Library & Archives

New Library Exhibit

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When the Civil War began, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the southern coastline along the Atlantic and in Gulf of Mexico to interrupt vital flows of supplies to the Confederacy. More than five hundred ships manned by one hundred thousand sailors served on the blockade by the end of the war. Through its sheer size and objectives, the blockade became one of the most extraordinary undertakings by the U.S. Navy.

Be sure to stop by the Library and check out our new exhibit, “Blockaders and Blockade Runners: The Union Blockade during the Civil War,” which highlights the people, ships, and events that made the blockade the scene of dynamic action throughout the Civil War. The exhibit opens on January 9, 2012 and will run through May 2012.

Library & Archives

Secrets in the Stacks, November 2

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Celestial Map of the Southern Hemisphere

Join us at the Library at noon on November 2 for this month’s Secrets in the Stacks.

Library Director Mary Sellen will discuss the 1660 atlasHarmoniaMacrocosmicaby Andreas Cellarius. The presentation will focus on the 20 maps from this title that are in the Library’s collections. Topics will include cosmology, geography, printing, and art. Be sure to stop by and see another spectacular item from our collections. While you’re here, check out our current exhibitThe Intersection of Art and Science, which features a few of the celestial maps from Cellarius’ atlas.Read more

Library & Archives

新图书馆展览!

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The Library’sinaugural exhibit “Keepers of the Sea: Logbooks from The Mariners’ Museum Library” has opened in our new exhibit area.

“Keepers of the Sea” comprises logbooks and artifacts highlighting the library’s vast collection of records from various ships throughout the 18thto 20thcenturies. The exhibit uses the logbooks to narrate experiential aspects of life at sea, including family life, whaling, and the trials of sailing. It also illustrates the many ways in which logbooks and journals allowed for technical documentation, diary-style writing, mapping, painting and drawing, charting, and record of correspondence.Read more

Library & Archives

Australian National Maritime Museum

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I have been absent from these pages for some time, in large part due to a once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit the continent of Australia. It was a magnificent trip, and going there is well worth your time, effort and wherewithal should you get the opportunity.

Part of the trip was spent in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales and an extraordinary city by any measure. While there, I had the great pleasure to get a tour of the United States Gallery of theAustralian National Maritime Museum. Paul Hundley, curator of the gallery, has been in Sydney for 18 years, being a native of Minnesota and having worked at a TMM sister institution, thePeabody Essex Museumin Salem, MA. He gave me a great tour of the gallery.Read more