The New Bedford Whaling Museum seeks to advance understanding related to the influence of the whaling industry and the port of New Bedford on the history, economy, ecology, arts, and cultures of the region, the nation and the world. We will expand our capacity to tell the stories of the many diverse communities that shared in the creation of this history, through excellence in our collections, scholarship, and all forms of public engagement.

In doing so the Museum hope to be recognized as a compelling destination that inspires all visitors to reflect on the complex issues that shaped the past, remain critical today, and inform a sustainable future.

The New Bedford Whaling Museum was founded in 1903. This Museum’s rich history reveals an intimate relationship with the communities it serves. Motivated by civic pride and a desire to preserve the artifacts and narratives of the region, the museum was founded by the children of the progenitors of the American whaling industry.

The Old Dartmouth Historical Society was established “to create and foster an interest in the history of Old Dartmouth (now the City of New Bedford, Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven and Westport, MA). This area incorporates more than 185 square miles with a population exceeding 180,000. Today, members hail from many more communities.

The steady growth of its collection, programming, membership and physical plant illustrate the museum’s relevancy to these communities. A touchstone to the region’s past, the museum has evolved as a crossroads through which diverse communities intersect, conveying their rich cultures. The Museum can claim many superlatives amongst its holdings including the world’s largest: library of whaling logbooks, prints, journals; collection of scrimshaw; Japanese whaling art and literature outside of Japan; Dutch Old Master marine paintings in the New World.

The Museum’s complete coverage of 19th and 20th century whaling technology makes it a global center for scholarly research. The Museum is home to the world’s largest ship model, Lagoda, a half-scale whale ship built in 1916 by the aging shipwrights of New Bedford’s famed fleet. The Museum displays four species of complete whale skeletons, including a Blue whale, the world’s largest mammal plus a mother and fetus of the highly endangered Northern Atlantic Right whale.

The magnitude of the collection was a critical factor in the establishment in 1996 of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, in which the Museum played a primary role. The Museum also takes great pride in its docents and volunteers who, like the founders, are united in their civic pride, sense of place and esprit de corps. The Museum’s longevity has burnished its mission as a historical and cultural treasury. A keeper of the region’s collective memory, the Museum preserves communal engrams, memory traces of the many communities that settled in this port. The Museum teaches lessons relevant to the pressing global issues of today, including the consequences of natural resource exhaustion, the diversification of industry, and tolerance in a multicultural society.

The Museum serves its community first and foremost, but welcomes an ever-growing number of national and international visitors. As the region’s first purpose-built historical attraction, the museum continues as an original ambassador for the community. Through its educational programs and activities, the Museum looks to the future by engaging children, teaching that they are part of the fabric of the community, critical to its growth, and destined to be a chapter in its history.

The Museum is a forum for whale and now fishing conservation, research and symposia. Its cultural outreach extends around the world, with close ties to Japan, Portugal and the Iñupiat people at the Arctic Circle. The role the New Bedford Whaling Museum will play in its second century is no less critical than that of one hundred years ago. In doing so, the Museum will be recognized as a compelling destination that inspires all visitors to reflect on the complex issues that shaped the past, remain critical today, and inform, aiming for sustainable blue growth for tomorrow.

They have collaborated with Mystic Seaport in the production of a website about Whaling History.

CONTACTS

New Bedford Whaling Museum

18 Johnny Cake Hill

New Bedford

MA 02740-6398

Tel. (508) 997-0046 

Fax: (508) 997-0018

Library Fax: (508) 207-1064


Administration

President and Chief Executive Officer, Amanda D. McMullen AMcMullen@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x111

Visitor Services

Visitor Experience Manager, Kelly Corralejo kcorralejo@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x102

Visitor Services Desk frontdesk@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046

Group Tours grouptours@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x185

Rentals and Special Events

Rentals and Events specialevents@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 717-6833

Education

Director of Education, Christina Turner cturner@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x186

Director of Education and Science Programs, Robert Rocha rrocha@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x149

Director of Digital Initiatives, Michael Lapides mlapides@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x131

Manager of Young Adult Programs, Phoebe Magee pmagee@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x187

Volunteer and School Programs Manager, Brittany Taylor btaylor@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x185

Project Coordinator: Lighting the Way, Catherine Saunders csaunders@education.whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x188

Education Programs education@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x185

General Education Inquiries education@whalingmuseum.org

Group Tours grouptours@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x185

Field Trips grouptours@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x185

Curatorial and Collections

The Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Chair for the Chief Curator, Christina Connett Brophy, Ph.D. cconnettbrophy@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x129

Director of Collections, Jordan Berson jberson@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x145

Curator of Maritime History, Michael P. Dyer mdyer@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x137

Curator of Social History, Akeia de Barros Gomes, Ph.D. agomes@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x153

Curatorial Assistant, Emma Rocha erocha@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x159

Photo Archive Department photoresearch@whalingmuseum.org

Library, Research Inquiries

Librarian, Mark Procknik mprocknik@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x134

Assistant Librarian, Cecelia Tavares ctavares@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x130

Research Questions research@whalingmuseum.org

Development, Membership

Director of Philanthropy, Emily Mead emead@whalingmuseum.org (508) 997-0046 x150

Membership Questions development@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x146

Communications & Marketing

Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Tina Malott tmalott@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x140

Programs and Events Manager, Joclyne Nunes jnunes@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x135

Marketing Manager, Gayle P. Hargreaves ghargreaves@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x139

Web Designer, Sarah Mink smink@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x117

Graphic Designer, Amanda Quintin aquintin@whalingmuseum.org

Museum Store

Visitor Experience Manager, Kelly Corralejo kcorralejo@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x102

Finance, Human Resources

Chief Administrative Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Michelle Taylor mtaylor@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x126

Accounting Manager, Kayleigh Almeida kalmeida@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x141

Accounting & HR Assistant, Ciera Arruda carruda@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x141

Operations

Operations Foreman, John Silva jsilva@whalingmuseum.org, (508) 997-0046 x125

LINKS & REFERENCE

http://melville.dk/
https://sites.williams.edu/searchablesealit/

https://www.whalingmuseum.org/
https://whalinghistory.org/
https://mysticseaport.org/

Herman Melville was the author of a novel about a way of life that we'd now consider an illegal activity, the commercial hunting of whales for oil and meat, using harpoons.

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