The Various Collections
The Museum Archives include general collections, family collections, photograph collections, an artifact collection, an oral history collection and a library.
For more information about any of the collections contact the Museum Archivist, Colleen Hurter, at whhmarchives@gmail.com.
The General Collection
The Photograph Collection
The Photograph Collection contains over 5000 photos of Woods Hole and Quissett going back to the 1850s, including family albums and photos, village scenes, boats, yachts, steamships, pictures of the early days of the scientific community starting in the 1880s with the U.S. Fish Commission and the Marine Biological Laboratory, as well as albums showing MBL activities in the 1920s and 1930s.
You can browse through over 3000 photos from our collection.
The Painting and Artifacts Collection
The Painting Collection includes artwork by William H. Littlefield, Peggy Clark Kelly, R. Swain Gifford, Dr. Leroy M. Yale, Jr., Franklin Lewis Gifford, artwork by and of members of the Fay family, and paintings and artwork by many local artists. The archives houses an extensive clothing collection dating from the 1840s to the 1930s; in addition there are a few quilts and paisley shawls. Other artifacts include ephemera, china, tools, crafts, maritime objects and boat models pertaining to the village of Woods Hole and environs.
The Oral History Collection
The Oral History Collection contains over 600 recordings of interviews and “conversations” (public talks) with local residents and visiting scientists, collected since 1974. About 200 of these have been transcribed. The collection is constantly added to by digital recordings made from the monthly Conversation program. Most recordings are available in digital form.
The Reading Room at Bradley House
Archives Info
The Museum Archives are open for research year round on Tuesdays and Thursday from 9:00am to 1:00pm and by appointment. Appointments are encouraged.
To reach the archivist, Colleen Hurter, email whhmarchives@gmail.com.