Inside Collections: Chapter On Time And Tides At Mystic Seaport Museum

Time is tidal. C'mon along for a walk inside Mystic Seaport collections, another side of a place you thought you knew.

Face forward.

Face forward. A figurehead carved and painted, inside collections.

Collections of time and energy.

One shelf. Collection of time and energy. Mystic Seaport collections, another side of a place you thought you knew.


Above, catch it.


It is a battle to preserve, remember, protect. Objects and stories. Images, context. The work of people over time. Slow down the ever-present natural processes which combine to nibble and chew; delay that onslaught. All human-made will deteriorate. Nature is relentless as it renews, recycles, re-uses, returns. Life is constantly in motion, changing. Now becomes then.

Step up, let's go inside.

“Wonderful things.”

Brooms. Seen inside the collections building somewhere along the way. Curiosity is part of a writer's life.

Words that came to mind while exploring collections led by Kevin O’Leary, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at Mystic Seaport Museum, for an interview by Brian Scott-Smith of Connecticut East. (Words that appeared in my mind are from Howard Carter‘s reply when he was asked if he could see anything, upon opening what would become known as Tutankhamun's tomb.)

Inside Mystic Seaport Museum collections are wonderful things. Figureheads, yes. But also natural history curiosities. Log books, hand-sewn clothing from expeditions. Harpoons. A Fresnel lens. Box of augers. Intriguing massive machines (for manufacturing or presses?). Hardware, pulleys. Rope. Cleats.

The built-of-brick complex is itself an artifact, though once inside the keyed secure entrance and looking around, that is soon forgotten. Aa state-of-the-art facility dedicated to cataloguing, preservation, education, archiving and indexing collections.

Have a listen.

Amid vast treasures in just one aisle that include bone, teeth, tusks (modified teeth), artistry — Brian Scott-Smith (right) interviews Krystal Rose, Curator of Collections at Mystic Seaport Museum; Paul O'Pecko, Vice President, Research Collections, center. Notice the narwhal tusks? Quick glimpse of walrus skulls and tusks? Whale bones. Then the drawer of scribed teeth. Scrimshaw.

Inside Mystic.

Inside the complex at Mystic Seaport Museum collections.


Also see: https://educators.mysticseaport.org/community/profiles/krystal_rose/ (Still thinking of penguin egg, drawers of objects. Her narrated tours, farm/barns as a young girl. Vault of negatives, film waiting.)

Inside one studio at Mystic Seaport Collections. Kevin O’Leary, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing at Mystic Seaport Museum, interviewed by Brian Scott-Smith of Connecticut East for a podcast (to listen, see link above or visit CT East's social media links.).

Stunning beauty, history, innovations, human achievements. History, maritime stories. Whaling. Indigenous, local, land, sea, air–threads intertwine and shed light on the now. Time tides.

Mermaids and unicorns? No, far more exquisite objects to fire up the imagination–and so very real. Intriguing labels displayed on the ends of cabinets as to what is within these metal cases, with drawers almost to the ceiling. Crank handles on the side easily move all with no sound at all. Then a pathway opens. More and more and more and more drawers, each human-made or natural thing carefully named and numbered. Somewhere there must be a corresponding index both on paper and digitized. History, where each hails from, who donated it. A story a day for decades could be gleaned from just pulling out a drawer and picking an artifact or object. Wow.

Jars with former life forms kept and safeguarded because there is valuable DNA information, though as a curiosity there is also merit. Walking through an imaging studio, by labs for painstaking research. Offices. Framed photograph prints. Work in progress.

Steps down the way in a hall, then another door is opened. Step inside and mingled scents make this area different, more intriguing. Memories stir, surface. Barns, sheds, machine shops, a neighbor who built boats and operated his own sawmill for custom work. Flywheels in motion and rafters above chock full of wood of varying lengths, widths.
Gorgeous image.
A few more paces to get back to now; am overwhelmed with the sights. Wooden vessels. Outboard engines. Tools in crates underneath. Beams and pipes overhead from the velvet mill, as this building was once known. Stories. Brine and must and layers of time, all is silent now.

Labels and tags here. A visual map and information posted to a vertical beam. (Sure hope this whole warehouse section of collections is captured as is before renovations begin. The mingled odors cannot be preserved but should be because here time and experiences are evoked. This in and of itself is memorable. Unforgettable.)


To the side and somewhat in the shadows is a dugout canoe, shipping out for an exhibit, Story Boats. A few brand-new exhibit cases, built in a gorgeous facility to the rear of this complex, are lined up in a hallway.

Photographed by Rosenfeld and Sons at March of 1920. View of a group of Seminole Indians sitting on the ground. Stamped info: “Mar 1920”. Credit: Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection. Handwritten: “3999FA / Seminole Indians. Miami. Box 521”
1984.187.3999FA
Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection
Linked to official site.

Images, negatives, film storage. Acres and acres and acres quietly waiting to be examined and reveal treasure in data, metadata to be tagged. Context. Hair-raising excitement at just skimming the surface of what is here. The depth, width, breadth of information. The quality of what was recorded on film, plates. Negatives. Climate-controlled areas.

Metadata: “…data that describes other data, metadata is structured reference data that helps to sort and identify attributes of the information it describes.” (Think of one image and all the details it contains. Above. People, names, location, all that can be seen, but also the context. Year, place. Even color and materials. Describe. Generate words.)

With Connecticut East inside Mystic Seaport Collections for a podcast. Tour and what was seen, learned.

From a jumble of photos, this image is what some people recall of Mystic Seaport. But there are many facets to this place with surprising connections to the nation and globe.

Direction and focus matter in voyages, riding, business. Life.

From Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (closed to expand and be renovated), objects and collections.

Pay attention to conditions as there is sure to be challenges along the way. Steer your ship, direct your ride. Face the storms.

More photographs of this tour/exploration inside collections linked here.

An image of a film photo, inside collections in Hartford, the Rampant Colt. But that's another story.

Where to next?

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