Current Exhibitions
This exhibition celebrates the 200th anniversary of the South Church on Orange Street through artwork, posters, and historic photographs. The South Church Preservation Fund, Preservation Trust, and the NHA are collaborating on this celebration of the church's anniversary. 
May 31-August 31 What favorite Nantucket places would you miss if they suddenly vanished overnight? We asked seventh-grade students at the Cyrus Peirce Middle School this question and worked with twenty-five of them after school this spring to record their own special places. Each student received a camera to capture images of Nantucket landmarks, worked with NHA and CPS staff, as well as professional-island photographers, and created a student-curated exhibition which will be on display at the Whaling Museum from May 3 to August 31. Landmarks of Nantucket! is a collaboration involving the Nantucket Historical Association and the Nantucket Public Schools, specifically the Cyrus Peirce Middle School. Funding was provided by the Nantucket Golf Club Foundation. Read more about the project in an article published in the Nantucket Independent. Visit the Landmarks of Nantucket! 2009 digital exhibition. See the Landmarks! 2007 digital exhibtion |
Permanent Exhibitions
Perhaps the most dramatic installation of a whale skeleton ever displayed. Diving from the ceiling-mouth open, teeth menacing-is the skeleton of a forty-six foot male sperm whale. The beauty and wonder of being this close to the skeleton is breathtaking, and many of our visitors have told us just that.
|
Displayed on the brick walls of the Candle Factory is a significant collection of ceremonial implements and various weapons, spears, and armor from other South Seas islands. They represent one of the finest collections of early South Seas objects and are part of a permanent display of whalemen's souvenirs. Nantucket whalers were among the first sailors to explore the Pacific Ocean and to discover many of the islands and peoples of the South Pacific. The men brought home exotic artifacts and keepsakes from the South Seas as curiosities and mementos of their travels. As Pacific islanders became more accustomed to passing whalers, they began to supply objects to the visitors based on precontact traditions, but now serving primarily as souvenirs. Some of the featured items from the South Pacific are a rare model of a Maori war canoe; Marquesan Island ceremonial U'u clubs and a staff made with human hair; weapons and tools such as clubs, spears, and adzes; a warrior's sharkskin body armor; a Hawaiian tribal necklace made of whale tooth and hair; and a New Ireland dancing mask made of moss, seaweed, and grass.
|
Oil portraiture carried the day in the period before the invention of the photographic process in the mid-nineteenth century. This period corresponded with the heyday of whaling on Nantucket, as well as with a loosening of Quaker strictures against the vanity of images and portraits. Wealthy whaling captains and merchants were eager to have their portraits painted, often by itinerant portrait artists who visited the island and advertised studio time. Many of these artists, such as William Swain and James Hathaway, spent so much time on the island that they managed to capture a large number of the most notable whaling captains of the era, and occasionally their wives and children. A wall in Gosnell Hall displays a large range of portraits of the men and women who went to sea.
|
The
scrimshaw in the collection of the Nantucket Historical Association is the result
of over a century and a half of passionate collecting, and is considered one of
the most important collections in the world. Highlights of the collection include
some of the earliest and rarest sperm whale teeth, engraved by the most famous
of all scrimshaw artists, Nantucketers Frederick Myrick and Edward Burdett; outstanding
examples of teeth by the anonymous scrimshaw hands known as the Ceres Artisan,
the Banknote Engraver, the Naval Battle Captain; and dozens of the finest-quality
teeth, many with direct Nantucket provenances. In
addition to the superb collection of teeth, every aspect of the scrimshander's
art is represented in the collection, including dazzling specimens of swifts,
busks, canes, jagging wheels, coconut-shell dippers, ditty boxes, furniture, tools,
Arctic ivory, and plaques. |
Next to the scrimshaw gallery is a display of the some of the finest objects in the NHA's decorative-arts collection. Presented in an airy open space, visitors hardly notice that this is one of the highest quality climate-controlled spaces in the museum. Instead, they enjoy the wonders the NHA's lightship basket collection, framed needlework pieces, and whimsical whirligigs in a room with a meticulously hand-painted floor by island artisan Christina Wiggins.
|
An integral component of the museum, the 1847 spermaceti-candle factory has been carefully restored to reveal significant elements of the original factory, including the two-story beam press - the only original beam press still in place in the world - and the foundation of the oil-processing tryworks.
|
The
Decorative Arts Gallery is also a perfect place to stop and view the wonders of
the architectural design. From one corner in the gallery, visitors can look through
three windows and catch three unique views encompassing a great expanse of Nantucket
history. First, through the fanlight, people can peer out onto South Water Street
and contemplate the lively hustle and bustle of our island community. Next they
can peek through a round window, reminiscent of a ship's porthole. Through this
small pane of glass they can see the Fresnel lens, which once operated on whale
oil, and beyond it, the Candle Factory. A larger rectangular window, holding the
basket collection, invites viewers to take another look at the Town Clock and
past the central stairway to Gosnell Hall and the spine of the sperm-whale skeleton. 
