A humpback whale caught at Icy Cape in August 1912 with the crew who made the strike.

This comprehensive multimedia presentation, developed with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, ECHO (Education Through Cultural and Historical Organizations) funding, and the generous contributions of Museum supporters, forms a new focal point for visitors experiencing the Whaling Museum. From Pursuit to Preservation guides visitors through the story of humankind’s evolving relationship with whales, from the whale as a source of survival and symbolic power, through to its exploitation for commercial wealth, to the first gropings toward scientific inquiry and contemporary methods of observation and study.

Whalebone processing in the yard of Pacific Steam Whaling Company

From ancient times, people have used the meat, oil, and bone of whales as important resources for their communities. The whale’s importance to humans’ physical well-being often fostered a symbolic cultural connection, a relationship that took many forms throughout the centuries and continues to evolve in contemporary art, literature, and popular culture. In From Pursuit to Preservation, the Whaling Museum takes visitors on a journey across time and around the world, using many items from its vast collection including unique maritime artifacts and art, photographs and whale skeletons as well as a listening station, digital picture frames, and thought-provoking interpretive signs to involve visitors in the discovery of the symbolic, spiritual, and cultural connections we share with these majestic and increasingly endangered animals.

Floating-Factory Ship THORSHAMMER with whales along side, circa 1928

Humans’ complex relationship with whales is told from the early harvesting of beached whales to the development of watercraft and weapons specifically to pursue the animals at sea. Once demand grew, an industry was born to hunt and process whales for the oil that would light the world for three centuries and the baleen that was the plastic of that age. While the Dutch and English led the way in the creation of this industry, by the early 19^th century, the United States, led by New Bedford, had the most productive whaling industry in the world. As the success of the industry began to threaten the survival of whales, new technologies made their oil less vital. And while whaling left New Bedford, the pursuit of whales continued in Europe and Asia at new levels of efficient slaughter hunting that enabled the harvest in one year to outstrip that of the previous decade in total. The move toward preserving whales came as humans hunters become so good at killing that international regulation was needed to keep whales from extermination.

National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration off the South Carolina coast working to free a young endangered right whale entangled in ropes and buoys

Visitors to the New Bedford Whaling Museum experience come away with a new concept of the power of the whale in the human imagination — representing nature’s power, the lure of the unknown, a monstrous foe, and a once abundant resource. And the Whaling Museum exhibition also creates a bridge of understanding about how the whale has come now to symbolize our emerging understanding of our place in the natural world and how profound our impact upon it can be. Our hunt now is for knowledge: the better to apply the lessons of the past to the challenges of the future.

The exhibition was designed by The PRD Group, Ltd. of Chantilly, Virginia, and fabricated by Color-Ad, of Manassas, Virginia. The Museum is grateful for their enthusiasm, hard work, and dedication to the quality of the finished product.

To view photos of the installation visit our Flickr site.

“We are currently working on both river kayaks constructed of caribou. It has been coated in the past with a yellow ochre paint along the seams.  A second repair coating, a white paint with a heavy resin content was also used liberally to solidify patches and small torn areas. “…

Flickr set of this Kayak Restoration Project

…”A later addition was a shellac based coating that appears to have been applied as a preservative.  This has discolored an orange brown color and attracted considerable dirt which is now well embedded into it. Fortunately, this disfiguring layer is more readily removed with an alcohol/water based cleaning agent. The skins are also brittle and weak, but not as sun damaged as the first kayak. Due to the thinness of the skins and the loss of elasaticity, the tears will be stabilized with simple backing supports of several laminated layers of a heavy weight Kozo, a long fiber Japanese paper made of mulberry fiber. We are not filling in the areas of loss to make them flush with the skins or undertaking a cosmetic repair to make them appear like a native repair, but are only stabilizing the damaged areas. The paper has two advantages.  One, it is a similar color, unlike a leather patch, and visually blends in to a better (not perfect) degree, and it has a similar tear strength to the embrittled skins, thus should the skins continue to shrink it is anticipated the paper will tear before the skins do, minimizing further damage to the skins.  We also found a 1962 World Fair sticker from Seattle inside.”

click this photo to see more in our Flickr set.

NEW BEDFORD, MA (October 21, 2008 ) – In the New Bedford Whaling Museum, working in the shadow of the Lagoda, the half-scale model of a 19th century whaleship, Art Conservator Alexandra Allardt, principal of ArtCare Resources in Newport, RI, is cleaning and treating a trio of native Alaskan kayaks from the Museum’s collection. She plans on spending many hours over the next several months working to preserve these rare 19th century kayaks in an effort to make sure that future generations can learn more about the Native Alaskan peoples who made them.

“Working on the kayaks in the museum adjacent to the half-size whaling ship allows for an amazing comparison in size between the two cultures, and underscores the immense skill and degree of risk these native peoples took when hunting,” she notes.  In the kayak currently undergoing treatment, Ms. Allardt says, “I am impressed by the quality of the skins and their undamaged state,” and that she “has never seen one that is this old and has no structural damage.” The kayak came into the Museum collection in 1904 as the 55th object. It originates from Cape Epsenberg, Alaska and dates to 1878.