Jim Kilroy aboard Kialoa III in the Miami to Monetgo Bay race 1975, Photo by Dick Enersen.
Jim Kilroy aboard Kialoa III in the Miami to Monetgo Bay race 1975, Photo by Dick Enersen.
Kilroy-Kialoa Collection Chronicles Transformative Period in Yacht Racing
Mystic, Conn. (February 10, 2021) — Mystic Seaport Museum announces the donation of a significant collection of 20th century yachting materials related to the renowned sailor John B. “Jim” Kilroy Sr. and his yachts named Kialoa. This donation was made by Kilroy’s daughter Patrice Kilroy, who wished that the story of her father and those who sailed with him would be preserved and shared with future generations.
The materials contained in the collection include personal correspondence, design memoranda, drawings, ratings protocols, race notes, planning items, logbooks, annotated charts, photos, scrapbook clippings, movies, plaques, trophies and other materials which document 50 years of American yachting at the highest levels of competition.
“Jim Kilroy and the Kialoas were synonymous with big boat sailing during a transformative time in the sport. The best amateur sailors aspired to crew for Kilroy. Many of his crew went on to impact sailing in their own rights. Mystic Seaport Museum is the perfect place to keep the Kilroy-Kialoa Collection safe and accessible for marine historians and generations of sailors to come,” said Sheila McCurdy, Mystic Seaport Museum trustee and past commodore of the Cruising Club of America
From 1956 to 2005, Kilroy owned and raced five Maxi boats carrying the name Kialoa. The racing successes that Kilroy and his amateur crews achieved on every ocean of the world are exceptional. In 1975 alone, they won 11 major ocean races, including the Transatlantic, the Fastnet, and the Sydney-to-Hobart Races. The Hobart win in 1975 set a record time that stood for 21 years despite the advances in materials and technology that transpired during those decades. Kialoa IV won 20 out of 24 races in 1981 and held the Maxi Yacht World Champion title for five years between 1981 and 1987.
This collection is important not simply because it documents the success of the Kialoa campaigns, but because Kilroy and the Kialoa boats were at the forefront of many advances in yacht design, construction, crewing, and technology. An early Kialoa was one of the first racing yachts built of aluminum, and Kialoa IV was an early example of the use of carbon composites and Kevlar, both adopted from the aerospace industry.
Kilroy famously used computers to aid in planning, analyzing and measuring success, and his early adoption of onboard computer data collection and use of computers to assist in tactical decision-making was at the forefront of what has now become the industry standard.
Kilroy was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2014. He passed away in 2016.
Mystic Seaport Museum is excited to begin cataloguing and digitizing this collection so that it can be shared with researchers, scholars, and enthusiasts alike. This is an important acquisition for the Museum as it advances the collection into the modern era of yacht racing.
Media Contact
Dan McFadden
Director of Communications
Mystic Seaport Museum
860.333.7155 (m)
860.572.5317 (o) dan.mcfadden@mysticseaport.org
Image Credit
Jim Kilroy aboard Kialoa III in the Miami to Monetgo Bay race 1975, Photo by Dick Enersen.
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Brown University, Williams College and Mystic Seaport Museum scholars will use maritime history as a basis for studying the relationship between European colonization, dispossession of Native American land, and racial slavery.
Mystic, Conn. (February 2, 2021) — A $4.9 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to Brown University’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice will fund a partnership with Mystic Seaport Museum, and Williams College that will use maritime history as a basis for studying historical injustices and generating new insights on the relationship between European colonization in North America, the dispossession of Native American land, and racial slavery in New England.
The collaborative project, titled “Reimagining New England Histories: Historical Injustice, Sovereignty and Freedom,” will create new work and study opportunities at all three institutions, particularly for scholars, curators, and students from underrepresented groups. It will result in a new Mystic Seaport Museum exhibition on race, subjugation, and power, and a “decolonial archive” spotlighting a diverse collection of stories from several New England communities.
The grant was awarded by the Mellon Foundation as part of its Just Futures Initiative, a by-invitation competition that invited 38 colleges and universities to submit project proposals that would address the “long-existing fault lines” of racism, inequality, and injustice that challenge ideas of democracy and civil society.
“Mystic Seaport Museum is proud to collaborate with our esteemed partners in implementing an institution-wide reframing of the traditional narratives around the American maritime experience as it relates to African, African-American, and Indigenous peoples. As America’s leading maritime museum, we are uniquely positioned to be the venue for a monumental exhibition in 2023, which marks an imperative, transformative, and inclusive reflection on how America’s activities on the world’s oceans have and continue to play a part in our country’s society from the position of race and slavery,” said Christina Connett Brophy, senior director of museum galleries and senior vice president of curatorial affairs. “Working with our partners, and through the fresh lens of ships and the sea, we are excited to engage new audiences in critical conversations that have long remained unfinished.”
The planned exhibition at Mystic Seaport Museum will run from Fall 2023 to Summer 2024 and will juxtapose traditional narratives about early New England with engaging artifacts that tell a different story about the past — from archaeological materials to documents and literature to music and oral histories
“A myth in the founding narrative of the United States is the idea of New England as a ‘city on the hill,’ a place founded on the idea of liberty for all,” said Anthony Bogues, director of Brown’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. “But it is important to consider that this site of America’s founding was also a site of Native dispossession as well as racial slavery. Brown and Williams have told stories about both of those histories, but rarely have we explored the relationship between the two.”
Since its founding in 2012, the CSSJ has explored the history and legacies of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and racial slavery through research, study, public conversations, exhibitions and more. The groundbreaking work of the center’s researchers has catalyzed international scholarly conversations and inspired similar work at colleges and universities across the country.
But Bogues, who will oversee the grant-funded project, said that in recent months, he and his colleagues felt their mission must expand to include the investigation of New England’s role in displacing Native Americans — something he believes is as foundational a part of American history as racial slavery.
To help draw connections between racial slavery and Native American dispossession, Brown reached out to scholars at Williams College in Massachusetts — a growing group of whom focus on Indigenous peoples and racial slavery in early America — and Mystic Seaport Museum, which for more than 40 years has worked with Williams to offer the program Williams-Mystic, a unique liberal arts-focused semester at sea for undergraduates on its museum campus. The Museum also conducts the Frank C. Munson Institute for American Maritime History, a graduate-level program accredited by the University of Connecticut. Together, the three institutions devised a plan for a three-year partnership that will draw on each institution’s strengths to generate new scholarship, student experiences, public events, and more. Some K-12 educational programs will also be developed with support from other sources.
“We chose Williams as a partner because they have some very fine young historians who are thinking critically about Indigenous dispossession,” Bogues said. “The college has made it very clear that they sit on Indigenous land, and they are convening courses and programs that reckon with that. As well, we have wanted to partner with Mystic Seaport Museum on an exhibit that touches on racial slavery and the sea for quite some time. This is an opportunity for our three institutions to come together and think hard about the links between two major historical injustices in our country.”
The project has four major components: a new research cluster at the CSSJ, an online “decolonial archive,” a major exhibition at Mystic Seaport Museum, and expanded courses on historical injustice in early America for students at Williams, Brown, and Mystic Seaport Museum.
The new research cluster, housed at the CSSJ, will focus on how societies founded on historical forms of injustice can become more inclusive and just. Faculty, staff and students from Brown and Williams will collaborate on scholarly projects, sometimes engaging in research work as part of joint Brown-Williams courses.
To create an online “decolonial archive,” the three partners will work with leaders in New England’s Black and Indigenous communities, Brown’s Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative, the John Carter Brown Library and staff at the John Hay Library to gather oral histories of New Englanders who have experienced the effects of centuries of institutional racism and dispossession. Part of the archive will consist of recorded community conversations organized by Brown and Williams, which will help ensure stories are gathered and shared in ways that reflect community desires, rather than in an exploitative, extractive manner.
The large exhibition at Mystic Seaport Museum will draw upon its vast collections of maritime artifacts as well as those of other lending museums, library, and archival collections. The exhibition will map a more complex historical framework engaging with questions of race and sovereignty, weaving a new narrative with a creative juxtaposition of visual and material culture, archaeology, oral traditions, and songs and performance. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of interactive interpretive programs – both virtual and in-person at the Museum’s riverside campus – to engage the general public and underserved communities.
Over the next three years, all three partners will also offer a wide variety of learning opportunities for students of all ages. Brown and Williams will develop several cross-disciplinary courses focused on colonialism and historical injustices. Mystic Seaport Museum will develop a new curriculum for its Munson Institute and conduct a summer museum-studies internship for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students with an emphasis on issues of race and inequality in the museum profession.
The research undertaken at the Museum by the exhibition curators, Munson fellows, and summer interns will not only add greatly to the body of knowledge about the African American and Native American facets of the Museum’s permanent collection, but also influence the scope and tenor of future museum collecting by identifying gaps to fill. It will allow the Museum to address critical histories that reflect the history of the region and the sea.
“This is just the beginning of what we hope will become a sustained conversation about the inequities of the nation’s founding,” said Brophy. “It is only by facing the past with an honest and truthful understanding of the forces that shaped the development of our nation that we can hope to become a truly just society.”
Media Contact:
Dan McFadden
Director of Communications
Mystic Seaport Museum
860.572.5317 (o)
860.333.7155 (m) dan.mcfadden@mysticseaport.org/
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org/ and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Mystic, Conn. (January 21, 2021) — Mystic Seaport Museum announced it will hold its annual Chantey Blast as a virtual event, Saturday, February 6, from 1 to 3 p.m. The singalong event is a fundraiser to support the live performance of sea music at the Museum.
Sea chanteys (or shanties) are a form of singing developed to aid in the hard work of operating a sailing ship. The Museum has long been a leader in the preservation, education, and performance of the sea music tradition. Each year features live concerts and performances for visitors in our historic village, providing a unique setting to foster an understanding of the songs. For more than 40 years, the high point of the year’s program has been the Sea Music Festival, a four-day event that attracts musicians and audience members from around the world. The festival also hosts an academic symposium to present the latest scholarship on the subject. While the event is on hold for 2021 due to COVID-19, the Museum is committed to offering opportunities for mission-related live performances this summer and looks to the Chantey Blast to help fund the continuation of sea music on the grounds.
The 2021 Chantey Blast will be held via a live stream on Zoom and Facebook Live. A select lineup of chantey artists will lead songs and provide a background explanation to the music. The audience will be encouraged to join in from their remote location.
The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required and there is a suggested donation.
“This event is for both for those longtime fans of sea music and those who are wondering what the TikTok #ShantyTok trend is all about,” said Erik Ingmundson, director of Interpretation at the Museum. “This will be the first time we have been able to offer the Chantey Blast in a live, online stream and we encourage anyone with even a passing interest in the genre to tune in and join in the music.”
The Museum has posted a number of sea chantey videos on its TikTok account @mysticseaportmuseum.
Media Contact
Dan McFadden
Director of Communications
Mystic Seaport Museum
860.572.5317 (o)
860.333.7155 (m) dan.mcfadden@mysticseaport.org/
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org/ and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Peter J Armstrong. (Image Courtesy Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation)
Museum Appoints Christina Connett Brophy as Senior Vice President of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Director of Museum Galleries
Mystic, Conn. (November 10, 2020) — Peter Armstrong is appointed the next president of Mystic Seaport Museum, the organization’s board of trustees announced today. An accomplished museum professional with more than 25 years of experience on two continents, Armstrong joins the Museum from the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, where he is Senior Director of Museum Operations and Education. The board also announced the appointment of Dr. Christina Connett Brophy as Senior Vice President of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Director of Museum Galleries.
“We are excited about the appointments of Peter and Christina as they bring well-honed, complementary talents to MSM. Peter has extensive management skills and experience as director of operations of a large and complex museum organization combined with great marketing knowhow. Christina brings outstanding maritime museum curatorial experience and demonstrated success in innovative programming and exhibitions development,” said Michael S. Hudner, Chair of the Mystic Seaport Museum Board of Trustees. “Both Peter and Christina have had exceptional achievements in broadening and diversifying more traditional audiences with new approaches to increase the appeal of well-known institutions to a changing world.”
In his position of Senior Director at the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Armstrong oversees education, collections, exhibitions, and interpretation as well as directing two major museums and their living history sites. He led the transition from the Yorktown Victory Center—a small museum with some living history areas—to the new, $50-million, state-of-the-art American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, which opened in April 2017. Most recently in 2019, he oversaw the creation of the special exhibition TENACITY, which focused on the arrival of the first women to Jamestown, and Forgotten Soldier, which features the personal stories of enslaved and free African Americans who fought on both sides of the Revolutionary War.
Armstrong came to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation from the United Kingdom’s National Museum of Arms and Armour, also known as the Royal Armouries. The Royal Armouries has three museums, the most famous of which is the Tower of London. During his tenure, Armstrong developed and promoted several major exhibitions, including Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill at the Tower of London.
“Mystic Seaport Museum has a worldwide reputation for excellence, quality and good old-fashioned fun. As the Museum heads towards its centenary, I am excited to be able to play a role in continuing the legacy of the retiring president, and to work with the board and the Mystic team to deliver a modern, relevant, diverse, and community-focused future,” said Armstrong.
Dr. Christina Connett Brophy is currently the Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Chair for the Chief Curator at the New Bedford Whaling Museum (NBWM), where she has been a senior executive for seven years. While there she demonstrated systemic strategic leadership, successful fundraising, increased branding and outreach, partnership development, and path-breaking initiatives that have impacted NBWM towards a unified vision, national and international media recognition, an increase in visitation, greater connectivity with a diverse community, and a stronger and more sustainable financial position. She has curated more than 30 exhibitions, notably A Spectacle in Motion: The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World and A Wild Note of Longing: Albert Pinkham Ryder and a Century of American Art, which will open in June 2021.
“There is a magic to Mystic Seaport Museum that is unique and rare, a tribute to its committed Board, staff and volunteers, its exquisite collections, and an historic and beautiful working waterfront. I am thrillled to be given the opportunity to streamline the Museum’s offerings towards a focused and 21st century global model, while remaining true to our nation’s rich maritime heritage,” said Connett Brophy. “There is extraordinary potential here to increase relevancy to a broader audience, particularly in addressing critical social and environmental issues facing the world today.”
Hudner expressed gratitude for retiring President and CEO Steve White, who is working to ensure a smooth transition of leadership as the Museum navigates the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over White’s 12 years at the helm, the Museum was recognized for the ambition of its initiatives, notably the restoration and 38th Voyage of the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan and the fundraising and construction of the $15 million McGraw Gallery Quadrangle project anchored by the award-winning Thompson Exhibition Building.
I am very pleased to hand over the reins to two such exemplary people,” said White. “Their experience, energy, and broad perspective will serve the Museum well as the institution continues to demonstrate and explain the continuing relevance of the sea and maritime heritage to contemporary audiences.”
Peter J. Armstrong image courtesy Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org/ and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Carleton Mitchell at the helm of yawl yacht Carribbee while under sail during the Transatlantic Race from Bermuda to Plymouth, England, July 1952.
Mystic Seaport Museum, Carleton Mitchell Collection, 1996.31.5388.14
Mystic, Conn. (November 2, 2020) — Mystic Seaport Museum announces Gowrie Group will sponsor a lecture series, Far Away Places – An Earlier Time, featuring the work of Carleton Mitchell. Mitchell, a yachtsman, author, and photographer, wrote extensively about the Caribbean and sailing and chronicled many significant events in yachting in the second half of the 20th century. Gowrie Group is Mystic Seaport’s long-time insurance partner.
“Mystic Seaport Museum is best known for our vessels, waterfront village, and exhibitions, yet the Museum also holds remarkable collections that include maritime photography, fine art, ships plans, books, and artifacts of all types. The Carleton Mitchell presentation is an example of how these collections can come together, combining Mitchell’s books and articles, photographs, recorded oral histories, and ships plans capturing his work and the man himself,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum.
Carter Gowrie, founder of Gowrie Group, a leading independent insurance agency with deep marine roots, shared, “Gowrie Group is proud to support the Mystic Seaport and this exciting outreach program. Using a virtual platform, the Mystic Seaport is able bring the exceptional work of Carleton Mitchell to life for members of sailing organizations across the country. This program is just one example of the terrific things we have done together with the Mystic Seaport during our long-time partnership.”
A skilled and prolific photographer, Mitchell authored seven books on sailing while also writing hundreds of articles with features in publications such as National Geographic, Yachting, and Sports Illustrated.
Mitchell’s first book, Islands to Windward, which was published shortly after World War II, increased awareness of the Caribbean and Bahamas and led countless enthusiasts to set sail for the islands. Books that followed included Passage East, Isles of the Caribees, The Winds Call, and Yachtsman’s Camera. His love for cruising in his sailboat combined with an impressive run of victories as a blue water racer, including the feat of being the only person to win the Bermuda Race three times in a row. Later, as a powerboat cruiser, Mitchell continued to realize his love of being on the water, expressing his ethos that the size or type of boat was irrelevant, joy was realized purely by the act of being on the water.
In the 1996, Carleton Mitchell donated his photos to Mystic Seaport Museum. This collection of more than 20,000 images, is supplemented by his written works and correspondence, as well as several oral histories, including one with the yachting author John Rousmaniere, who was central to the creation of the Mitchell Collection.
The presentation, Far Away Places – An Earlier Time, details Carleton Mitchell’s work in three parts: the Caribbean and Bahamas right after World War II, Mitchell’s famous sailboat Finisterre and its racing success, and the later years of powerboat cruising.
The talks will be presented at twelve different yacht clubs and other organizations from Marblehead, MA, to Key Biscayne, FL, and destinations in between, including Essex, CT, Stonington, CT, New York City, Rumson, NJ, Shelter Island, NY, Biscayne Bay, FL, and Punta Gorda, FL.
Parties interested in scheduling a presentation should contact Chris Freeman, director of Development & Legacy Giving, at chris.freeman@mysticseaport.org/.
Media Contact
Dan McFadden
Director of Communications
Mystic Seaport Museum
860.572.5317 (o)
860.333.7155 (c) dan.mcfadden@mysticseaport.org/
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org/ and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
About Gowrie Group, a division of Risk Strategies.
As one of the nation’s top insurance agencies, Gowrie Group provides total risk management services to individuals and organizations with complex insurance needs. Gowrie Group offers comprehensive insurance solutions matched with trusted advice and a commitment to service excellence. Gowrie Group’s portfolio of insurance offerings include solutions for businesses, marine entities, home & auto, boats & yachts, and equine interests, as well as employee benefits solutions and safety services. Gowrie Group is a division of Risk Strategies. For more information: www.gowrie.com, info@gowrie.com, or 800.262.8911.
From left: Museum president Steve White, America and the Sea Award honoree Tom Whidden, and Hall of Fame sailor Gary Jobson at the gala on October 23, 2020.
Mystic, Conn. (October 27, 2020) — Mystic Seaport Museum honored Hall of Fame sailor Thomas A. Whidden with the 2020 America and the Sea Award. The prestigious award recognizes those individuals and organizations whose extraordinary achievements in the world of maritime exploration, competition, scholarship, and design best exemplify the American character. The award was presented at a virtual gala fundraiser on Friday, October 23.
Tom Whidden is the President and CEO of North Technology Groupand a 2017 inductee into the National Sailing Hall of Fame. Whidden was elected to the America’s Cup Hall of Fame in 2004.
Fellow Hall of Fame sailor and the 8th America and the Sea Award recipient Gary Jobson presented the award to Whidden at a small gathering of Whidden’s family and friends at the Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, from where the event was livestreamed for an audience around the country and overseas. Jobson shared a brief history of the America’s Cup, followed by the award presentation, commenting that Whidden has contributed two important things to the sport of sailing, ”As an industry leader, he has made sailing more efficient, with better sails that last longer and go faster… and he’s been outstanding on the race course.”
Whidden, who grew up in Connecticut and learned to sail on Long Island Sound, has had an extraordinary career both on and off the water as an accomplished tactician for Dennis Conner in eight America’s Cup campaigns — winning three, and as a revolutionary sailmaker, bringing sail making from the manufacturing of paneled sails in a vast network of sail lofts to the current centrally managed, technologically driven, manufacturing system. Thanks to the remarkable vision of Whidden, North Sails has become a leader in the industry, with every America’s Cup winner and every Volvo Ocean Race winner choosing to race with North Sails since 1992 and 1993, respectively.
“Tom is a perfect fit for this award. Not only does he have a distinguished record as a competitive sailor, but he has also served as an important ambassador for the sport and the maritime community. For young sailors across the country and beyond, he has been a positive role model and mentor,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport Museum.
On receiving the award, Whidden remarked, “What a wonderful honor it is to be this year’s Mystic Seaport Museum America and the Sea Award recipient. I join an amazing group of previous recipients who have made incredible contributions in so many different aspects of maritime, sailing, and ocean life. I have spent my life racing sailboats and making products that make those boats perform their best. For me to be recognized alongside other abundantly accomplished previous honorees, for doing what I most love, by the most prominent maritime museum in the United States, is a dream come true.”
Friends and supporters from Nantucket to New York to Florida to Los Angeles joined the virtual event. Tom Whidden was congratulated from around the world with remarks from Jimmy Buffett; New York Yacht Club’s American Magic skipper Terry Hutchinson in New Zealand; Sir Lindsay Owens-Jones, L’Oréal Honorary Chairman and owner of Magic Carpet 3; Peter Dubens, Managing Partner of Oakley Capital and Chairman of North Sails Technology; Christopher J. Culver, Vice Commodore, New York Yacht Club; and Jes Staley, CEO, Barclays.
The virtual event generated $520,284 through sponsorships, single tickets, live and silent auctions, and a virtual paddle-raise appeal. The Museum would like to express a sincere thank you to the gala committee, Board of Trustees, and the myriad supporters who gave in honor of Tom Whidden and to further the mission of Mystic Seaport Museum.
Past recipients of the America and the Sea Award include American businesswoman and philanthropist Wendy Schmidt; groundbreaking America’s Cup sailor Dawn Riley, philanthropist and environmentalist David Rockefeller, Jr.; boat designers Rod and Bob Johnstone and their company J/Boats; author and historian Nathaniel Philbrick; maritime industrialist Charles A. Robertson; Hall of Fame sailor and author Gary Jobson; WoodenBoat Publications founder Jon Wilson; former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman; oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle; America’s Cup sailor William Koch; President and CEO of Crowley Maritime Corporation, Thomas Crowley; historian David McCullough; and legendary yacht designer Olin J. Stephens, II.
Images are available upon request.
Photo caption: (from left) Museum president Steve White, America and the Sea Award honoree Tom Whidden, and Hall of Fame sailor Gary Jobson at the gala on October 23, 2020.
Media Contact
Dan McFadden
Director of Communications
Mystic Seaport Museum
860.572.5317 (o)
860.333.7155 (m) dan.mcfadden@mysticseaport.org/
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org/ and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Mystic, Conn. (September 29, 2020) — A $1,572 grant to Mystic Seaport Museum awarded by Connecticut Humanities will enable the Museum to hold a free online lecture series related to its new exhibition, Sailor Made: Folk Art of the Sea, which brings rarely-seen hand-crafted artifacts from the Museum’s collection to light. Three different speakers – Dr. Hester Blum, Nicolas Fox, and Dr. Nicole Williams – will explore Sailor Made from different perspectives, and encourage participants to dig deeper into the stories of the objects and their creators.
With content geared to adult learners, the lectures will appeal to college students, maritime enthusiasts, and craftspeople.
Dr. Blum’s lecture, “The Inner Lives of Sailors” on October 7, will explore what happens when a place of manual labor becomes a location of creative and intellectual work as well. Dr. Blum is a professor at Penn State University.
In his October 14 talk, “Wish You Were Here,” maritime artist Nicolas Fox will discuss the drawings and illustrations in the exhibition from the creator’s perspective: from their drive to create and share what they saw, to the multitude of materials they used.
Dr. Williams, a recent postdoctoral fellow at Washington University, will discuss how artists, writers, and museum designers of the early twentieth century shaped a lasting image of the American whaling industry as a preindustrial craft practice. Her lecture, “’With loving care he wrought’: Maritime America, Nostalgia, and the Arts and Crafts Movement, 1900-1940,” takes place October 21.
All of the lectures will take place at 1:00 p.m. ET, via Zoom. Registration is required.
“We are thrilled to offer digital programming for adults who wish to continue engaging with humanities content, but who may not be able to travel to the Museum in person right now. The high capacity of Zoom allows us to accommodate more participants from a more diverse geography than we could in person,” said Arlene Marcionette, public programs project manager at Mystic Seaport Museum. “We are grateful for this grant from Connecticut Humanities, which allows us to bring these stories to the public.”
Connecticut Humanities, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, supports cultural and historic organizations that tell the state’s stories, build community and enrich lives.
For more information, or to register for the lecture series, please visit the calendar at www.mysticseaport.org/.
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org/ and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Sailor Made: Folk Art of the Sea Dives Deep into the Museum’s Collection to Explore the Rich and Surprising Creativity of the American Seafarer
Mystic, Conn. (August 28, 2020) — When sailors went to sea in the 19th century, they faced difficult working conditions, cramped personal space onboard ship, and voyages that at times could stretch for months or even years. Sailor Made: Folk Art of the Sea, a new exhibition opening September 18 in the Museum’s C.D. Mallory Building, explores the art that emerged out of this working world, reflecting sailors’ connections to shipboard life, their thoughts about culture on shore, and the souvenirs they created to remember and share the experiences of their travels.
The second of four new exhibitions funded by the Henry Luce Foundation, Sailor Made highlights more than 200 objects from the Museum’s collection, many of which have long been hidden from public view. Each artifact has its own story, and through the work of exhibition curator Mirelle Luecke, Ph.D., much new information has been uncovered about the objects in the show.
“When stuck in the difficult, dangerous, and sometimes monotonous environment of the ship, sailors used art to express themselves. The designs they inscribed on scrimshaw, the types of household items they made, and the ways they used different materials were all intentions, and tell us something about the sailors themselves, their experiences, and the world they lived in,” said Luecke.
These stories show how creating art enabled sailors to differentiate their labor and leisure time in the otherwise all-consuming work environment of the ship.
To do this sailors turned to art, carving scrimshaw, drawing in journals, sewing intricate embroidery, and creating intricate knot-work, to name but a few of the media on display. Highlights include:
Personal items that spoke to sailor-makers professional life and skills, such as knives, needle cases, clothing, and elaborate macramé bags
Household items such as bowls and boxes fashioned out of exotic materials
A child’s hammock decorated with scenes from the circumnavigation voyage of the USS Columbia, made by one shipmate for another
Examples of tattoo flash (sample drawings from which sailors could choose their tattoo)
Numerous pieces of scrimshaw, including engraved teeth, jagging wheels, bodkins, and a knitting swift
A coatrack constructed of narwhal tusks
A cribbage board in the shape of the nuclear submarine USS Hartford
As self-taught artists, sailors engaged with the working world of the ship, imagined their ideal lives on shore, and created objects to commemorate their experiences at sea. This exhibition is a view into the world of the 19th-century sailor, with a few modern examples to show how those impulses and activities continue today in some naval and merchant mariners.
The exhibition is made possible by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support the curation and development of four new collections installations and related programming at Mystic Seaport Museum. These projects will provide new perspectives on the art and ensure the continued preservation and refinement of the collections while also promoting public access.
Access to Sailor Made is included in the Museum’s general admission.
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org/ and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Mystic, Conn. (August 26, 2020) — Mystic Seaport Museum will present its 2020 America and the Sea Award to Tom Whidden, one of the most applauded sailors of all time, member of both the America’s Cup Hall of Fame and the National Sailing Hall of Fame, and president and CEO of North Technology Group, parent company of North Sails. The prestigious award recognizes those individuals and organizations whose extraordinary achievements in the world of maritime exploration, competition, scholarship, and design best exemplify the American character.
Tom Whidden (Click for larger file)
In announcing the honor, Mystic Seaport Museum President Steve White said, “Tom is a perfect fit for this award. Not only does he have a distinguished record as a competitive sailor, but he has also served as an important ambassador for the sport and the maritime community. For young sailors across the country and beyond, he has been a positive role model and mentor.”
Whidden will be honored for his remarkable accomplishments in competitive sailing and his leadership in the design and manufacturing of technologically advanced sails at North Sails.
“I have spent my life racing sailboats and making products that make those boats perform their best. For me to be recognized by the most prominent maritime museum in the United States, for doing what I love most, is a dream come true,” said Whidden.
Whidden’s career soared in 1979 when he joined Dennis Conner for what would become a total of eight America’s Cup campaigns, racing as tactician in five series races and winning three times: 1980, 1987 (regaining the cup after Australia’s 1983 victory), and 1988. He has won the Newport-Bermuda Race five times, and had repeated wins on the European racing circuit.
Following his racing success, Whidden joined North Sails in 1987, building it into the largest sailmaking company in the world, and later becoming CEO and co-owner of North Technology Group. He led North Sails and North Technology Group through decades of evolution from manufacturing paneled sails in a vast network of sail lofts to the current centrally managed, technologically driven, manufacturing system.
In 2004, Whidden was elected to the America’s Cup Hall of Fame “for his brilliance as a tactical advisor, his soundness as a crew organizer, and his mastery of winning in difficult boats under the most demanding conditions.” Most recently, he was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2017.
Mystic Seaport Museum will recognize Whidden’s exceptional career on and off the water by awarding him the America and the Sea Award on Friday, October 23, 2020. The award presentation, special toast to the honoree, auction, paddle raise, and special celebrity appearances will be livestreamed from the Museum beginning at 6:15 p.m. EST.
This affair is the premier fundraising event for Mystic Seaport Museum. Past recipients of the America and the Sea Award include American businesswoman and philanthropist Wendy Schmidt; America’s Cup sailor and trailblazer Dawn Riley; philanthropist and environmentalist David Rockefeller Jr.; celebrated sailors and co-founders of J/Boats, Rod and Bob Johnstone; New York Times best-selling and National Book Award-winning author Nathaniel Philbrick; oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle; former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman; WoodenBoat Publications founder Jon Wilson; yachtsman and author Gary Jobson; maritime industrialist Charles A. Robertson; among other maritime greats.
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org/ and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Mystic, Conn. (August 20, 2020) — In association with its new exhibition, A Way with Wood: Celebrating Craft, Mystic Seaport Museum will host Woodcraft Weekend August 29-30. Independent craftspeople and woodworkers will be spread throughout the Museum grounds displaying their projects and products, and providing demonstrations for visitors.
Participating artisans are:
Woodworkers Guild of Rhode Island – Demonstrating a range of skills from sharpening and squaring a board to relief carving and carving in the round
Tom Lauria – Scratch-built fine scale ship and boat models
Paul Schmitt – Kit and scratch built ship models
Alex Bellinger – Ships in bottles, completed and in progress
Brian Cooper – Demonstrating the creation of a Greenland kayak paddle using all hand tools
Centerbrook Architects & Planners industrial designer and model maker, Patrick McCauley, will be working in the A Way with Wood exhibition, where he will fabricate a chair from the Centerbrook Chairshop. The Chairshop is an in-house program where staff members design and build a chair incorporating diverse materials, construction techniques, and finishes. Chairs from previous classes will be on display, as well as imagery that celebrates the history of the program and its participants.
At 11 a.m., Saturday, the principal designer of the Museum’s Thompson Exhibition Building, Chad Floyd, FAIA, of Centerbrook Architects & Planners, will give a presentation to discuss why and how wood was used in the building’s design. The talk will be in the Masin Room of the Thompson Building. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
All Woodcraft Weekend events and activities are free and included with Museum admission.
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. Mystic Seaport Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. For more information, please visit www.mysticseaport.org/ and follow Mystic Seaport Museum on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
