Collections Care Projects

This monumental desk is among the largest and most elaborate scrimshaw pieces in the Collection.

Created when giant paintings unrolled in front of a paying audience, this Panorama survives as a nationally important artifact of American culture.

Until recently, much of the scrimshaw collection was showing its age. Repairs and restoration of nearly 100 pieces of scrimshaw is now complete.

This large (40” x 28”) poster made of extremely thin, brittle paper was severed completely in half, was riddled with smaller tears, and had ragged edges.

Built by Gerrit Knip, a clockmaker in Amsterdam, this clock was part of the Samuel Rodman household when it moved in the 1790s from Nantucket to New Bedford.