Evelyn Ansel closes the series with “From 1 to 18,006: highlights from the Haffenreffer-Herreshoff digitization project at the MIT Museum”
About this Event
The Spring Lecture Series presents “Leading Ladies: Defining the Discussion of Maritime Science and History”. This series will tell stories of exploration, science, research, historical preservation, adventure and the working waterfront from the perspective of the women who engage and lead in these issues every day.

Over the past two and a half years, the collections team at the MIT Museum has been working to digitally capture the entirety of the Haffenreffer-Herreshoff collection. The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff holdings consist of some 17,000 artifacts from the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, formerly of Bristol, RI. These original plans, drawings, notebooks and correspondence date from the 1870s through the 1940s and represent the full breadth of HMCo.’s output during its years of operation. The digitization project developed in concert with the exhibit Lighter, Stronger, Faster: the Herreshoff Legacy, which opened in October of 2018, and the collection will be made permanently available online through the museum’s new collections portal beginning this summer.

Many interesting and previously unpublished plans came to light over the course of the digitization project. In her lecture, digitization team member Evelyn Ansel will give a basic collections overview and share some of the familiar, iconic and expected alongside some of the more unusual highlights – from swimming pools to dust collection systems and beer barrels to bicycles – all examples of the impressive span of HMCo.’s capabilities not only as premier naval architects, but also as a vertically integrated manufacturing plant at the turn of the 20th Century.

Evelyn is a museum professional specializing in preservation and collections accessibility with a focus on maritime history and design. Previous projects include documentation of traditional working watercraft in Venice, Italy, an apprenticeship on the recent restoration of the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, CT, and a Fulbright Fellowship to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. Evelyn has a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University of Providence, RI. She sits on the board of the Apprenticeshop of Rockland, ME, and is a freelance contributor for WoodenBoat Magazine. Currently, she is the Curatorial Associate at the Herreshoff Marine Museum of Bristol, RI, and is also managing the Haffenreffer-Herreshoff digitization project at the MIT Museum of Cambridge, MA.

Date And Time

Thu, May 9, 2019

7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Location

Maritime Gloucester

23 Harbor Loop

Gloucester, MA 01930

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