Browse Exhibits (20 total)
Keeper of the Lights: The Maritime Society is Preserving New London's Iconic Lighthouses
An exhibition featuring the three historic aids to navigation acquired by the New London Maritime Society from the U.S. Government for preservation, public access, and educational purposes: Harbor Light, Ledge Light, and Race Rock Light.
Published in the Society's 40th year, the exhibition highlights its mission to promote, interpret and celebrate the maritime life and history of the port of New London and the surrounding region.
The Frank L. McGuire Maritime Library, named for one of the Society's founders, maintains an extensive collection of books, documents and postcards on the subject of lighthouses.
Chapters of the exhibition are listed in the sidebar. They also appear at bottom of each page, where one may navigate in either direction.
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Brian Rogers, Online Exhibitions Librarian
December, 2023
The Small Photographs Collection at the Custom House Museum
Since its founding in 1983, the New London Maritime Society has built an eclectic collection of photographs related to local maritime history, some added by gift and some by purchase, called the Small Photographs Collection for lack of a better name. Some of the photographs were originally gathered, identified and organized by the late historian Harold J. Cone and include his extensive notes and labels.
Over the years the photographs have provided a valuable visual resource for many historians and journalists writing about the period when New London, a hub of maritime commerce since colonial times, including an important whaling fleet, was transformed industrially by steam, diesel and nuclear power. They record the vanished history of the city, including views of the harbor, waterfront activity, ships at anchor, regattas and scenes from the industrial past.
Today, as New London experiences further industrial transformation to support wind energy technology with the State Pier Project, and the construction of the Coast Guard Museum on the waterfront, these historic photographs are even more important to planners, researchers and local history fans.
Several months ago we applied for a grant to preserve some of our photographs. We did not get the grant but it inspired us to look again at the photographs collection as a whole. The result was a physical exhibition of actual photographs in the Custom House as well as this digital exhibition of some of the images. The online show will continue as we add more images from the collection in the future.
For this exhibition we have scanned some of the photographs. Many of the images appear as thumbnails. To enlarge to full-size, click on an image and zoom in to examine the details.
Laurie M. Deredita, Librarian
Justice Delayed: The Seizure of the Brig Patty
A digital exhibition created with documents from the Patty Collection in the Frank L. McGuire Library of the New London Maritime Society
New London to New York by Night Boat: Ellery Thompson Recalls the Golden Age of Steamboats on Long Island Sound
An exhibit about the vanished era of steamboat travel between New York City and Boston and the intermediate ports of New London, Norwich, Stonington, and Fall River.
Curated by Brian Rogers - Online Exhibits Librarian, New London Maritime Society
From Sheepshead Bay to Shanghai: The Training and Travels of a Merchant Seaman in World War II
This exhibition is drawn from the Herman R. Pederson Archive in the Frank L. McGuire Maritime Library. The chronological narrative has been created from the many licenses, certificates, letters, clippings, booklets, photographs and memorabilia saved by Herman Pederson during and after his wartime experiences in the U.S. Merchant Marine.
Brian Rogers, Online Exhibits Librarian
September, 2021
Bringing the Ships to New London: A Tale of Two Piers
An exhibition about the origins and history of the Connecticut State Pier and the Central Vermont Railway Pier in New London, Connecticut. Best viewed in Full Screen mode.
Please use the chapter headings in the sidebar to navigate the chronology.
---Brian Rogers, Online Exhibits Librarian
A Maritime Sampler: Annotated Selections from the Frank L. McGuire Maritime Library
Representative titles from the library's shelves displayed with cover art and brief accounts of their content. Originally published as separate "Books of the Month" in the Society's weekly email newsletters ("blasts") they are now presented as a single exhibit.
Voyage of the Whaler Merrimac
This exhibit is about the journal of the voyage of the whaler Merrimac of New London, Connecticut, covering a period from 1844-1847, followed by a journal of the General Williams, covering July-November 1852
Edited by Laurie Deredita, Librarian
A Conservator's Legacy: Gene MacMullan at the McGuire Library
An examples of book and paper conservation projects carried out by Eugene C. MacMullan between 2012 and 2019 for the Frank L. McGuire Maritime Library of the New London Maritime Society.
--Brian Rogers, Online Exhibits Librarian
Rob Pittaway's Half-Hulls: The Modeling Process Described
Illustrated steps for making half-hull models by Robert A. Pittaway.
Edited by Brian Rogers, Online Exhibits Librarian