Participating in the program’s Grand Finale Weekend, the Whaling Museum is one of more than 25 major museums and attractions in Massachusetts to open free of charge on a designated Friday during the summer.

Selected volunteers are invited to participate in a 10 week training course at the Museum, held Wednesday mornings throughout the fall beginning in early September. Prospective volunteers are asked to fill out an application available at http://www.whalingmuseum.org/volunteer/index.html (dates of course to be determined). Volunteers are not required to have previous knowledge about whales, the whaling industry or the history of New Bedford. During the course they will receive material covering all pertinent information.

Address all questions and comments to:

Brian Witkowski
Education Programs Assistant
18 Johnny Cake Hill
New Bedford, MA 02740
Tel (508) 997-0046 ext 185
Fax (508) 717-6883
bwitkowski@whalingmuseum.org

Louisa M. of Rochester, docent for 2 years: “One of the most rewarding experiences I have had since retiring from teaching has been volunteering for the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Being new to the area, this opportunity has given me a wonderful perspective on the South Coast and the rich history of this part of the state. The volunteer work is not just rewarding but is also a learning experience. Each time I am in, I learn something new or interesting from the other docents/volunteers, staff, and the wonderful visitors to our museum. I have also made some great new friends. I would highly recommend volunteering for the museum.”

Place-Based Learning connects students to their immediate surroundings and heritage. This method, sometimes called “pedagogy of place” allows individuals to teach and learn through observation and doing, using personally relevant resources as the context for their academic growth.

Place-Based Learning brings forth several questions. How does Place-Based Learning compare to other models of teaching? Is it the best method to reach today’s youth? How do we evaluate its effectiveness? Can informal learning centers be leaders in the creation and promotion of effective Place-Based Learning programs?

In an effort to explore best practices by leading educational and cultural institutions nationwide, the New Bedford ECHO Project invites proposals for presentations and papers on Place-Based Learning to be delivered at a symposium held in New Bedford, MA on December 1-3, 2010.

The symposium will focus on four main themes:

• Leveraging regional success stories on a national scale
• Successful Place-Based Learning programs and partnerships
• How standardization of the current educational system creates disparities in the educational attainment of native/underserved/minority students
• Value and shortcomings of Place-Based Learning including assessment and evaluation

The New Bedford ECHO Project (NBEP), a combined effort from the New Bedford Whaling Museum and the New Bedford Ocean Explorium, works locally with the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, and our ECHO partners in Alaska, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Mississippi to address the educational needs of our respective populations. Through its focus on history, culture, arts and environment the NBEP, allows students and educators alike to engage in a variety of content and context based teaching and learning opportunities. Examples include the Whaling Museum’s popular history, language arts and culture based school programs, the Ocean Explorium’s Enviro-Lab, which allows school and youth groups a chance to go out into Buzzard’s Bay for hands-on research and the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park’s “From Hampton to New Bedford: A Network of Freedom” program which is a set of curriculum-based activities and materials that brings the story of the Underground Railroad to life.

Submissions should broadly fit into one or more of the above themes. Presentations should be submitted as an article for review and publication in symposium proceedings. All submissions should follow the style outlined in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001, 5th edition).

Submit proposals to: Sara Meirowitz c/o New Bedford ECHO Project at 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA 02740. Web: www.whalingmuseum.org. Proposals should be submitted in abstract form (less than 100 words) and are due by August 31, 2010. Honoraria and travel stipends may be available.

Sponsored by the New Bedford ECHO Project and the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park

ECHO (Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations) is a major, federally funded educational and cultural enrichment initiative, administered by U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement. Locally, the New Bedford ECHO Project is a unique collaboration between the New Bedford Whaling Museum and the New Bedford Ocean Explorium. Initiatives include cultural exchanges, collections sharing, internship and apprentice programs, and ocean learning activities.

Come visit the Whaling Museum for the last All Hands On program of the summer! Docents will be available to answer questions, read stories (upon request) and encourage children to touch, smell, and see the various objects related to whales and whaling that our sea chests hold!

Regular admission required

Learn how to make Sailors’ Valentines, traditional gifts whalemen gave their wives and sweethearts upon returning from a voyage.  Take your valentine home as a keepsake.

Date: Thursday, August 5, 2010
Start Time: 10:00 am End Time: 12:00 pm

Please check out their blog page http://museumgreenhands.wordpress.com/ to follow some of their activities over the past five weeks, and to find out what will happen for the rest of the month.

A musical celebration of all things nautical, presented in honor of Herman Melville’s birthday. The program includes Malcolm Arnold’s Three Shanties, George Chadwick’s Three Sea Sketches, hornpipes (sailor’s dances) from Water Music by George Frederic Handel, as well as music of Scott Joplin, a hot tango by Astor Piazzolla, and a medley of George M. Cohan’s greatest hits.

Friday, July 30, 5:00 pm:
Melville Society free public lecture: Discovering Whales, Petroglyphs, and Moby-Dick on the Olympic Peninsula in June 2008, with Robert K. Wallace

This illustrated talk will highlight some of the discoveries Robert Wallace made on the Makah Indian Reservation of the Olympic Peninsula during a two-week trip with landscape painter Kevin Muente. Wallace will emphasize his encounters with gray whales, a humpback whale, and ancient Ozette petroglyphs in a sequence of events that brought Melville’s Moby-Dick to life before his very eyes. Robert K. Wallace is a founder of the Melville Society Cultural Project at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  He is author of Melville and Turner, Frank Stella’s Moby-Dick, and Douglass and Melville. He has taught Literature and the Arts at Northern Kentucky University since 1972

Saturday, July 31, 10am-2pm
HERMAN MELVILLE FAMILY DAY

You’re Invited to a whale of a party celebrating Herman Melville’s birthday! It features free activities for kids 12 years and younger on the plaza and in selected galleries. The day includes music by the Sea Chantey Chorus, art projects, historical characters, story readings, fun learning activities, kids art show, and birthday cake.

Ongoing activities:
Make whale hats, bookmarks & whale magnets
See the new 15-minute film, Around the World!
Take a new iPod tour
Story readings: pop-up kids’ Moby-Dick, and The Whale and the Snail
Kids’ Art Show
Hourly drawings to win family membership

(NEW BEDFORD, MA) – Robert K. Wallace will present “Discovering Whales, Petroglyphs, and Moby-Dick on the Olympic Peninsula in June 2008” on Friday, July 30 at 5:00 p.m. in the museum theater.

Free and open to the public, this illustrated talk will highlight some of the discoveries Robert Wallace made on the Makah Indian Reservation of the Olympic Peninsula during a two-week trip with landscape painter Kevin Muente.  Wallace will emphasize his encounters with gray whales, a humpback whale, and ancient Ozette petroglyphs in a sequence of events that brought Melville’s Moby-Dick to life before his very eyes.

Robert K. Wallace is a founder of the Melville Society Cultural Project at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  He is author of Melville and Turner, Frank Stella’s Moby-Dick, and Douglass and Melville. He has taught Literature and the Arts at Northern Kentucky University since 1972.

For more information, contact:

Arthur Motta
Director, Marketing & Communications
(508) 997-0046, ext. 153
amotta@whalingmuseum.org

A day packed with fun for families & kids, 12yrs. and younger

Herman Melville Family Day will feature many free activities for children 12 years and younger on the plaza and in selected galleries from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to celebrate Herman Melville’s 191st birthday. The event features music performed by members of the New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus, art projects, historical characters, story readings, fun learning activities, kids art show, and a birthday cake, too.

Ongoing activities include making whale hats, whale tail bookmarks and whale magnets. A new 15-minute film, Around the World!, will play throughout the day in the Cook Memorial Theater and the museum’s new iPod tours will also make their public debut. Story reading in the whale galleries will include a pop-up children’s version of Moby-Dick, and The Whale and the Snail. A children’s art show in the Jacobs Family Gallery will include art awards in several categories. Hourly drawings to win a family membership to the Whaling Museum will also be given.

Special activities are scheduled throughout the day. From 10:00 a.m. to noon, kids can make their own floatable toy model of Cap’n Ahab’s ship, the Pequod. Wading pools on the plaza will allow even the youngest shipwrights to test their vessel’s seaworthiness before they take them home. At 11:00 a.m., a kids’ poetry workshop will be offered. At 11:30 a.m. whaling wives, Ruth and Abby from the 1840s, will visit with children. At noon, the museum’s youth apprentices will lead a special sperm whale activity. From 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., kids can paint a large whale statue to look like Moby Dick.

At 1:30 p.m., members of the New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus will perform toe-tapping tunes from Melville’s day and other fun favorites. At 2:00 p.m., the Chorus will belt out a timber-shivering rendition of Happy Birthday, with kids of all ages invited to join in the singing, and enjoy a slice of birthday cake.  Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Herman Melville Family Day is hosted by the Museum’s education department in partnership with the Melville Society Cultural Project, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

“Discovering Whales, Petroglyphs, and Moby-Dick on the Olympic Peninsula in June 2008”

New Bedford Whaling Museum Theater, Friday, July 30, 5 – 6 p. m.

Admission Free

By Robert K. Wallace

This illustrated talk will highlight some of the discoveries Robert Wallace made on the Makah Indian Reservation of the Olympic Peninsula during a two-week trip with landscape painter Kevin Muente. Wallace will emphasize his encounters with gray whales, a humpback whale, and ancient Ozette petroglyphs in a sequence of events that brought Melville’s Moby-Dick to life before his very eyes.

Robert K. Wallace is a founder of the Melville Society Cultural Project at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. He is author of Melville and Turner, Frank Stella’s Moby-Dick, and Douglass and Melville. He has taught Literature and the Arts at Northern Kentucky University since 1972 and is a past president of the Melville Society.