MV Museum History

March 12, 2019
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New Museum Opens With Quiet Fanfare

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
July 11, 1969
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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 County Historical Society museum on School street in Edgartown.
 
MV Museum History
July 3, 2019

Museum Has Its Grand Opening, Summer-Style

Louisa Hufstader
Fireworks lit up the sky over Vineyard Haven Harbor Saturday night as a finale to the Evening of Discovery gala at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.
Martha's Vineyard Museum
MV Museum History
October 25, 2018

Martha's Vineyard Museum Gets Ready for Its Close-Up

Noah Asimow
The $31 million Martha’s Vineyard Museum restoration project is weeks away from becoming a reality.
Martha's Vineyard Museum
Marine Hospital
MV Museum History
July 5, 2018

History Lives as Museum Prepares for New Chapter

Noah Asimow
Construction is set to finish in September on the new museum campus , the former 19th century marine hospital in Vineyard Haven.
MV Museum History
Marine Hospital
June 30, 2016

Martha's Vineyard Museum Unveils Plans, Launches Capital Campaign

Alex Elvin
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum has entered the home stretch of a major capital campaign to relocate to the former Marine Hospital in Vineyard Haven.
Martha's Vineyard Museum
MV Museum History
September 24, 2015

Saving Logbooks from a Watery Grave

Tom Dunlop
How do you go about fixing a whaling logbook damaged centuries ago by water? It sounds odd, but among the first things an expert might do is soak the afflicted pages in yet more water.
Martha's Vineyard Museum
MV Museum History
December 9, 2014

Giving the Gift of Education; Museum Receives Large Grant to Expand Programs

Ivy Ashe
The Martha's Vineyard Museum has received a $500,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant. “Sometimes you ask for the moon, and you get it,” said museum executive director David Nathans.
Education
Martha's Vineyard Museum
MV Museum History
February 2, 2013

Museum Receives Record Grant to Bring Archives Online

Martha’s Vineyard Museum has received a $293,900 grant to make detailed descriptions of its collections searchable online, museum officials announced this week. The grant is the largest in the museum’s 90 year history, and builds on preservation work that has been supported by Community Preservation grants from five Island towns.
Martha's Vineyard Museum
MV Museum History
June 6, 2011
old hospital

Museum Set to Buy Marine Hospital

Mike Seccombe
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum expects to sign within days a purchase and sales agreement to buy the former Marine Hospital in Vineyard Haven for an undisclosed price. The purchase of the historic property, perched on a hill above the harbor, would mark a major step in the museum’s long quest to find a new home for its historical collections outside of Edgartown. Museum executive director David Nathans said yesterday morning he hoped to have a deal completed by week’s end.
Martha's Vineyard Museum
Marine Hospital
MV Museum History
December 2, 2010
Marine Hospital

Museum Explores a Possible Move to Site of Former Marine Hospital

Lauren Martin
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum has taken an option on the former Marine Hospital in Vineyard Haven, giving the museum’s board until the end of January to decide whether the historic property perched on a hilltop above the harbor could serve as the new home for the Island’s historical collections. The marine hospital went on the market in April with an asking price of $3.19 million.
Marine Hospital
Martha's Vineyard Museum
MV Museum History
June 17, 2010
boat

Gone Whaling: A Child’s Eye View of Life on a Whale Ship

Megan Dooley
“It is Sunday, and a very pleasant day. I have read two story books. This is my journal. Goodbye for today.” So opened six-year-old Laura Jernegan’s journal, in an entry dated Dec. 1, 1868, as she set sail on a three-year sea expedition with her family aboard the whaling vessel Roman.
Martha's Vineyard Museum
MV Museum History
Whaling
August 11, 2008
boats

Anonymous Donor Buys Painting for Island Museum

Sam Bungey
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.
Fishing
Martha's Vineyard Museum
Paintings
MV Museum History
July 27, 1999

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

Mark Alan Lovewell
The Martha’s Vineyard Historical Society doesn’t have a whaling ship for its museum, nor a schooner.
MV Museum History
Martha's Vineyard Museum
Manuel Swartz Roberts

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