. For more information, please visit mysticseaport.org and follow the Museum on Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram.

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Media Contacts: 

For images, further background or interviews, please contact:

Katrina Stewart

Senior Account Coordinator, Visual Arts

Blue Medium

T: +1-212-675-1800

katrina@bluemedium.com

Sophia Matsas

Vice President of Marketing & Communications
Mystic Seaport Museum
T: +1-860-572-5317

sophia.matsas@mysticseaport.org

Press Releases

Mystic Seaport Museum Announces Debut of Mainsheet Publication

Post author By Amanda Furlong
Post date May 13, 2024

Mystic Seaport Museum proudly announces the debut of Mainsheet: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Maritime Studies, a groundbreaking journal that fills a field gap in peer-reviewed scholarship that has been left by the dissolution of the American Neptune and other similar journals over the last twenty years. This biannual publication, available both online and in print, sets itself apart with its multidisciplinary approach, global themes and accessibility, and innovative design and distribution. Mainsheet offers a unique platform for scholars worldwide to explore maritime issues spanning the past, present, and future. With a commitment to inclusivity and diversity, the journal welcomes perspectives from various disciplines, ensuring a rich and comprehensive dialogue on maritime topics.

While Mainsheet maintains a global focus, each issue is tied with annual institutional initiative themes at Mystic Seaport Museum that drive exhibitions, programming, symposia, lecture series, and the Frank C. Munson Institute for American Maritime History. The first issue highlights maritime social history to align with the Museum’s new exhibition Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea. Highlights of the first issue include five peer-reviewed scholarly papers from leading scholars; an inaugural letter from Editor in Chief Christina Connett Brophy; a perspectives essay by guest editor Akeia de Barros Gomes; a photo essay capturing the experiences of workers aboard cargo ships during and after the COVID-19 crisis; features on boat preservation in Brazil, African miniature canoes, and a Viking ship model from the Museum’s collection; and poetry, book reviews, and listings for upcoming Museum exhibits and academic events.

“Maritime studies are the key to our shared experience. It is impossible to consider our cultural, scientific, economic, social, or even physiological development without consideration of the sea above and below the surface. It is also impossible to understand where we are and where we are going without understanding where we have been. We hope to elevate and broaden deeper insight into how maritime studies, past, present, and future are an essential part of global heritage.” –Christina Connett Brophy, PhD, Mainsheet Editor in Chief, Senior Vice President, Mystic Seaport Museum.

The editorial board represents a national and international team of invited expert scholars from various fields and partner institutions, with guest editors for themed editions. Scholarship from the print journal is simultaneously posted free and open access on the journal website, reflecting the Museum’s commitment to making scholarship available at no cost to researchers. Paid subscriptions to the print issue support this commitment. The print journal is full-color, perfect-bound, and designed to be a beautiful library addition.

To purchase, subscribe, or access the journal website visit https://mysticseaport.org/mainsheet/.

Tags mainsheet

Press Releases

Museum awarded $821,000 in Federal funding to Support Education Programming and the Historic Watercraft Collection

Post author By Sophia Matsas
Post date April 9, 2024

Mystic Seaport Museum is pleased to announce the receipt of two federal grants totaling $821,000 to support the Museum’s Center for Experiential Education and the historic watercraft collection. The Museum extends their gratitude to Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy for their support in securing this funding.

The Museum’s Center for Experiential Education Maritime Adventure Program will receive $570,000 from the U.S Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Education. The Maritime Adventure Program (MAP) engages under-resourced youth in experiential maritime and STEM education anchored in positive youth development to enhance their social, emotional, and leadership skills while also developing job skills. The program serves high school students affiliated with New London Youth Affairs in New London County, Connecticut. MAP aims to bridge Connecticut’s “opportunity gap” by offering young people from diverse backgrounds the chance to gain skills in marine carpentry, sailing, powerboating, astronomy, and navigation, along with learning about maritime heritage and marine conservation. Central to the program’s success is its positive youth development and mentoring model. Participants build confidence and competence through experiences and are encouraged to contribute their voices and take on leadership roles. All MAP participants will have the opportunity to apply their skills through off-campus experiential learning activities and participate in paid job readiness training, teaching essential workforce skills.

A $251,000 grant from the National Park Service Save America’s Treasures Grant Program, will support preservation of and access to the Museum’s small craft collection. The watercraft collection at Mystic Seaport Museum began in 1931 with the acquisition of its first vessel, the sandbagger Annie, and over the last 90 years has grown to be the largest watercraft collection in the United States. It includes crafts ranging from rowboats to schooners and ships, rowing craft, canoes, and powered craft. This grant will aid in continued preservation efforts through support for the Wells Boat Hall within the Museum’s historic Rossie Velvet Mill. The project is funded in part by a grant from the Historic Preservation Fund, as administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

For questions about this generous funding, please contact us at press@mysticseaport.org.

Museum President and CEO Peter Armstrong said, “We are pleased to receive this generous funding in recognition of the Museum’s continued effort to preserve historic artifacts while also using the maritime experience to positively impact youth for their future. We are rooted in history, but not stuck in the past, and we recognize our unique position to both protect and influence.”

“This $821,000 investment will empower youth in our communities, supplying them with experiential programming at Mystic Seaport Museum, and help preserve the Museum’s nationally significant historic watercraft collection. Connecticut has a proud maritime history that must be protected and celebrated. I am proud to have advocated for federal funding for Mystic Seaport Museum, a leading national maritime museum,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal.

“The Mystic Seaport Museum is not only an incredible place to visit and learn about Connecticut’s seafaring past, but their team is also doing important work to shape the next generation of maritime leaders. The Maritime Adventure Program is a unique opportunity for high school students in New London to develop tangible skills like marine carpentry and sailing and learn more about conservation. I was proud to help secure this federal funding that will make sure more kids in the community have the chance to learn and grow at the Museum,” said Senator Chris Murphy.

The Mystic Seaport Museum Center for Experiential Education serves over 10,000 students in 14 districts across the state in afterschool, overnight, and day programs. The Museum is home to four National Historic Landmark vessels, including the Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaleship in existence. The collection offers an overview of seafaring vessels’ development across time and culture.

About Mystic Seaport Museum
Mystic Seaport Museum is the nation’s leading maritime Museum. Founded in 1929 to gather and preserve the rapidly disappearing artifacts of America’s seafaring past, the Museum has grown to become a national center for research and education with the mission to “inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.” The Museum’s grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, Connecticut, and include a recreated New England coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. The Museum is home to more than 500 historic watercraft, including four National Historic Landmark vessels, most notably the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan. For more information, please visit mysticseaport.org and follow the Museum on Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram.

Tags blue economy, education, OCEAN RESEARCH, oceanX, technology

Press Releases

OceanX Signs MOU with Mystic Seaport Museum

Post author By Amanda Furlong
Post date March 25, 2024

Global ocean exploration nonprofit OceanX and Mystic Seaport Museum have announced a memorandum of understanding with one another that will open discussions about collaboration on programming, educational opportunities, exhibitions, and more.

Mystic Seaport Museum is working to develop opportunities to convene decision makers for discussions and develop programming that underscores the importance of the blue economy and blue technology to the economies of Connecticut, the region, and the world. OceanX, with its advanced research capabilities and immersive educational experiences, is well-positioned to work with Mystic Seaport Museum to develop and participate in programming that reinforces the importance of ocean research, technology, and education.

“The opportunities for collaboration between OceanX and Mystic Seaport Museum are immense. With our shared focus on opportunities around the blue economy and blue technology, we have the potential to convene important discussions and excite the region about the potential of these fields, ” said Vincent Pieribone, Co-CEO of OceanX. “We hope that this collaboration can create solutions, excitement, and deeper understanding of the value of ocean research in Connecticut and beyond.”

“As Mystic Seaport Museum looks toward what the future of “maritime” engagement looks like in the 21st century, we recognize the importance for the institution to incorporate blue economy and blue technology advances into our narrative, education, collections, and programs. We believe it is the responsibility of Mystic Seaport Museum to keep the local and broader communities informed and interested in new solutions and opportunities around ocean management from a maritime perspective.” stated Christina Connett Brophy, Senior Vice President of Mystic Seaport Museum. “This collaboration will help us articulate actions to achieve our common goals and cultivate meaningful solutions that both leverage and preserve ocean resources.”

The collaboration between OceanX and Mystic Seaport Museum underscores both parties’ commitment to driving positive change and innovation in ocean science, storytelling, and a sustainable blue economy. Through their collaboration, both parties aim to make a meaningful impact on the environment and society as a whole.

About OceanX
OceanX is a mission to support scientists to explore the ocean and to bring it back to the world through captivating media. Uniting leading media, science, and philanthropy partners, OceanX utilizes next-gen technology, fearless science, compelling storytelling, and immersive experiences to educate, inspire, and connect the world with the ocean and build a global community deeply engaged with understanding, enjoying, and protecting our oceans. OceanX is an operating program of Dalio Philanthropies, which furthers the diverse philanthropic interests of Dalio family members. For more information, visit www.oceanx.org and follow OceanX on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok and LinkedIn.

Tags blue economy, education, OCEAN RESEARCH, oceanX, technology

Press Releases

A new major exhibition at Mystic Seaport Museum, “Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea”

Post author By Amanda Furlong
Post date March 20, 2024

First Edition Eliot Bible, New and Old Testament, 1663. Published by Samuel Green, Cambridge, MA. A rare copy of the 1663 bible. Courtesy of the Collection of Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. Photo courtesy of Mystic Seaport Museum, Joe Michael.

Mystic Seaport Museum is pleased to present Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea, an exhibition that surveys the interplay of maritime histories through Indigenous, African, and African-descended worldviews. Opening on April 20, 2024 and on view until Spring 2026, the exhibition will examine the twelve millennia of Black and Indigenous history through objects and loaned belongings from Indigenous and African communities dating back 2,500 years, including a selection of 22 contemporary artworks. Entwined will be the first exhibition by Akeia de Barros Gomes, Senior Curator of Maritime Social Histories at the Museum, and is the culmination of a three-year initiative supported by the Mellon Foundation to re-examine regional museum collections through a contemporary lens. Entwined will be accessible to Black and Indigenous community contributors to the exhibition for a month prior to the official opening.

“Entwined celebrates the survival of the indigenous cultures on two continents over thousands of years and a shared connection of Indigenous Africans and Indigenous Americans to the Atlantic” shared de Barros Gomes. “This exhibition explores stories under a contemporary cultural umbrella from creation through periods of interruption and trauma to the modern traditional expressions of how we continue to thrive.”

The earliest belonging (object) on view in Entwined dates to over 2,500 years ago, a time when both sub-Saharan Africa and the Dawnland—the name for New England among Indigenous nations in the Northeast—were centers of flourishing civilizations and cultural diversity. During this era, African societies were marked by advanced trade networks and the development of sophisticated art and craftsmanship. Meanwhile, Indigenous communities in the Dawnland maintained extensive trade networks and a deep connection with their environment, producing sophisticated artwork, spiritual belongings, and tools that reflected their ties to nature. Overseas migration—both forced, and increasingly during the era of whaling, free—brought people from the coast of Africa into contact with Indigenous communities in New England. These encounters initiated a complex intersection of social identity and shared struggle related to colonial displacement, but also a recognition of common expertise in navigating and utilizing the resources of the ocean.

At Mystic Seaport Museum, Entwined expands upon this history to highlight the various oceanic spiritual, social, and technological threads that exist between Black and Indigenous communities on both sides of the Atlantic that continue to resonate and confront us today. Central to the exhibition is a canoe commissioned by Mystic Seaport Museum and built collaboratively by four contemporary artists: two of African descent, Sika Foyer (Togo) and Alvin Ashiatey (Ghana); and two of Native American descent, Hartman Deetz (Mashpee Wampanoag) and Gary Carter Jr. (Mashantucket Pequot). The canoe, which is both a traditional and contemporary piece of art was created in a “dugout” tradition, a process by which the wood is hollowed out by burning and then polished, which has been the way of fashioning canoes for various African and Indigenous communities for thousands of years. This shared method of craftsmanship highlights an incredible commonality between African and Indigenous peoples’ relationship to the sea that long predates European contact.

Entwined will reveal the foundation of Black and Indigenous maritime cultures through historical artwork and belongings that outline the respective histories and traditions associated with African and Indigenous cultures’ relationship to the ocean. The Indigenous belongings include artworks on loan from Indigenous nations and individuals such as fishing decoys, beads, and a water drum. A second thematic guiding force of the exhibition, and the oldest belonging on view, is an Aboriginal Cooking Pot ca. 500 BCE. underscoring a method of shell tempering that is common to both the Dawnland and African continent. Another object loaned to the Museum by the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center is a first edition Eliot Bible, translated and printed by a Nipmuc man named Wowaus (later known as James Printer). Raised as a Christian, he was introduced to the missionary John Eliot and became one of several Indigenous men who contributed to the translation of the Eliot Bible. While initially translated into the Algonquian dialect-N as a tool for Europeans to Christianize Native Americans, the Eliot Bible was used 350 years later by Northeast Indigenous communities as reference materials to relearn and reclaim endangered Algonquian languages.

The exhibition also features a replication of a colonial attic typical of where Indigenous indentured servants and enslaved Africans were forced to live. A highlight among the belongings in this space is an 18th-century nkisi bundle originally discovered underneath a floorboard in the attic of the Wanton Lyman Hazard House, the oldest standing colonial house in Newport, Rhode Island. Minkisi (plural) are a collection of various objects such as shells, beads, and glass that were created to bridge the gap between the physical world and ancestors, maintain a connection to Africa, and provide protection and healing. The bundle is the only example surviving in New England.

Continuing into the present day, Entwined will feature works that highlight contemporary Black and Indigenous reclaiming of freedom, sovereignty, and the sea. Painting and sculpture will be presented by Black and Indigenous artists based in the northeast United States, including Christian Gonçalves, Sherenté Mishitashin Harris, Sierra Henries, Elizabeth James Perry, Gail “White Hair Smiling” Rokotuibau, Robin Spears, Felandes Thames, Alison Wells, and Nafis M. White.

The autonomy given through the whaling industry is explored in both Courtney M. Leonard’s BREACH: Logbook 15 / SCRIMSHAW STUDY #2 (2015) and Felandus Thames’s Wail on Whalers, a portrait of Amos Haskins (2024). Leonard referenced the history of Indigenous whaling pre-colonization with a ceramic sculpture of a whale tooth painted with red clay, while Thames presents a portrait homage to Amos Haskins, an Aquinnah Wampanoag master mariner. The Other Side of the Harbor (2013) by Alison Wells collages news clippings and references to the Underground Railroad in the free state whaling city of New Bedford. Applications of maritime culture on indigenous art are highlighted in Sierra Autumn Henries’s She Sings the Old Songs (2024), birch bark carving and wampum work paying tribute to generations of whalesong. Further works of water drums, traditional dance regalia, hair work, and jewelry were recently made to serve as a connection for future descendants to embrace and appreciate their historical narratives. These intertwined threads of history coalesce in the collaborative canoe to create a tapestry of shared experiences.

Acknowledgments

Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea is generously funded by the Just Futures Initiative of the Mellon Foundation as part of the Reimagining New England Histories project.

Mystic Seaport Museum also gratefully acknowledges our project partners, Brown University and Williams College, and our community advisors whose collective voices, knowledge, creativity, and wisdom are foregrounded in this exhibition.

Exhibit design and fabrication by SmokeSygnals.

Tags entwined, Exhibit, exhibition, Indigenous peoples

Press Releases

Mystic Seaport Museum Named “Business of the Year” by Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut

Post author By Amanda Furlong
Post date March 5, 2024

Mystic Seaport Museum proudly announces its recognition as Business of the Year in the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut’s Annual ECTy Awards. The ECTy Awards honor excellence in community engagement, innovation, customer service, and business best practices. Through the nomination process, the Museum demonstrated its commitment to community involvement, support, and collaboration; the preservation of skills in Connecticut; and innovative, green and otherwise progressive business practices delivered through world class exhibitions, educational programming, and global partnerships.

Mystic Seaport Museum will be honored at the Chamber’s Annual Meeting and Awards Celebration, on Wednesday, March 27, at the Mystic Marriott Hotel & Spa. This is the Chamber’s premier membership gathering and will be an evening of celebration and recognition.

“We are grateful to the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut for this honor in being named Business of the Year in the esteemed ECTy Awards. Congratulations to all the winners, who through our collective work are supporting the growth and development of our region and Connecticut as a whole,” expressed Sophia Matsas, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at the Museum.

To learn more about the event and purchase tickets to support the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, visit here.

Tags business of the year, chamber, exhibition, mystic

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