Past Exhibits

A Storied Lens
The photographic world of Norman Fortier.
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Working Waterfront, Photographic Portraits
Working Waterfront, Photographic Portraits focuses on local shoreside workers and their jobs: from fish cutter to purveyor, from welder to auctioneer, from lumper to inspector, as well as fishermen.
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From The Deep
The 45-ton whale was found beached off Great Point, Nantucket, on June 7, 2002. The National Marine Fisheries Service awarded the specimen to the Museum because of the institution’s historic ties with the sperm whale and its commitment to placing the whale on public view.
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Needle/Work - Art, Craft, and Industry in a Port City
Needlework as an art, craft, and industry has played a significant role in the history of New Bedford and its environs.
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Industry and Nature Collide: Photographs of Modern Shore Whaling Stations
In the late 1990s, photographers Henry W. Kendall and Nicholas Whitman had the opportunity to visit the geographically isolated sites of former shore whaling operations.
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William Bradford: Sailing Ships & Arctic Seas
Comprises 68 oil paintings -- many to be shown in public for the first time -- as well as drawings, prints, sketchbooks and photographs drawn from museums, galleries and private collections throughout the country.
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The Panorama
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, the Whaling Museum showcases one of the novel’s most compelling sources of inspiration – Russell and Purrington’s 1,300-foot-long moving panorama – in the Special Exhibit Gallery.
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