New Bedford Whaling Museum

Address
18 Johnny Cake Hill
New Bedford, MA 02740 United States Get Directions
Phone (508) 997-0046

Events at this venue

Today

  • Author Book Talk: Seth Rockman

    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States +1 more

    Thursday, September 24 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Free, virtual program; registration required About the Author: Seth Rockman is a historian of the United States focusing on the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War and serves as George L. Littlefield Professor of American History and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of History at Brown University. His research unfolds at the intersection of slavery studies, labor history, material culture studies, and the history of capitalism. Rockman’s earlier work— the award-winning Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore (2009) and the co-edited volume Slavery’s Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development (2016)— sought to better understand the relationship of slavery and capitalism in the American past. In December 2022, Rockman shared his research findings with the US House Financial Services Committee in live testimony. Rockman’s newest book, Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery, was published by University of Chicago Press in Fall 2024 and named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. The book won the 2025 Philip Taft Labor History Book Award, earned distinction as a finalist for the Mark Lynton History Prize, and appears on the longlist […]

  • 29th Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival

    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States

    ONE WORLD - ONE WEEK - ONE FESTIVAL Experience the 29th Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival at the Whaling Museum Thursday, September 24, 2026 | Doors: 5:30 PM & Screening: 6:00 PM Step into the global spotlight as the Whaling Museum proudly hosts the 29th Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival, uniting over 100,000 film enthusiasts across 400 venues on six continents. Be part of the excitement as we screen a selection of world-class short films and cast your vote to decide the coveted awards for Best Film and Best Actor. Enjoy the magic of cinema like never before with theater-quality projection in the Cook Memorial Theater, bringing every frame to life with stunning clarity and vibrant detail. What makes this festival truly extraordinary? Each short film earns automatic Oscar qualification, making MANHATTAN SHORT the ultimate stage for celebrating visionary directors and captivating performances. Your vote matters, and the winners will be revealed at ManhattanShort.com after the festival concludes. Don’t miss this unforgettable evening of creativity, inspiration, and cinematic brilliance.

  • LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900

    LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900
    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States

    Co-Led by Naomi Slipp, Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Chair for the Chief Curator & Director of Museum Learning; Marina Dawn Wells, Assistant Curator of History & Culture This unique virtual course combines six weekly 80-minute sessions of lecture and discussion, with a culminating hands-on workshop at the Museum. Learn what photography is and how it transformed the world directly from experts in the field using the vast resources of the NBWM photography collection as your study materials. Everyone walks around today with a camera in our pocket. But that was not always the case. Our world is saturated with photographic images – from magazine covers and Facebook feeds to Instagram and billboards–but have you ever stopped to wonder how these images work, what they are trying to say to you, or what histories they may connect with? This course introduces life-long learners to the history of photography, from the invention of the medium in 1839 to the birth of Kodak and snapshot photography in 1900. Photographs will be studied as art objects and historical artifacts. Themes include technological innovations; debates between art photography, commercial photography, and documentary photography; government and private patronage; individual or collective endeavors; original and published […]

  • Art Talks! Adrian R. Tió

    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States +1 more

    Friday, October 2, 12:00-1:00pm Free, virtual program; registration required Online series featuring conversations with artists working on projects with or at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. About the artist: The artist was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to parents who had emigrated from the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico. Tió received his fine arts training from the University of Cincinnati (M.F.A. 1979) and Temple University (B.A. 1974) as well as post-baccalaureate study with the Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy (1975-76). The artist has exhibited nationally as well as regionally in printmaking, drawing, and painting for over 50 years, and has conducted workshops on mural painting, papermaking and the book arts. Tió has received recognition for his work through exhibition awards and creative research grants from Arts Midwest/NEA, Indiana Arts Commission, Indiana State University Arts Endowment, Ohio Arts Council, New Forms Regional Grant Program, Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, and Bowling Green State University. Residing in Mattapoisett, MA, Tió is a retired Professor of Fine Arts having served on the faculties at Bowling Green State University, Indiana State University, Northern Illinois University, and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Tió presently maintains Hare of the Dog Press & Studio in […]

  • LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900

    LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900
    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States

    Co-Led by Naomi Slipp, Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Chair for the Chief Curator & Director of Museum Learning; Marina Dawn Wells, Assistant Curator of History & Culture This unique virtual course combines six weekly 80-minute sessions of lecture and discussion, with a culminating hands-on workshop at the Museum. Learn what photography is and how it transformed the world directly from experts in the field using the vast resources of the NBWM photography collection as your study materials. Everyone walks around today with a camera in our pocket. But that was not always the case. Our world is saturated with photographic images – from magazine covers and Facebook feeds to Instagram and billboards–but have you ever stopped to wonder how these images work, what they are trying to say to you, or what histories they may connect with? This course introduces life-long learners to the history of photography, from the invention of the medium in 1839 to the birth of Kodak and snapshot photography in 1900. Photographs will be studied as art objects and historical artifacts. Themes include technological innovations; debates between art photography, commercial photography, and documentary photography; government and private patronage; individual or collective endeavors; original and published […]

  • LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900

    LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900
    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States

    Co-Led by Naomi Slipp, Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Chair for the Chief Curator & Director of Museum Learning; Marina Dawn Wells, Assistant Curator of History & Culture This unique virtual course combines six weekly 80-minute sessions of lecture and discussion, with a culminating hands-on workshop at the Museum. Learn what photography is and how it transformed the world directly from experts in the field using the vast resources of the NBWM photography collection as your study materials. Everyone walks around today with a camera in our pocket. But that was not always the case. Our world is saturated with photographic images – from magazine covers and Facebook feeds to Instagram and billboards–but have you ever stopped to wonder how these images work, what they are trying to say to you, or what histories they may connect with? This course introduces life-long learners to the history of photography, from the invention of the medium in 1839 to the birth of Kodak and snapshot photography in 1900. Photographs will be studied as art objects and historical artifacts. Themes include technological innovations; debates between art photography, commercial photography, and documentary photography; government and private patronage; individual or collective endeavors; original and published […]

  • Boundless: The Book as Art

    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States

    What is a book? In its simplest form, it is a repository of words, images, information, or ideas but how can a book be reinterpreted or altered and still be a book? Where is “art” in bookmaking? How do design, structure, and materiality relate to the book as art? These questions underlie Boundless: The Book as Art, a major exhibition in the Wattles Family Gallery opening in October 2026. The New Bedford Whaling Museum has over 20,000 books in its collection that range from rare folios, first editions and scrolls to scrapbooks, journals, logbooks, and artist books. Spanning nearly 500 years, these works were printed around the globe and in dozens of languages and cover topics as diverse as shipbuilding, natural history and global exploration to visual arts, poetry and literature. In Boundless, a variety of book formats from the Museum collection are placed in conversation with works from contemporary artists including Andrea Dezsö (b. 1968), Melanie Mowinski (b. 1970), Anneli Skaar (b. 1969), and Tracey Cockrell who transform and rethink the idea and format of the book. When exhibited alongside historic books, these contemporary works—complex and varying in structure and design—create a dialogue around the boundaries of traditional book […]

  • LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900

    LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900
    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States

    Co-Led by Naomi Slipp, Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Chair for the Chief Curator & Director of Museum Learning; Marina Dawn Wells, Assistant Curator of History & Culture This unique virtual course combines six weekly 80-minute sessions of lecture and discussion, with a culminating hands-on workshop at the Museum. Learn what photography is and how it transformed the world directly from experts in the field using the vast resources of the NBWM photography collection as your study materials. Everyone walks around today with a camera in our pocket. But that was not always the case. Our world is saturated with photographic images – from magazine covers and Facebook feeds to Instagram and billboards–but have you ever stopped to wonder how these images work, what they are trying to say to you, or what histories they may connect with? This course introduces life-long learners to the history of photography, from the invention of the medium in 1839 to the birth of Kodak and snapshot photography in 1900. Photographs will be studied as art objects and historical artifacts. Themes include technological innovations; debates between art photography, commercial photography, and documentary photography; government and private patronage; individual or collective endeavors; original and published […]

  • LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900

    LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900
    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States

    Co-Led by Naomi Slipp, Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Chair for the Chief Curator & Director of Museum Learning; Marina Dawn Wells, Assistant Curator of History & Culture This unique virtual course combines six weekly 80-minute sessions of lecture and discussion, with a culminating hands-on workshop at the Museum. Learn what photography is and how it transformed the world directly from experts in the field using the vast resources of the NBWM photography collection as your study materials. Everyone walks around today with a camera in our pocket. But that was not always the case. Our world is saturated with photographic images – from magazine covers and Facebook feeds to Instagram and billboards–but have you ever stopped to wonder how these images work, what they are trying to say to you, or what histories they may connect with? This course introduces life-long learners to the history of photography, from the invention of the medium in 1839 to the birth of Kodak and snapshot photography in 1900. Photographs will be studied as art objects and historical artifacts. Themes include technological innovations; debates between art photography, commercial photography, and documentary photography; government and private patronage; individual or collective endeavors; original and published […]

  • Author Book Talk: Janna Malamud Smith

    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States +1 more

    Thursday, October 29 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Free, virtual program; registration required About the Author: Janna Malamud Smith is a writer and psychotherapist. She is the author of five books, Private Matters: In Defense of the Personal Life (1997) and A Potent Spell: Mother Love and the Power of Fear (2003), were chosen as “Notable Books” by The New York Times Sunday Book Review, My Father is a Book: A Memoir of Bernard Malamud (2006), was selected as a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and a New York Times Editor’s Choice, An Absorbing Errand: How Artists and Craftsmen Make Their Way to Mastery, and When the Island Had Fish: The Remarkable Story of a Maine Fishing Community. Her articles and essays have appeared nationally and internationally in newspapers, magazines and literary journals including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The International Herald Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, American Scholar, Family Circle and The Threepenny Review, and she writes regularly for Cognoscenti, an opinion website for WBUR a Boston NPR station. She studied American History and Literature in college, and then pursued a graduate degree in clinical social work. She is mostly retired from clinical practice […]

  • National Authors’ Day 2026

    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States

    Celebrate National Authors’ Day at the New Bedford Whaling Museum National Authors’ Day, observed each year on November 1, is dedicated to recognizing the writers whose work educates, entertains, and preserves our cultural heritage. In honor of the day, the New Bedford Whaling Museum invites visitors to celebrate the authors who illuminate maritime history, whaling traditions, and coastal life through their words and illustrations. Throughout the day, explore a special pop-up book sale in the Jacobs Family Gallery featuring a thoughtfully curated selection from the Museum Store. Titles will include maritime history, whaling adventures, regional and coastal culture, and illustrated books for both children and adults—perfect for history enthusiasts, families, and lifelong learners alike. Visitors will also have the opportunity to meet select authors in person, hear about the research and inspiration behind their work, and have books signed during the event. These informal encounters offer a unique chance to connect directly with the storytellers and scholars who help bring the Museum’s collections and New Bedford’s seafaring past to life. All activities are included with regular Museum admission. Join us in celebrating the power of storytelling and discover the voices that continue to shape our understanding of the sea and […]

  • LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900

    LIFELONG LEARNING: Short-course in the History of Photography, 1839-1900
    New Bedford Whaling Museum 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, United States

    Co-Led by Naomi Slipp, Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Chair for the Chief Curator & Director of Museum Learning; Marina Dawn Wells, Assistant Curator of History & Culture This unique virtual course combines six weekly 80-minute sessions of lecture and discussion, with a culminating hands-on workshop at the Museum. Learn what photography is and how it transformed the world directly from experts in the field using the vast resources of the NBWM photography collection as your study materials. Everyone walks around today with a camera in our pocket. But that was not always the case. Our world is saturated with photographic images – from magazine covers and Facebook feeds to Instagram and billboards–but have you ever stopped to wonder how these images work, what they are trying to say to you, or what histories they may connect with? This course introduces life-long learners to the history of photography, from the invention of the medium in 1839 to the birth of Kodak and snapshot photography in 1900. Photographs will be studied as art objects and historical artifacts. Themes include technological innovations; debates between art photography, commercial photography, and documentary photography; government and private patronage; individual or collective endeavors; original and published […]