Mariners' Museum

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Mariners' Museum
Mariners Museum 2007 051a.jpg
Data
place Newport News , Virginia , USA
Art
Maritime Museum
opening 1932
Website

The Mariners' Museum in Newport News , Virginia is the largest maritime museum in North America and one of the largest in the world.

history

Archer Milton Huntington founded the museum in 1932. He was the son of the railroad builder Collis P. Huntington , who brought the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to Warwick County , Virginia in the late 19th century , as well as the Newport News coal piers and Newport News Shipbuilding yard founded.

Archer and his wife, the sculptor Anna H. Huntington , acquired 320 hectares of land, where 5,700 m² of exhibition space was created, as well as a scientific library, a 68 hectare lake and an eight kilometer coastal path with fourteen bridges. The area should offer space for more than 35,000 maritime artifacts from all over the world. In the first two years after the purchase, the couple devoted themselves to the creation and development of a nature park and the construction of a dam . This was responsible for the creation of Lake Maury , which is named after the Virginia oceanographer Matthew F. Maury .

collection

The museum's collection includes around 32,000 artifacts, which are divided equally into works of art and three-dimensional objects. The collection includes pieces from all over the world and includes miniature ship models , scrimshaws , maritime paintings, handicrafts, carved figureheads , working steam engines and a unique scratching steam organ . The museum also has an important collection of paintings and drawings by marine painters James Bard and Antonio Jacobsen . The museum also offers educational programs for all ages, a scientific library with archives, but also publications and internet resources for teachers.

USS Monitor Center

Replica of the USS Monitor , inaugurated March 9, 2007

The Mariners' Museum is home to the USS Monitor Center. In 1973 the wreck of the armored USS Monitor , which became famous in 1862 with the Battle of Hampton Roads during the Civil War , was located at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean 16 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras , North Carolina . The site of the wreck has been designated the United States' first national marine reserve. The Monitor Sanctuary is the only one of the thirteen national marine reserves that was created to protect a cultural asset rather than a nature conservation area .

The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is now under the supervision of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Many artifacts from the monitor , including its innovative turret , as well as propellers, anchor, steam engine and some personal belongings of the crew have been housed in the museum. To stabilize the metal, they were kept in special containers for several years and subjected to electrolytic desalination. The new USS Monitor Center officially opened on March 9, 2007. Since then, a 1: 1 replica of the monitor , the original salvaged turret and many artifacts and related items have been seen. Current efforts are focused on the restoration of the steam engine.

Web links

Commons : Mariners' Museum  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Mariners' Museum - Largest maritime museum in North America - Newport News, Virginia. (No longer available online.) WilliamsburgVirginiaGuide.com, archived from the original on April 8, 2012 ; accessed on January 5, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.williamsburgvirginiaguide.com
  2. ^ A b The Mariners' Museum: Museum History. Retrieved January 5, 2013 .
  3. ^ The Mariners' Museum: Collections. Retrieved January 5, 2013 .
  4. ^ Mariner's Museum, Anthony J. Peluso Jr .: The Bard Brothers - Painting America under Steam and Sail. Abrams, New York 1997, ISBN 0-8109-1240-6 .
  5. ^ A b c David A. Dinsmore, John D. Broadwater: 1998 NOAA Research Expedition to the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. Hamilton RW, Pence DF, Kesling DE, eds. Assessment and Feasibility of Technical Diving Operations for Scientific Exploration. Ed .: American Academy of Underwater Sciences . 1999 ( archive.rubicon-foundation.org [accessed January 5, 2013]).
  6. ^ Mark St. John Ericson: The center opens. In: Daily Press . March 9, 2007, accessed January 5, 2013 .
  7. ↑ Mark St. John Ericson: Part 3: Replicating the mighty turret. In: Daily Press . February 26, 2007, accessed January 5, 2013 .
  8. ^ Mark St. John Ericson: Restoration efforts on Civil War steam engine progressing. In: Los Angeles Times . December 18, 2010, accessed January 5, 2013 .

Coordinates: 37 ° 3 ′ 18 ″  N , 76 ° 29 ′ 16.1 ″  W.