Behind the Scenes

Museums like the Mariners’ strive to offer visitors a range of enriching and diverse experiences—by regularly changing exhibitions, by showing loaned exhibitions from other institutions, by a myriad of special events, by supporting it all with a comprehensive library—and with well-stocked gift shops and lively in-house cafés. And yet, for most museums, it is the permanent collections that are their greatest strength and their most valued community asset. In this respect, The Mariners’ Museum is genuinely blessed.

The permanent collections of 'objects' include over 5,100 fittings and pieces of equipment from ships of all types, over 500 weapons and armament items, and nearly 1,800 items used for shipboard navigation, communications, or scientific observation. In recognition of the creativity of sailors, the collections include over 3,500 'decorative' items, nearly 500 carvings, and 2,000 ship models. It also includes over 2,600 pieces of ephemera. The small craft collection includes 144 craft of all types from over 20 countries. Over 3,700 wonderful paintings grace the collections, as well as over 10,000 artistic works on paper. The Library collections include more than 78,000 books, journals, and pamphlets, and over 1,000,000 manuscript items! It includes 5,000 maps and charts, 65,000 plans and drawings, 700 volumes of newspaper clippings, and over 400 ships’ logbooks. The photography collection includes more than 600,000 photographs and images that span the history of the medium.

Obviously, the Museum can exhibit only a small part of these collections—only about 3% of the 'objects' are on view at any point in time, and an infinitesimal percentage of the works-on-paper, library holdings, and photographs. The rest are held behind the scenes in storage and are generally available only to researchers. But these collections are just as critical to the Museum’s health and institutional flexibility as the objects on exhibition, and are essential to supporting research into the maritime heritage of all the peoples of the world. They also allow the Museum to refresh the galleries, by rotating items on display with others held in reserve, and by replacing exhibited items sent out on loan to other institutions. In a very real sense, the objects behind the scenes are the Museum’s strength-in-reserve—and the collections in the Library hold the key to understanding them all!

But having a significant part of the collections in storage or in the stacks means that many worthy objects are not regularly shown—are not readily accessible to or seen by visitors. To open the door to these treasures—to share the magic of these collections with discerning members—the archivists and curators, and the Bronze Door Society, presents regular Behind-the-Scenes events.

Some of the things in the collections have never been on display. Some have not been seen for decades. Even members who pride themselves on knowing the Museum will see things that will surprise and delight them. And, everyone will gain a clearer sense of the fullness and richness of the collections, both seen and behind the scenes.

Every object that is behind the scenes has a story to tell—stories about its creation, its relevance, and how it came to be at The Mariners’ Museum. Connecting all these stories are the larger themes of Behind-the-Scenes. One theme deals with the collections themselves—the who, what, when, where, and why of every item and how it came to be part of the finest collection of maritime-related material in the Western Hemisphere. Another theme focuses on the efforts of the Museum staff, how they quietly work behind the scenes to protect and preserve, to interpret, and to help others more fully understand the items under their care.

In 2010, we are proud to offer two diverse looks Behind-the-Scenes at The Mariners’ Museum. The staff will join us for “wine and cheese” after each event and you will have an additional opportunity to talk with them.

On March 24, Bronze Door Society members will tour the new artifact storage area that has been installed in the former library spaces and also tour the maritime art collection. Among the nearly 1,300 paintings in the storage area are works by Robert Salmon, James Buttersworth, Samuel Walters, Fitz H. Lane, Antonio Jacobson, and the Bard brothers. Museum curators and archivists will conduct the tour, and will join the group for refreshments and discussion afterwards.

On August 4, Bronze Door Society members will tour the creative, new Education facilities that are located in the former Museum gift shop. The facility includes three interactive video conferencing (IVC) studios and members will have the opportunity to observe an active IVC program being presented to an off-site group.

In addition to Behind-the-Scenes, we will resume offering an in-depth look at selected treasures of the Library, which are normally also behind the scenes in the Library stacks. This monthly Secrets in the Stacks program will be held at noon on the first Wednesday of each month, starting on April 7. The Library staff will select, and have available for your viewing pleasure, rare and unusual documents, charts and maps, drawings, books, atlases, ship’s logs, and other works-on-paper.