Woods Hole Historical Museum

WHHM Conversation: Marine Biological Laboratory’s 133 Years of Scientific Discovery
2021-03-10 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
“Marine Biological Laboratory’s 133 Years of Scientific Discovery” was the topic of the Woods Hole Historical Museum’s virtual conversation by MBL Director Nipam Patel on March 10 at 7 PM.
A video of the Conversation is here:

Dr. Patel shared the history of the MBL, an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science that was founded in 1888 and was the second scientific institution established in Woods Hole. The laboratory is now affiliated with the University of Chicago.
In addition to the lab’s history, Dr. Patel discussed how the MBL is working to expand the resident and the visiting scientist research programs, creating new educational offerings, including opportunities for undergraduates and high school students as well as other goals focusing on advancements in two major strategic research areas—imaging and new research organisms.
Dr. Patel was appointed MBL director in 2018. Prior to his appointment, he was Professor and Co-chair of the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. His scientific expertise encompasses the development of novel, genetic model organisms for biological study, which can reveal much about human biology; and the application of advanced imaging technologies to probe the fundamental dynamics of living systems. A longtime member of the MBL community, Dr. Patel has taught in the MBL Embryology course for more than 20 years. He and his wife, Edith Copenhaver, live in Woods Hole.

WHHM Conversation: "Influencing the Influencers: An Evolving Approach to Driving Climate Action"
2021-04-14 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
April 14, 2021 at 7 PM (Zoom)
Woodwell Climate Research Center director Philip Duffy
and chief communications officer, Heather Goldstone
Woodwell Climate Research Center was founded in 1985 as the Woods Hole Research Center, and adopted its current name in 2020 “to recognize the urgency of the climate crisis and the importance of the founding principles that continue to guide the center’s work.” From playing a leading role in the launch of the United Nations climate change negotiation process to shaping the first corporate guidelines on climate risk disclosure, the center has impacted societal decision-making. The approach has evolved and expanded from a focus on international policy to encompass work with municipalities, Indigenous communities, faith leaders, and private sector partners.
Watch the video of the April 14th Conversation here:

WHHM Conversation: Celebrating 150 Years of Science at the Woods Hole Fisheries Lab
2021-06-09 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
By Jon Hare, Science and Research Director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Woods Hole
Jon Hare has been the Science and Research Director of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center since October 2016. He oversees science activities related to the NOAA Fisheries mission in the Northeast region, including fisheries, aquaculture, protected species, habitat, and ecosystem science. Hare received a PhD in Coastal Oceanography from State University of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook. He was awarded a National Research Council Research Associateship in 1994 to work at NOAA’s Beaufort Laboratory and was hired by NOAA in 1997.

Jon Hare moved to NOAA’s Narragansett Laboratory in 2005, was appointed Oceanography Branch Chief in 2008 and Lab Director in 2012. Before becoming Center director, he served as a Supervisory Research Oceanographer and Acting Ecosystems Processes Division Chief, managing division research while also managing personnel and research resources at five different locations in the center.

As Northeast Fisheries Science Center Director he is now located a NOAA’s Woods Hole Laboratory, one of the five research facilities in the Northeast that make up the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. NOAA Fisheries, founded as the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries in 1871, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. The Woods Hole Laboratory is the nation’s first marine research station, and is the founding laboratory of NOAA Fisheries, formally called the National Marine Fisheries Service..

Jon Hare’s research has focused on fisheries oceanography: understanding the interactions between the ocean environment and fisheries populations with a goal of contributing to assessments and management. He is also an expert on the effect of climate change on marine fisheries and the implications to coastal communities.

Watch the video of the June 9th conversation here:

WHHM Conversation: “Ocean Solutions for a Warming World”
2021-07-07 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
By Peter B. de Menocal, president and director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
July 7 at 7 PM
See video of Conversation here.
The world’s oceans are fundamentally important in both understanding and responding to the climate crisis. The oceans have absorbed over 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by decades of carbon emissions and have absorbed roughly a third of those emissions, thereby greatly reducing their full climate change impacts. At the same time, these ocean changes are primary drivers of rapid changes in extreme heat and rainfall events, crop yields, fisheries, coastal inundation. These ocean changes directly impact nearly every aspect of future human sustainability. Dr. Menocal will review how and why the oceans and global climate are changing. He will discuss the new ways in which today’s global ocean research community is mobilizing to drive disruptive, high-risk, high-value research to accelerate viable climate adaptation and mitigation solutions.
Peter de Menocal is the eleventh president and director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. A marine geologist and paleoclimatologist, Dr. de Menocal’s research uses deep-sea ocean sediments as archives of how and why Earth’s ocean and climate have changed in the past in order to predict how they may change in the future.
Prior to assuming leadership of WHOI, Dr. de Menocal was the Thomas Alva Edison/Con Edison Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. He served as Columbia’s Dean of Science for the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and founded Columbia’s Center for Climate & Life, a climate solutions research accelerator.
He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, AGU Emiliani lecturer, a Columbia Lenfest Distinguished Faculty award, and a Distinguished Brooksian award. He earned a doctorate in geology from Columbia University and a master’s degree in oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Lawrence University.

08/04/21: Annual Meeting
2021-08-04 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
Join us for our (virtual) Annual Meeting on August 4th, at 5pm, featuring a talk on: “Cape Cod Archaeology: Past, Present, and Future,” by Holly Herbster, senior archaeologist with the Public Archaeology Laboratory in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
The museum’s business meeting will take place at 5 PM, and Ms. Herbster’s talk will start at 5:30 PM.
The Cape and Islands have a long history of amateur, academic, and professional archaeological investigation, examples of which are highlighted in the current Museum exhibit. Ms. Herbster will talk about how archaeological study has changed over time, what it can add to our understanding of human land use across the Cape, and how it might help tell new stories in the future.
Ms. Herbster worked with the Woods Hole Historical Museum to develop its exhibit, “Left Behind: Clues to Life in the Past,” a display on Native American archaeological sites, ranging from approximately 12,000 to 450 years ago, along with artifacts and images that tell more about the culture of the earliest inhabitants of the region.
Both members and non-members are invited to register for the meeting on the museum’s website, woodsholemuseum.org. Non-members are reminded not to vote in the museum’s business meeting.
Zoom link registration: https://forms.gle/EEEDcJKrx2toMxk56

WHHM Conversation: Wampanoag Homelands on Cape Cod by Fred Dunford
2021-10-13 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
“10,000 Years by the Rising Sea: Wampanoag Homelands on Cape Cod” is the topic of Woods Hole Historical Museum’s conversation by anthropologist and archaeologist Fred Dunford
October 13 at 7 PM, via Zoom.
Dr. Dunford will focus on the manner in which post-glacial sea level rise defined prehistoric ways of life on the Cape.
In his 1997 book, “Secrets in the Sand: The Archaeology of Cape Cod,” Dr. Dunford wrote “When native peoples arrived at Cape Cod about 10,000 years ago, moving northward from the south, they found an environment entirely different from that of today. The land stretched as far south as the present day islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, a gently rolling landscape of open pine forests and grasslands that had succeeded the early post-glacial forests and tundra. The area that is now Nantucket Sound was a vast expanse laced with rivers and bogs, soon to be drowned by the rapidly rising Atlantic.
A graduate of Harvard University, Dr. Dunford earned his doctorate in anthropology at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is currently at the Plimoth Patuxet Museums in Plymouth. He was the resident archaeologist at the Museum of Natural History in Brewster.
Watch the talk here:

12/15/21: 2021 Members’ Holiday Party
2021-12-15 17:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
Join us for our Museum Holiday Party!
December 15, 5 PM (zoom)

Wear your holiday sweaters, hats, jewelry, and join us in our trivia competition! We will have signs from old Woods Hole and Falmouth businesses that are currently displayed in Grumpy’s Pub, and we will test your knowledge of these institutions! Prizes for the top three winners.
Bring a holiday drink or snack, and we’ll toast to a happy holiday season!

Some Falmouth signs from Grumpy’s Pub. Our trivia quiz will highlight mostly Woods Hole!
Sign up now here
Happy Holidays!

WHHM Conversation: Filming with Drones, in Paradise
2022-01-12 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
January 12, 2022
7PM Zoom (Registration link to come.)
Brian Switzer, Woods Hole resident, former public school teacher, and FAA commercial drone pilot, will share his experiences filming Woods Hole, Falmouth and the area using drones at our inaugural 2022 Conversation.
Brian says “It’s all about the subject matter” — in reference to our region’s breathtakingly photogenic aerial views. During the Conversation, Brian will show some of his videos, share his filming process and answer questions from the audience.
Watch the video of the Conversation on YouTube

WHHM Conversation: Meet Jacquelyn Hartman, Falmouth’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer
2022-02-09 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
February 9th, 2022
7PM, Zoom

Introducing Jacquelyn Hartman, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for the town of Falmouth. Ms. Hartman will be interviewed by George Liles (NOAA Fisheries’ Director of Academic Programs and co-founder and director of the Partnership in Education Program (PEP) and will answer questions from the audience at our February 9th conversation.
Watch the video of this conversation:

WHHM Participates in OneFalmouth Community Fundraiser
2022-02-16 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
The Woods Hole Historical Museum is proud to be part of OneFalmouth, a collaboration of 14 local nonprofits working toward a common goal of raising funds together so everyone can benefit. Save the date to watch our telethon on FCTV Channel 13 on February 16, 6pm – 8pm. Donations are welcome at any time at www.onefalmouth.org.

WHPL Annual Fabric and Fiber Sale
2022-03-13 10:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
The background to this event is tied to Falmouth’s recent history and the now non-existent store, The Fabric Corner. That shop, Falmouth’s only fabric store, held a big sale every Super Bowl Sunday, inviting women whose family members were glued to the football game on the TV, giving the family a chance to delight noisily in the game and the women a chance to plan sewing projects. After the store burned down, the Woods Hole Library picked up the idea of continuing the sale, selling donated fabric and yarn for extremely low prices, all on one day in the winter. To tie the event even closer to the Fabric Corner’s history, the Library always holds the sale on Super Bowl Sunday, continuing the tradition of providing an escape from the roaring TV. People have always flocked in, resupplying for winter sewing and knitting projects.

WHHM Conversation: Virtual Model Boat Show Teaser!
2022-04-27 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Woods Hole Historical Museum’s Model Boat Show has been off its usual biannual schedule due to the pandemic. While plans are to host model boat enthusiasts in-person in 2023, this year they showcased five model boat builders in a virtual “Model Boat Show Teaser” on April 27 at 7 PM via Zoom.
Watch the zoom video here:

Arts Falmouth Woods Hole Trad Stroll
2022-05-14 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Woods Hole Historical Museum, 579 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543
As part of the 2022 Woods Hole Trad Stroll, the Museum will host a musical performance in the courtyard by Falmouth Fiddlers at 2pm. Free admission.

06/17/22: Members' Opening Party
2022-06-17 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
In person. Save the Date! Details to follow.

06/18/22: Museum Opens for the Season!
2022-06-18 11:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Welcome to our 2022 season! We’ll have our doors open and exhibits and gift shop ready for you to browse.
Covid restrictions (masks) may apply.

Members Event: Afternoon Delight—The Art of Wine with Expert Becky Sue Epstein
2022-06-25 16:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York)
WHHM Members!— Please join us for a special fundraiser, Afternoon Delight: The Art of Wine with Expert Becky Sue Epstein. Browse wines (donated by Ms. Epstein), and participate in silent donations for your choice of wines. Learn about wine, sip Prosecco, nibble on treats, chat with friends, at this exciting special members’ event!
Tickets are $50 per person. To learn more and to order tickets, click here.

WHHM-WHPL Conversation: Local Shipwrights Restoring a 1967 Royal Lowell Clam Boat
2022-07-01 18:15 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join us on campus for an Open House at the Museum’s Boat Shop with Chuck Verbeck followed by a conversation with Athena Aicher about boat building at the Woods Hole Public Library.
Athena Aicher and Chuck Verbeck are two professional shipwrights living in Woods Hole. They have spent the past five years working at the Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway in Vineyard Haven, and the Quissett Harbor Boatyard, respectively.
Aside from rebuilding Herreshoff 12 1/2s at Quissett, Chuck has been volunteering with the Woods Hole Historical Society, revamping the community boat shop with a few other enthusiastic boat-lovers. At work, Athena has had the opportunity to work on a few notable restorations including the 2019-2020 rebuilding of the Alden cutter, LARK, a boat that had been a fixture in Woods Hole for many years.

They have recently decided to take on a personal restoration project— the rebuilding of a Royal Lowell clam and oyster boat built in 1967. The work is being done in the yard at G and B and includes a full re-framing, new centerline timbers, new deck and rebuilt superstructures.
This even is co-sponsored by the Woods Hole Public Library and the Woods Hole Historical Museum.

Oyster Talk and Tasting 2015
2022-07-07 08:40 (America/New_York)
The Museum held its fourth annual Oyster Talk and Tasting in August. The event began with a talk by local oyster growers Eric Matzen and Pete Chase. Eric and Pete are founding members of the Falmouth Shellfishermen’s Co-operative and have pioneered oyster aquaculture on the Falmouth shore of Buzzards Bay. They described the benefits and challenges of growing oysters on the Cape and gave a demonstration of how to successfully and safely open oysters. After the talk, attendees got to taste oysters from several different locales. Below are some photos from the event.
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Conversation: Fundamentals of Navigation. Thursday, July 20, 2017
2022-07-07 08:40 (America/New_York)
Captain Virginia Land McGuire, Associate Professor of Nautical Science, Sea Education Association, will lead a talk about navigating using charts, compasses, quadrants, sextants, taffrail logs, lead lines and chip lines and other tools in the era of celestial navigation, dead reckoning and coastal piloting. The program will be held at the Woods Hole Public Library, lower level meeting room.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Special Fenway Insiders' Tour to Benefit WHHM 2020 Season!
2022-07-07 08:40 (America/New_York)

08/02/22: WHHM Annual Meeting
2022-08-02 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Woods Hole Church of the Messiah, 22 Church Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, United States
Our speaker will be Brian Switzer, WHYC member and a former commodore, on the 125th anniversary of the Club.
Church of the Messiah, Woods Hole

WHHM-WHPL Conversation: 'An Absolute Beauty'—The Woods Hole Spritsail Boat, with Porter Hoagland
2022-09-29 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Woods Hole Historical Museum, 579 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543
Forty years ago, nautical draftsman Dave Dillion commented on the features of a Woods Hole Spritsail boat: “…I am prejudiced as the devil; I think this is an absolutely beautiful boat….”
Woods Hole Historical Museum’s Conversation, An ‘Absolute Beauty’- The Woods Hole Spritsail Boat on September 29 with Porter Hoagland, retired WHOI scientist who has just completed a two-year wooden boatbuilding and restoration program at the IYRS School of Technology and Trades in Newport, will highlight the distinctive design features of the Spritsail.
He has been restoring a Woods Hole Spritsail boat, circa 1905, and will focus on the design aspects in a historical context as a means to establish the boat’s provenance. The talk concludes with a “field trip” to E.E. Swift’s “Spy” (1893-94) in WHHM’s boat museum, one of 10 such boats known to be extant.
While at IYRS, Dr. Hoagland worked with his teammates to help restore a 1979 Beetle Cat and a 1931 Herreshoff 12½ . From early on, he’s had an interest in sailing cat-rigged boats.
The conversation on Thursday, September 29, at 12:30 PM will take place in the courtyard in front of the boat museum, weather permitting. If necessary, it will be indoors at the neighboring Woods Hole Public Library reading room. The event is co-hosted by the library.
Woods Hole Historical Museum is at 579 Woods Hole Road.

WHHM Conversation: Penikese Island: A Brief History and its New Mission
2023-01-31 19:00 UTC
Woods Hole Historical Museum Conversation
January 31, 7 PM, Zoom
“Penikese Island: A Brief History and its New Mission.”
With Kimberly Ulmer, director, Penikese School
and Justin Reynolds and Ana Isabel Keilson, co-founders and directors, Gull Island Institute
See video of presentation here.

WHHM Conversation: The Pirate's Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd
2023-05-04 19:00 - 20:00 UTC
By Dr. Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos

Watch the recorded Conversation here.
Dr. Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos is a historian, journalist, and author of The Pirate Next Door: The Untold Story of Eighteenth-Century Pirates’ Wives, Families and Communities. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, Southern Living, Virginia Business, and other outlets. She lives in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with her husband, David.

She first became interested in pirates while writing an article in 2002 for The New York Times “Museums” Special Section about the Whydah Pirate Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts. For the last fifteen years she has conducted extensive original research on pirates and their wives in archives in London, Washington, New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She developed a more complete and nuanced history of piracy, and discovered that the lives of pirates, while indeed colorful, were often quite different from those of their literary and cinematic counterparts.

Woods Hole Trad Stroll- Morgan Rattler at the Museum
2023-05-13 15:00 - 16:00 UTC
ArtsFalmouth will hold the Woods Hole Trad Stroll 2023 on Saturday, May 13, in Woods Hole Community Hall, shops, businesses, and open spaces of Woods Hole. Morgan Rattler will perform at the Woods Hole Historical Museum at 3pm. All events are free and open to the public.
There will also be an Artisans Market from 10 AM to 6 PM at the Old Fire House.

Opening Party for Members
2023-06-16 17:00 - 19:00 UTC
Members are invited to join us for our Season 2023 kick-off party, at the Museum, Friday, June 16 from 5 to 7 PM. Learn about our exhibits and mingle with other member-friends!

Opening Day 2023!
2023-06-17 11:00 - 15:00 UTC
Join us for our opening day, Saturday, June 17, 11-3pm to view our exhibits, tour the grounds, and visit our gift shop!

Director's Open House
2023-06-28 14:00 - 16:00 UTC
Come meet Executive Director Sally Piccini. Refreshments will be available.

Members' Party to Celebrate Debbie Scanlon
2023-07-16 17:00 - 19:00 UTC | Woods Hole Historical Museum, 579 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543
WHHM Members are invited to join the Steering Committee for a party honoring former Executive Director Debbie Scanlon who, after 8 years with the Museum, retired in April. Museum courtyard, 5 to 7pm. Refreshments will be served. RSVP: whhmdirector@gmail.com.

Woods Hole Historical Museum Annual Meeting
2023-08-08 17:00 - 19:00 UTC | Woods Hole Church of the Messiah, 22 Church Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, United States
The 2023 Annual Meeting of the Woods Hole Historical Museum will be on August 8th at the Woods Hole Church of the Messiah Parish and Community Center. Museum members will vote on the annual budget and the nominees for Steering Committee officers and directors.

FEATURED SPEAKER
Dan Robb
Author of Sloop: Restoring My Family’s Wooden Sailboat

“BOATS OF WOODS HOLE”
Woods Hole native Dan Robb will tell the captivating story of rebuilding his family’s Herreshoff 12 1/2 and discuss other classic boats beloved by local sailors.
