Collections Corner
Welcome to Collections Corner! Back in November, we launched an IMLS grant-funded project to more fully catalog a large portion of our collection. The results will make it easier to find and learn about objects in the museum’s online catalog. … Read more
From the Archives: One Foggy Morning
109 years ago today, Lieutenant John A. Lord, superintending constructor at Bath Iron Works, enjoyed a foggy morning commute to work. Lord and his family were spending the summer in a “farmhouse cottage” in Westport, and Lord was commuting by … Read more
From the Archives: Shipping Sulphur
118 years ago, Portland was a hub for importing and distributing sulphur and brimstone to paper mills, match factories, glue makers, and other manufacturers around New England. Business was good, and the Union Sulphur Company, which shipped sulphur to Portland … Read more
From the Archives: Pricing Potato Peelers
111 years ago this week at Bath Iron Works, Edward O. Cutler was calculating how much it would cost to install an automated potato peeler in the scout cruiser USS Chester. Calculating materials, labor, and company profit, he estimated … Read more
From the Archives: This Week in 1898…
This week in 1898, the Bath ship Benjamin F Packard was enjoying a relatively calm mid-summer passage around Cape Horn. Captain Zaccheus Allen’s son, Thomas, listed some of the highlights in his journal: “Jan. 7. Wind from the Northward & … Read more
From the Archives: Christmas at Sea
This is Maria Murphy’s description of Christmas at sea on the Bath-built ship Shenandoah in 1896. Her husband, Jim, was the captain. Their 19-year-old daughter, Jane, and 17-year-old son, Wilder, were also aboard; Wilder, who had grown up at sea, … Read more