East Coast Museums?

Steve Sanford

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
All~

We are looking for repositories (starting with states along the East Coast) for our When the Broadbill was King on Great South Bay documentary DVD. Our goal is to ensure that the information we have assembled is available over the long haul - essentially archiving it so it can be found in the future. Our key contact is the NYS Library - and we will get their thoughts on the "big leagues" - like the Smithsonian or Library of Congress.

I have started to develop a list and welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Basically, we are looking for institutions that have some connection to waterfowl hunting - so waterfowling, decoy and boat museums are what we are looking at. Please tell us about any not on this list AND - if you are familiar with any on the list, please let us know if you think the institution is a good or bad fit for our purpose.

Vermont - Shelburne Museum (Dorset House decoy collection)

Connecticut - Mystic Seaport (? some duckboats in small boat collection but nothing on display as far as I know)

New York - Thousand Islands Museum, Long Island Maritime Museum, East Hampton Maritime Museum

New Jersey - Tuckerton Seaport (I get error msgs on their websites - will try to call next week)

Maryland - Havre de Grace Decoy Museum, Upper Bay Museum, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, The Ward Museum


I have not yet found anything in ME, MA, RI, VA, NC, SC - lots of maritime museums but no mention of decoys or gunning - anything I should know about?

Also, I welcome any suggestions for "Phase II" - others across the country.

Thanks for your help!

SJS
 
Steve:

The Maine State Museum has at least one duck boat on display, and at one time had a pretty comprehensive exhibit on them. A friend of mine curated that exhibit, though he left the museum a long time ago. I could check with him about an appropriate contact if you like.

Other Maine possibilities might be the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath or the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport. That last one is probably a stretch, as their focus in clearly on ships and shipping, not small craft, but the other two are worth looking at for sure.

I can't recall if Maine Maritime Museum has any duckboats, as it's a long time since I was there, but they are located right at the outlet of Merrymeeting Bay and definitely do have an interest in small wooden working boats.

At Maine State Museum, the question is going to be whether there is any Maine connection.
 
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Steve I've heard of the Wendell Gilly (? Spelling) Museum somewhere's Down East. I don't know anything about it or him other than he was a local carver. If I learn any more about it I'll let you know.
 
Steve, the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum in Virginia Beach immediately comes to mind, www.awhm.org. Will poll the crew for other ideas. Best, Rufus
 
Steve, The Peabody Museumin Salem, MA has a real nice collection of decoys, duck boats and maritime related exhibits. They are a very hands on museum and I believe they would welcome your DVD.

Best - Paul
 
Steve,
Not all that familiar with the Island> I picked up a book at the Nationals way back when. Gunners Paradise. Published in 1979 Museum at Stony Brook. Not sure if its been mentioned by the LI guys.


Phil
 
Good morning, Carl~

We visited the Gilley museum in the mid-80s - pretty much just his carvings, as I recall.

Thanks very much,

SJS
 
Good morning, Paul~

I have always heard great things about the Peabody - usually viz natural history. It's now on my list!

Thanks very much,

SJS
 
Phil & Joe~

My concern about the former Museums at Stony Brook - now Long Island Museum of Art, History and Carriages (I used to work at DEC HQ around the corner) is that they have distanced themselves from waterfowl hunting. My check of their website (http://longislandmuseum.org/ ) showed no mention of decoys or waterfowling - even though they still have many fine decoys. I do not know if they still have the duckboats, etc that they used to have. In any event, they are on our list for our next big project - which will probably focus on LI Black Duck gunning. And, Gunner's Paradise remains handy on my bookshelf.

All the best,

SJS
 
Good morning, George~

Got the Shelburne - first on my list. Their Dorset House - with Joel Barber's collection - has been closed for at least a year now. I am hoping they open again soon.

All the best,

SJS
 
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