To provide greater access to museum exhibits and programs to ALL Door County residents, Door County Maritime Museum (DCMM) is excited to announce a new partnership with the Door County Library. DCMM family membership cards are now available for checkout for anyone with a library card at all branches of the Door County Library system.

The passes allow families (two adults plus children under 17) to visit the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, the Death’s Door Maritime Museum in Gills Rock, and the Cana Island Lighthouse in Baileys Harbor. They are ready for checkout starting July 1 at all eight Door County libraries, called “Door Access Pass.” The passes are checked out like other library items and are good for five days, and then left at the museum site. No holds will be allowed on the passes.

There are eight Door County Library branches: Baileys Harbor, Egg Harbor, Ephraim, Fish Creek, Forestville, Sister Bay/Liberty Grove, Sturgeon Bay and Washington Island. The library in Sturgeon Bay also houses the Miller Art Museum. Each branch of the library has copies of the new DCMM magazine The Beacon available in their magazine section. The museum also donated eight copies of the Journal of Cana Island Lightstation to the Door County libraries.

This new initiative combines with several other DCMM programs designed to increase accessibility to the exhibits and collections of the Museum for visitors and local residents. DCMM joins a large coalition of museums nationwide making a broad commitment to seek, include and welcome all audiences.

Mystic Seaport Museum announces it will be hauling its 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan for routine maintenance and preservation work on Monday, July 19.

The ship will be moved from its berth on the Museum’s waterfront to the shipyard at the south end of the property. The public is invited to watch as the ship is pushed and towed down the river beginning around 3:30 p.m. Once at the shipyard, staff will haul the Morgan out of the water on the yard’s synchronized shiplift and then move it onto dry land so the Museum’s shipwrights can access the hull for work. The Museum hauls the ship approximately every 3 years for inspection, maintenance such as painting and caulking, and repairs as needed.

“This is a rare opportunity to see an historic vessel such as the Charles W. Morgan high and dry, where one can walk right up and see the shape and details of the hull, which is normally invisible under the water,” said Peter Armstrong, the president of Mystic Seaport Museum.

The ship should be out of the water for about a month and will remain open to the public to go on board during much of that time.

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) Board of Directors is excited and proud to announce that the Museum has earned national accreditation from the prestigious American Alliance of Museums (AAM). 

To reach this important goal, the Museum spent three years working toward its AAM accreditation by improving its processes and procedures, organizing collections and other policies, completing an extensive 

year-long self-study report and application, writing a new 5-Year Strategic Plan, and undergoing a novel “virtual” site visit by a team of museum peer reviewers. Once SBMM had submitted all of its documents 

and the visiting committee had completed its report, AAM’s Accreditation Commission, an independent body of museum professionals, awarded the Museum a full 10-year accreditation at its annual meeting June 17-18.

According to Evan Richardson, Chair of the AAM Accreditation Commission, “This means the museum meets National Standards and Best Practices for U.S. Museums and joins a community of institutions that have chosen to hold themselves publicly accountable to excellence. Through a rigorous process of self-assessment and review by its peers, the museum has shown itself to be a good steward of its resources held in the public trust and committed to a philosophy of continual institutional growth.” Of 33,000 museums in the United States, only 1,069 are currently accredited.

Richardson went on to say, “We commend the museum for its educational programming and project-based learning approach, as well as efforts to widen its audience to reach Title 1 schools in the county. The Navigators Circle program and the Code of Ethics can serve as interesting models for other institutions. “ 

With this AAM accreditation, SBMM can now join the ranks of some of the most prominent museums in the United States, such as Colonial Williamsburg, the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, and the San Diego Museum of Art; and as a result, the Museum will now be able to attract more new exhibits from across the country.

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is pleased to offer the public a chance to be a part of history and join CBMM shipwrights this fall as they build Maryland Dove, a reproduction of the vessel that accompanied the first European settlers to Maryland in 1634.  

Scheduled for Saturdays Aug. 21, Oct. 16, Nov. 13, and Dec. 18, from 10am–4pm, guests are invited to CBMM’s working Shipyard to hone their woodworking skills while helping to craft pieces of the new Maryland Dove. Currently under construction at CBMM, the vessel is owned by the state of Maryland and operated and maintained by Historic St. Mary’s City. To learn more about the project, visit marylanddove.org. 

Projects will include the construction of the interior cabin doors, the grated hatch cover, and the binnacle. The cost to participate in any of these workdays is $55, with a 20% discount offered to CBMM members. For additional details and to register, visit cbmm.org/shipyardprograms.  

he USS Constitution Museum is the winner in the “Historic Sites & Tours” category for Boston Parents’ Family Favorites. It is the fourth year in a row that the Museum has received this award from the readers of Boston Parents Paper.

The USS Constitution Museum is honored to receive this recognition in a field with so many other dynamic sites and tours including Fenway Park, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Plimoth Patuxet Museums, and Old Sturbridge Village.

All winners will be featured in Boston Parents Paper’s August 2021 issue.

Boston Parents’ Family Favorites gives readers in Greater Boston and throughout the Northeast a chance to voice their opinions on their personal family favorites in 100 categories. Voting is conducted in a two-round process: the first round gathers open write-in nominations and the second round asks voters to select their favorite from the top nominees in each category.

“We are thrilled to receive this award for the fourth year in a row,” said Anne Grimes Rand, USS Constitution Museum President & CEO. “The USS Constitution Museum educates and entertains families from Boston and beyond, sharing the stories of ‘Old Ironsides’ through hands-on exhibits and engaging experiences.”

The USS Constitution Museum was also recently ranked #5 in USA Today’s 2021 10Best Readers’ Choice travel awards in the category of “Best History Museum.” In a highly competitive category of top museums from around the United States, online votes determined the winners from a group of 20 initial nominees. The Museum was the sole nominee and winner in this category from New England.

The USS Constitution Museum is open daily from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

The Museum also continues to offer virtual content and engaging digital experiences to visitors at home. It recently launched the online exhibit Join the Crew, based on the award-winning in-person exhibit All Hands on Deck. Join the Crew is an immersive, research-based online experience that integrates humanities themes with dynamic interactive elements for a virtual audience. The exhibit uses artifact imagery, video shorts, games, quizzes, and at-home activities to explore the lives of real USS Constitution crew members and their families during the War of 1812. This online exhibit has been made possible by a National Endowment for the Humanities: CARES Act Grant.

The Museum also offers digital visitors A Sailor’s Life for Me, an award-winning dynamic game and educator resource that gives people of all ages a chance to step into the shoes of an 1812 sailor. Additional content, such as videos, blog posts, collection highlights, are available through the Virtual Museum’s social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and the website usscm.org.

Registrations for both the onsite AASLH conference this September in Little Rock and the virtual conference in October are now open on our website. Both conferences focus on the theme of Doing History/Doing Justice, and each event will offer thought-provoking session, inspiring keynotes, and opportunities to network and brainstorm with history people from around the country. Early bird registration ends August 6! Read more.

On July 15th, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs invite you to a Blue Beacon Series discussion about the future of large Marine Protected Areas.As Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument celebrates its 15th anniversary,  we reflect upon the role that its designation played in the movement to establish large-scale marine protected areas. The upcoming Blue Beacon Series event juxtaposes Papahānaumokuākea with other large MPAs for a discussion of the past and present of collaborative conservation. We invite you to join us on Facebook Live or livestreamed on our website at 7:00pm ET/1:00pm HT!

RSVP Today!

Our distinguished panel will discuss how Papahānaumokuākea was a catalyst of the movement to establish large-scale marine protected areas around the world, highlight the importance of integrative approaches to ocean management, and describe their vision for the future of ocean protection:Aulani Wilhelm, Senior Vice President for Oceans at Conservation InternationalAtuatasi Lelei Peau, Acting Superintendent for the National Marine Sanctuary of American SamoaKeola Lindsay, Hawai`i Island Trustee, Office of Hawaiian AffairsFind biographies of our speakers on our website.

The National Museum of the Great Lakes is excited to announce the July 16th opening of our first in-house, temporary exhibit in 2021 titled Jim Hoffman: The Photographic Life of Toledo’s Original Boatnerd featuring the Great Lakes vessel photography of the late Jim Hoffman. Please see the attached Press Release with additional details. 
Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions. You can also find additional information at nmgl.org and via our Facebook Event here.

As many of the children and parents who have participated in SBMM’s Spirit of Dana Point Tall Ship program know, Richard Henry Dana was a Massachusetts-born writer and lawyer, who was descended from America’s earliest settlers, and in many ways, “The classic book, Two Years Before the Mast, is his coming-of-age story,” according to Professor Rick Kennedy of Point Loma Nazarene University. “More than any other port mentioned in Richard Henry Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast, Santa Barbara opened the author to a wider world than he had ever imagined and to more diverse populations than he knew in Boston.”

Find out more about “The Education of Richard Henry Dana Jr. in Santa Barbara,” with Professor Kennedy on Thursday, July 15 at 7pm PDT. This informative lecture will give listeners a  glimpse into a past of sailing, hide-gathering, what Santa Barbara was like in 1835-1836, who lived here then, who Dana crewed and worked with, and how his voyage and visit to Santa Barbara changed him. The webinar is free, but registration is required at: https://sbmm.org/santa-barbara-event/the-education-of-richard-henry-dana-jr/
History Professor Rick Kennedy, who received his PhD from UCSB teaches California History and from 2003-2017, he taught a summer school sailing course in California history, in which he and students sailed up the coast and through the islands reading Two Years Before the Mast!

Mystic Seaport Museum announces it is participating in Connecticut’s Summer at the Museum program, which offers free admission to resident children and one accompanying adult from July 1 to September 6.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced the program at a press conference at the Connecticut Science Center on Wednesday. The program is part of the Governor’s plan to use recovery funds to provide students and families engaging educational and enrichment experiences in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are grateful to Gov. Lamont and the state legislators for making this program possible and enabling us to welcome to our Museum many who might not otherwise be able to afford admission in these challenging times,” said Peter Armstrong, president of Mystic Seaport Museum. ”After a traumatic year where children were cooped up in front of a computer screen, we are pleased to be able to offer an outdoors learning experience, where they can be outside, go for a boat ride, and learn new things — but most important, get out in the fresh air and have fun with their family.” 

The offer is available to all Connecticut children ages 18 and younger, plus one accompanying adult. To be eligible, families must be Connecticut residents. Participants are asked to fill out a brief form online to order their free admission tickets in advance of their visit. They can do that by visiting Mysticseaport.org/CTKidsFree.

Please note the free admission offer is not available during The WoodenBoat Show, August 20-22.

Included in admission is the Museum’s newest exhibition, A Spectacle in Motion: The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World. The Panorama, which is owned and conserved by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, is the longest painting in North America at more than 1250 feet long and recreates the experience of a whaling voyage of the 1840s. It depicts the story of whaling and the cultural ties born of that global industry.

Mystic Seaport Museum is one of the five leading attractions in the state to participate. The others are the Mystic Aquarium, the Beardsley Zoo, the Connecticut Science Center, and the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. For a complete list of all participating museums, please visit CTVisit.com.