South Street Seaport Museum Announces Expanded Digital Galleries in Online Collections Portal

The South Street Seaport Museum announces the release of the next set of collections artifacts for digital visitors to browse, search and enjoy. In March 2021, the museum launched an online collections portal, which today features nearly 3,000 pieces on virtual display, allowing the public to explore New York’s past through archives, artifacts and photographs. of the South Street Seaport Museum.

This fourth edition includes over 900 newly digitized works of art and historic objects spanning a variety of mediums, historical subjects, and themes related to the growth and evolution of the physical fabric of New York City. Taken together, they provide a dynamic picture of New York’s history as a port city, where international trade routes, global cultures and seafaring, including all aspects of life, art and work associated with them, come together at the climax. of New York’s rise as a world capital. Now available, digital galleries can be viewed FREE at seaportmuseum.org/collectionsonline.

Discover history and artwork from the comfort of your own home with the new online database. Comprising objects from the 17th century to the mid-20th century, the online collection consists of a searchable database of works of art and historic artifacts selected from the Seaport Museum’s permanent and working collections of over 28,500 objects, encapsulating New York’s rich maritime heritage. Town.

The four sets of new digital galleries include:

Ceramic Highlights (125)

The Seaport Museum’s ceramics collections are a window into the creation and production of ceramics from the 17th century to the mid-20th century on a global scale. Artifacts included ordinary and ornamental earthenware pieces such as jugs, pitchers, and figurines, as well as porcelain imported from China, as well as “porcelain ware” produced in Western countries. Artifacts also include celebratory transfer printing plates and a wide range of tableware and beverages produced in factories for use aboard the great ocean liner of the early 20th century.

Drawings and watercolor highlights (250)

The museum’s collection of drawings and watercolors includes depictions of New York’s waterfront and landmarks, renowned ships, and marine subjects from around the world. Items include a wide range of works on paper, from preparatory studies and sketches to finished works produced for New York maritime companies and publications, as well as unique compositions by sailors documenting their experiences at sea. of art, ranging from the 18th to the 20th century, are often rare and praised for their aesthetic appeal.

Highlight lithographs and engravings (250)

The South Street Seaport Museum houses an outstanding collection of over 2,500 lithographs and prints. These prints primarily depict New York City scenes, New York Harbor landscapes, the American Civil War, and portraits of famous clippers and ocean liners. Our collection of prints focuses primarily on popular American lithographs produced in the mid-19th century by New York firms such as Currier & Ives and Endicott & Co.; however, the collections of the Seaport Museum also include a growing number of works on paper from the 20th century.

Wendell Lorang Maritime Postcard Collection (300)

This collection contains 20th century postcards donated by Wendell Lorang in 2005. The collection is organized into five main categories: Ocean Liners, Steamships, Coastal Steamers and Ferries, United States Navy Warships and Battleships, Sailors and shipboard activities, and shipyards, ports. and ports. Postcards cover European countries and parts of the United States, and although not all Museum postcards were mailed and do not include handwritten messages, many of them do, sharing their uniqueness as historical documents and voices of the past.

Other virtual highlights of the South Street Seaport Museum collections include the following categories on seaportmuseum.org/collections: Architectural elements, manuscripts and ephemera, navigational instruments and shipwright’s tools, objects around the district, paintings, photographs, history of printing, Scrimshaw, ship components, ship models, special collections, collection of tattoos, vestiges former hotels, institutional archives and maritime reference library.

The South Street Seaport Museum collections include more than 28,500 works of art and artifacts and over 55,000 historical documents documenting New York’s rise as a port city and its role in the development of the economy and business of the United States through social and architectural landscapes. The museum’s collections trace the history of New York Harbor and Harbor, from the East River piers and waterfront areas of Manhattan, to the city’s other boroughs and the New Jersey shoreline. The museum also documents and interprets New York’s international trade routes, world cultures, and seafaring, including all aspects of life, art, and work associated with them.

For a deeper dive into the collection, visit the Museum’s ‘Collections Chronicles’ blog where the collections team takes readers behind the scenes to share some of their work, while highlighting the hidden gems of the museum. history, the seaport and the collection of the seaport museum in seaportmuseum.org/blog/collections-chronicles/.