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30-749: Its primary publication is Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies , issued three times per year. The society has formed a cultural project in collaboration with the New Bedford Whaling Museum , the host of the Melville Society Archive, and has an editorial office at Hofstra University . It meets primarily at the American Literature Association and Modern Language Association annual conferences and has also held international meetings. It has approximately 400 members, comprising both individuals and institutions. The society

60-706: A national park that includes several New Bedford historical sites, including the Seamen's Bethel , which is located across the street from the Whaling Museum. The museum features a twenty-minute short film titled The City that Lit the World courtesy of the National Park Service. 1996 was also the year of the first annual Moby-Dick Marathon Reading. In 1998, the New Bedford Whaling Museum collaborated with

90-471: A half-size model of the Lagoda , and the museum commissioned shipwrights to build it in 1916. At 89 feet (27 m) in length and with a mainmast of 50 feet (15 m), it is the largest whaling ship model in the world. The model is fully rigged and is outfitted with some of the supplies needed for a whaling voyage. The Bourne Building in which the model is located was renovated in 2010, and an interactive kiosk

120-472: A news reporter for the Evening Standard , presented a paper urging the establishment of a historical society and a museum: I believe that the need of a historical society arose not recently but generations ago when the history of New Bedford and vicinity commenced. Today we are suffering from the omission and if it is in the least deplorable it will be doubly a breach of our duty toward posterity to allow

150-621: A profit of about $ 652,000 (equivalent to $ 22,110,000 in 2023). In 1889, the ship left the US to work as a coal hulk in Japan, being used to fuel steamboats in Yokohama , until she was sold again and eventually broken up in 1899. In 1915, Jonathan Bourne Jr.'s daughter Emily Bourne donated the Bourne Building to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in memory of her father. She also contributed funds to build

180-478: A year, most of whom were from out of town. The museum further expanded with the bequest of the Wood Building by Annie Seabury Wood in 1935. In 1936, the museum acquired its first whale skeleton, a three-year-old humpback whale known as Quasimodo. In the words of curator William Tripp, "We are no longer a whaling museum without a whale, as some in the past have chosen to call us." In 1953, the whaling film, All

210-509: Is a 66-foot (20 m) juvenile male named KOBO . The sperm whale is a 48-foot (15 m) 30-year-old male. The right whales include a 49-foot (15 m) 15-year-old female named Reyna that was ten months pregnant and her fetus. This exhibit explores the region of Old Dartmouth from the 1602 landing of English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold to the dominance of New Bedford in the whaling industry. It explores themes related to religion, geography, and maritime commerce, which combined to influence

240-590: Is a museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts , United States that focuses on the history, science, art, and culture of the international whaling industry, and the colonial region of Old Dartmouth (now the city of New Bedford and towns of Acushnet , Dartmouth , Fairhaven , and Westport ) in the South Coast of Massachusetts . The museum is governed by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society (ODHS), which

270-459: Is home to five fully articulated whale skeletons: a blue whale , a humpback whale , a sperm whale , and a pregnant mother and fetus North Atlantic right whale . All of the specimens came from animals that either died accidentally or by undetermined circumstances, and were not killed as a result of whaling. The first skeleton to be acquired was a 37-foot (11 m) three-year-old male humpback whale named Quasimodo, which died in 1932. The blue whale

300-459: The Lagoda , a half-scale model built in 1916 of the ship Lagoda owned by Jonathan Bourne Jr . The Lagoda is 89 feet (27 m) in length and has a mainmast 50 feet (15 m) in height, making it the world's largest model whaling ship. It is fully rigged and showcases some of the supplies needed for an extended whaling voyage. The Bourne Building also houses a permanent installation that explores

330-527: The Azorean impact on the growth and development of Southern New England and of New Bedford in particular, which is home to a vibrant Azorean community . The exhibit contains many artifacts related to whaling in the Azores and the islanders' journey to a new life in the US via a "bridge of whale ships." The exhibit features a half-scale model of an Azorean whaleboat and a vigia , an Azorean whaling lookout. The museum

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360-656: The Azorean Maritime Heritage Society to build the Azorean Whaleman Gallery, an exhibition devoted to the contributions of Azorean sailors and whaleboat builders to US whaling history. In August 2000, the Jacobs Family Gallery was built thanks to the donation of Irwin and Joan Jacobs. The humpback whale skeleton Quasimodo was moved to the new Jacobs Family Gallery and suspended alongside a new juvenile blue whale skeleton, named KOBO (King of

390-893: The 1947 Melville Society Newsletter reported that critics "were willing to believe that the so-called Melville boom represented a temporary and esoteric enthusiasm for a fifth-rate literary figure...." He said that, to the contrary, the Society can reassure itself of its part in "virile and outreaching growth of Melville scholarship". Among the presidents were Willard Thorp (1952), Merton Sealts (1953), Harrison Hayford (1955, 1970), (1992), (1999), Richard H. Fogle , (1961), Henry A. Murray (1966) (1980), Walter Bezanson (1967) (1989), Leon Howard (1971), Robert Penn Warren (1974), Jay Leyda (1976) (1987), Lewis Mumford (1977), G. Thomas Tanselle (1982), Hershel Parker (1991), H. Bruce Franklin (1993), Andrew Delbanco (2007). New Bedford Whaling Museum The New Bedford Whaling Museum

420-550: The Bank of Commerce Building on Water Street to the ODHS for the purpose of establishing a museum. One year later, the New Bedford Whaling Museum was opened. The New Bedford Whaling Museum grew considerably during the 1910s and 1920s. In 1914, the ODHS appointed Frank Wood as the curator and first full-time staff member. In 1915, Emily Bourne donated the Bourne Building in memory of her father, Jonathan Bourne Jr. She also contributed funds for

450-717: The Blue Ocean). In October 2001, negotiations began to merge the Kendall Whaling Museum , which was founded in 1955 by Henry P. Kendall and opened in 1956, with the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The merger was finalized in October 2001, and the Kendall Whaling Museum's artifacts were moved to the New Bedford Whaling Museum by November 2002. As a result, the museum added some 70,000 artifacts to its collections, effectively doubling its size. To accommodate all these artifacts,

480-526: The Brothers Were Valiant , premiered in New Bedford. The anti-whaling movement of the 1970s led Curator of Ethnology John R. Bockstoce to research and compile the most complete data on the bowhead whale to date, reestablishing the importance of the preservation of historical whaling documents. In 1996, the museum played a large role in establishing a New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park ,

510-469: The New Bedford area, such as Albert Bierstadt , William Bradford , and Albert Pinkham Ryder , as well as a collection of locally produced decorative art, glassware, and furniture associated with the rise of New Bedford as a whaling port in the 19th century. The museum's Bourne Building houses the Lagoda , a half-scale model of a whaling ship that was commissioned in 1916 and is the world's largest model whaling ship. On January 7, 1903, Ellis L. Howland,

540-466: The Old Dartmouth Historical Society selected William W. Crapo , a local lawyer and congressman, as their president. At first, the museum rented rooms to display and store artifacts in the Masonic Lodge on the corner of Pleasant and Union Streets. By 1904, their membership had grown to almost 700, and collections had been expanded to include some 560 artifacts. In 1906, Henry Huttleston Rogers donated

570-459: The Research Library. In 2002, the museum acquired the skeleton of a sperm whale , and in 2008, it acquired the skeleton of a North Atlantic right whale which was pregnant at the time of its death. In 2012, the Whaling Museum was featured in an episode of Four Weddings on TLC as one of the brides had her wedding reception at the museum. The museum's Jonathan Bourne Building houses

600-422: The colonial growth of southeastern Massachusetts and the ultimate success of the port of New Bedford, which surpassed Nantucket as the US's largest whaling center around 1827. Lagoda The Lagoda is a half-scale model of the whaling ship Lagoda , located at the New Bedford Whaling Museum . The original ship was built in 1826, converted to a whaling ship in 1841, and broken up in 1899. The model

630-527: The construction of a half-sized model of her father's ship Lagoda , which was built inside the Bourne Building in 1916. Nationwide interest in whaling history was raised by the 1922 film Down to the Sea in Ships , which was filmed in New Bedford and featured many New Bedford locals dressed up in their grandparents' clothing as extras. By the 1930s, the New Bedford Whaling Museum was attracting four to ten thousand visitors

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660-514: The few ships to escape the whaling disaster of 1871 , an incident in which 40 ships whaling in the Arctic late in the season were surrounded by ice. Thirty-three of the ships were trapped or crushed, but the Lagoda was one of the 7 ships that narrowly escaped, and it carried 195 of the 1,219 survivors to safety in Honolulu , Hawaii . By the time Bourne sold the Lagoda in 1886, the ship had generated

690-411: The lack to exist any longer ... True, there are a few old log books stored away in the public library or here and there in the closet of some private collector, but when one contemplates the tons and tons of them that have been ground up into wrapping paper of prosaic fiber wash tubs, the absence of a historical society becomes in our minds almost a crime. On 22 July 1903, the 100 founding constituents of

720-501: The largest collections in the world, as well as five complete whale skeletons. The museum's complex consists of several contiguous buildings housing 20 exhibit galleries and occupying an entire city block within the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park , although operated independently. The museum also houses a collection of fine art, including works by major American artists who lived or worked in

750-448: The letters "d" and "g" were accidentally swapped and, due to superstition that correcting the name would bring bad luck, she remained the " Lagoda ". The ship's frame was constructed of live oak , and she had 3 masts and weighed 340 tons. Weston employed the Lagoda for about seven years as a merchant vessel in trade with northern European ports. On February 25, 1833, Weston sold the ship to Boston merchant William Oliver. In 1841, she

780-467: The museum acquired a former bank building on Purchase Street three blocks west of the museum campus on Johnny Cake Hill. The Purchase Street Building housed the museum's Research Library for several years; in 2017 it moved to a new building on the main museum campus. In 2002, the New Bedford Whaling Museum partnered with the Melville Society , and it now houses their extensive Melville collection in

810-598: Was commissioned in 1916 and is the world's largest whaling ship model. The original Lagoda was a merchant ship built in 1826 in the Wanton Shipyard on the North River in what is now Norwell, Massachusetts . The shipyard was owned and managed by shipbuilders Seth and Samuel Foster, and the ship was commissioned by Duxbury merchant Ezra Weston II . Originally intended to be named " Ladoga " after Lake Ladoga in Russia,

840-468: Was established in 1903 "to create and foster an interest in the history of Old Dartmouth." Since then, the museum has expanded its scope to include programming that addresses global issues "including the consequences of natural resource exhaustion, the diversification of industry, and tolerance in a multicultural society." Its collections include over 750,000 items, including 3,000 pieces of scrimshaw and 2,500 logbooks from whaling ships, both of which are

870-627: Was founded in February 1945 by Harrison Hayford and Tyrus Hillway . Both had done doctoral study in American literature at Yale with Stanley Williams. The membership of the new society included both academics and literary intellectuals in the Melville Revival of the 1920s and 1930s and from university graduate programs that in the late 1930s began to train scholars in American literature. The Society overcame some initial skepticism. Hilway's editorial in

900-399: Was purchased by Jonathan Bourne Jr. of New Bedford and converted to a whaling ship. The refit included the installation of a trywork , an on-board pair of trypots used to render blubber into whale oil . In 1860, the ship was converted it from full-rigged ship into a bark , which allowed it to be manned with a smaller crew and to sail closer to the wind. The Lagoda was one of

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