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The Whaling Museum & Education Center facts for kids

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The Whaling Museum & Education Center
Whaling Museum & Education Center, Cold Spring Harbor.jpg
Former name The Whaling Museum
Established 1942
Location Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Type History museum
Accreditation American Alliance of Museums
Collection size 6,000
Visitors 20,000 annually
Owner The Whaling Museum Society

The Whaling Museum & Education Center, once called The Whaling Museum, is a cool place in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. It's a maritime museum that teaches you all about the history of Long Island's connection to the whaling industry.

Around 20,000 people visit the museum every year! It's a trusted museum, approved by the American Alliance of Museums. The group that runs the museum started in 1936, and the museum itself opened in 1942. It has a big area of 2,500 square feet for exhibits and even a special room for learning activities.

The museum has about 6,000 items, including old papers and artifacts, from Cold Spring Harbor and other Long Island towns that were involved in whaling. One of its most special items is a 19th-century whaleboat with all its original tools. It also has a huge collection of scrimshaw, which are artworks made by whalers.

You can also see other cool things like whaling tools, ship parts, and tools used for navigation. There are also tiny ship models and amazing art about the sea. The museum's library has 2,800 books and old papers from the Cold Spring whaling fleet. These include ship's logs, journals, and business letters from the Cold Spring Whaling Company. There are also family papers about sea trade on Long Island and records from the Cold Spring Harbor Customs House (from 1798 to 1908).

The museum holds fun educational events and exhibitions all year long. These include movies, talks, performances, and special events. They help connect the story of whaling to other interesting topics in art, science, and culture.

Amazing Museum Collections

Most of the items in the museum were given by people over time. It started as a place for the community to keep important things when the museum group was founded in 1936. There are 6,000 items in total. Most of them tell the story of the whaling industry in the 1800s, especially whaling on Long Island. They also show how Cold Spring Harbor grew as a busy port.

Here are some of the cool things you can find in the collection:

  • Scrimshaw: There are 500 scrimshaw items. These are beautiful artworks that whalers made at sea, often carved into whale teeth and tusks. The collection also has hundreds of useful items like sewing boxes and tools.
  • Whaling Tools and Ship Gear: You can see 275 tools used for whaling. This includes a 19th-century whaleboat from the Long Island whaleship Daisy. It's the only fully equipped whaleboat with its original gear on display in New York State! There are also tools, a big pot called a trypot (used to melt whale blubber), and tools for navigating ships.
  • Old Papers and Records: The museum has almost all the old handwritten papers from the Cold Spring Harbor whaling fleet. These papers tell the story of 44 trips made by 9 ships between 1836 and 1862. This includes 15 ship logs, 12 journals, and business letters. It also has most of the records from the local Customs House (1798–1908). You can also see records of coastal trade on Long Island, photos of crew members, ships, and ports, and family scrapbooks.
  • Richmond Collection: This collection has documents, letters, and shipping lists from the Cold Spring Harbor ship Richmond. This ship was wrecked in the Bering Strait in 1849. These papers show how important the Richmond was in a famous legal case about saving things from shipwrecks. The museum got this collection in 2012.
  • Ship Models: There are 12 detailed models of whaling ships, including one made by the famous ship model maker Henry Culver. There's also a large diorama (a 3D scene) of Cold Spring Harbor in 1850, which is 48 inches by 72 inches and was finished in 1970.
  • Sea Art: The museum has 150 paintings, prints, and old photos that show whaling scenes. These include works by famous artists like Currier & Ives and watercolors of local ships.
  • Daily Life Items: You can see 6 old costumes, 50 whale oil lamps, and other items used in daily life in the 1850s. These were given by local whaling families. There's also a ship in a bottle, old glass bottles, kitchen tools, and old medicine bottles.
  • Ocean Life: The museum has 25 whale bones, 2 narwhal tusks, a sperm whale jaw, an orca skull, and other parts of ocean animals like coral.
  • Hewlett Collection: This collection, received in 1989, has over 200 photos and 300 letters. They tell the story of how Cold Spring Harbor grew as a sea community. It also includes landscapes, portraits of local people, and records from local businesses like mills and shipyards.
  • Hoie Collection: This collection has 24 watercolor paintings about whaling by the Long Island artist Claus Hoie (who lived from 1911 to 2007). They were given to the museum in 2012.

Cold Spring Harbor's Whaling Past

In 1932, some people living in Cold Spring Harbor wanted to remember their village's past as a whaling port. They asked for a monument to be built. A large rock was pulled from the harbor and placed in the village square. It lists the names of the nine whaling ships that were part of the village's fleet. Later, this monument was moved to the museum's property, where you can see it today.

See Also