Current Exhibitions
This special exhibit features artwork by the student winners of the international Ocean Awareness Contest run by local nonprofit Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs.
Featuring some of the more tempestuous works of marine painting in the collection along with a selection of Matthew Fontaine Maury’s Wind and Current Charts.
An exploration of our extraordinary collections of Golden Age Dutch and Flemish paintings through a fresh lens.
This exhibition presents a unique opportunity to see many works from private collections by a truly remarkable local artist.
Sculptures by Kristian Brevik viewable at various locations in the Jacobs Family Gallery.
The second installation of a major expansion of Whales Today, the Museum’s whale ecology, ocean health and marine mammal conservation exhibition.
An exhibition devoted to the life, times, and legacy of Captain Paul Cuffe — an abolitionist, entrepreneur, merchant, whaler, navigator and much more.
Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, a.k.a. Frederick Douglass was a fiery orator, author, champion of abolition, women’s rights and a freedom fighter in the age of the Civil War.
Stand on the bow of the world’s largest model whaleship, the Lagoda, and watch the Panorama scroll by in a life-sized digital format projected in a full theatrical setting.
An exploration of the remarkable life of Manjiro Nakahama (1827-1898), the first Japanese person to live in and learn English in the U.S.
This companion exhibition to Enlightened Encounters focuses on the broader connections between the eastern seaboard of America and Asia.
An exhibition accompanying Stan Grayson’s new biography of Joshua Slocum – the first person to circumnavigate the globe singlehandedly.
Featuring New England Fine and Decorative Arts, including the Museum’s Pairpoint and Mount Washington Glass Collections.
Focusing on the people, products, and infrastructures behind the rhythmic rises and falls of an industrial city.
This exhibition contextualizes the story of yankee whaling within the larger scope of Old Dartmouth history and the evolution of the port city of New Bedford.
This exhibition highlights the men, materials and activities aboard a whaling vessel.
Grab your passport and experience the diversity of cultures encountered by whalers as they travel the world.
A sumptuous exhibition of the best, most representative, and most compelling curiosities of our vast scrimshaw holdings.
Connections between New Bedford and Cape Verde, the unique characteristics of Cape Verdean culture, and the special legacy of that culture and history here in New Bedford.
Chronicling Azorean/American cultural exchange in the 19th century.
Climb aboard an 89-foot, half-scale model of the Bark Lagoda, built inside the Bourne Building in 1916.
View outdoor installations on the Museum Plaza, along Water Street and from the Davis Observation Deck.
Figureheads, shipwright's tools, sternboard carvings and more can be found on display in the Cook Memorial Theater.
