MV Museum History

July 11, 1969

Wealth of Treasures Convey Sense of Island’s Rich Past at the Historical Society’s Museum

Phyllis Meras
Hens’ gravestones, a scrimshaw toothpick, a spittoon of General Grant’s, a plank from the Constitution and a spanker for naughty boys are among the many curiosities on display at the Duke’s Count
MV Museum History
March 12, 2019

New Museum Opens With Quiet Fanfare

Noah Asimow
After nearly a decade of planning, two years of construction, over $30 million raised, and the restoration of exactly 1,008 refractors on the Fresnel lens, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum is open to the public in Vineyard Haven.
Martha's Vineyard Museum
MV Museum History

2008

August 14, 2008

Treasure Buried Under Decades of Dust; Denniston Treasures Go to Museum

Alexander Trowbridge
Martha's Vineyard Museum
Denniston House
African American History
MV Museum History
Bradley Memorial Church

Linsey Lee emerged from what was once the Vineyard’s first African American church last week peeling a respirator from her face. By her count, she had spent more than 150 hours in the Bradley Memorial Church in Oak Bluffs, and the mask stood as a shield between her and decades of dust.

August 11, 2008
boats

Anonymous Donor Buys Painting for Island Museum

Sam Bungey
Fishing
Martha's Vineyard Museum
Paintings
MV Museum History

A painting of a well-known Menemsha-based trawler by Heather Neill has been given to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum by an anonymous donor. The eight by four-foot painting, titled Strider’s Surrender, evokes the decline the local fishing industry.

The Quitsa Strider II is owned by respected Island fishermen Jonathan Mayhew. In a move symbolic of the dire state of the local fishing industry, Mr. Mayhew sold his federal permits last year, giving up his license and putting up the vessel itself for sale.

1999

July 27, 1999

Historical Society Makes Headway in Plan to Restore Oscar Pease’s Catboat, Vanity

Mark Alan Lovewell
MV Museum History
Martha's Vineyard Museum
Manuel Swartz Roberts
The Martha’s Vineyard Historical Society doesn’t have a whaling ship for its museum, nor a schooner. Although there is plenty of maritime history connected to the Vineyard, such great vessels would be too much of a burden to maintain. But the historical society does have an attractive old catboat and soon it will sail again.
 

1998

August 21, 1998

Island History Comes Alive in Vineyard Voices

Tom Dunlop
MV Museum History
Martha's Vineyard Museum
Vineyard Voices
Vineyard Voices: Words, Faces and Voices of Island People. Excerpts from Interviews by Linsey Lee. Photographs by Linsey Lee and Mark Lennihan. Martha’s Vineyard: the Martha’s Vineyard Historical Society, 1998. 296 pages. $29.95, soft cover.
 
August 21, 1998

Society Wages Campaign for Lighthouses

Ethan Kelley
MV Museum History
Gay Head Light
Edgartown Light
East Chop Light
Lighthouses
Lighthouses define the character of Martha’s Vineyard. They guide people from land and sea to the same shorelines, sheltering them under beacons of home.
 
Today, the Island’s lighthouses are deteriorating. Bricks are crumbling in the breeze, and iron is flaking away in the salt air. Before long, these landmarks could be reduced to brittle, rotting shells.
 

1990

May 25, 1990

Historical Society Studies Genealogy of the Portuguese

Vineyard Gazette
MV Museum History
Martha's Vineyard Museum
More than 2,000 Portuguese family histories are included in a manuscript being prepared by the Dukes County Historical Society.
 
The document chronicles the arrival of Portuguese immigrants to the Vineyard, particularly the whaling crews recruited in the Azores and Cape Verde in the 19th century. It includes mention of approximately 7,000 individuals and 2,350 families, whose descendents today make up a significant portion of the Island’s year-round population.
 

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