Mystic Seaport is home to one of the most important collections in American maritime history, including some 75,000 objects, 500 watercraft, 1+ million photographs, 70,000 imprints, and 1.5 million feet of film.
News
An article in the Nov/Dec issue of Woodenboat details the Ships Plans Collection website and expanded listings.
Mystic Seaport Podcasts rated #2 of Top 10 Museum Podcasts. See MuseumPods.com.
The Salem Crew Lists are now online!
New Books from Collections
Flying the Colors: The Unseen Treasures of Ninetenth-Century American Marine Art
J. E. Buttersworth: 19th-Century Marine Painter
Regular Edition
Deluxe Edition
The Collections at Mystic Seaport: A History
On a brisk day in late December of 1929 Carl C. Cutler, Edward Bradley, and Dr. Charles K. Stillman met in the parlor of the Doctor's snug home on Greenmanville Avenue in Mystic. The three came together to establish a new maritime museum now known - world wide - as Mystic Seaport. All three gentlemen shared a common concern regarding the accelerating loss of irreplaceable art and objects connected with America's once vibrant maritime past.
Their foresight in preserving these objects was the genesis of the now unsurpassed collections at Mystic Seaport. Included among these collections are unique as well as famously representative examples of American maritime art, ephemera, nautical instruments, ship models, scrimshaw, industrial fishing gear, furniture, whaling implements, and the myriad tools of the various maritime trades. In addition, significant examples of nautical folk art, decorative arts, nautical trophies, textiles, marine engines, ships figureheads, twentieth century maritime electronic innovations, historic buildings, and much much more are now preserved at Mystic Seaport.
This important collection is the focus of much of the Museum's educational programming and is specifically administered by Mystic Seaport's Curatorial staff who are responsible for new acquisitions as well as for cataloging, preserving and, equally important, for providing information and access to these remarkable American maritime objects.