Garden Party a Success
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AUGUST 3, 2024 -- We were happy to have the support of our community and its visitors during our Festival by the Sea Garden Party. We counted 121 guests and appreciated all the positive reviews of our museum and newly restored portico. Woodland Spark provided great music from noon to 2 pm, and Lavender & Moss Floral provided a beautiful arrangement for a silent auction.​This year's Garden Party was inspired by one held on the same day in 1927. The Manchester Historical Society then held its principal event of the season with refreshments and a special exhibit of samplers. The many visitors who attended were greeted by "Miss Arbella," a painted poster created by portraiture student Perry L. Allen.
New Name, New Sign
JUNE 30, 2024 -- The Museum has a new sign with our new name — Manchester-by-the-Sea Museum, which is only the third name to grace the front of the Museum in the past 99 years*. The sign is based on a logo designed by Becca Campbell, Museum Vice President.  Like all good creative ideas, it started with a sketch on a napkin. Becca then worked with Jerry DeFazio of Daily Printing to finalize the logo, which has a crisp and clean design, ideal for visibility.  We would like to give a shout out to both Becca and Jerry!   Our thanks go out to Alison Anholt-White, Museum Trustee — who spearheaded the sign production; from sign creation to mockup testing to installation, and the many steps in between. We also would like to acknowledge Gary Jernegan of Cape Ann Sign, who manufactured and installed the sign. The logo expresses the Museum's brand goals: Welcoming — We invite all to enjoy our town's history and celebrate our community. Coastal DNA — The ocean is woven throughout our town's history and in the stories showcased in the Museum (Merchant Sea Captains, Salt Cod Fish Yards, Summer Seaside Resort era, hydro-powered Cabinetmaking Mills, and even Sea Serpents). *  In 1925, the Abigail Hooper Trask House — at 10 Union Street — became the home of the Manchester Historical Society, which was founded in 1886.  In 2012, the organization changed its name to Manchester Historical Museum, and at the September 2023 Annual Meeting, Museum members voted to change the name to Manchester-by-the-Sea Museum.
Cape Ann Community Foundation Awards Grant to Museum
JUNE 6, 2024 -- The Cape Ann Community Foundation (CACF) awarded the Museum a grant to help develop a new venture to enhance visitors' experiences when visiting MBTS.
Tony Sapienza, Foundation Co-Chair (back row, right) presented the grant to Museum Associate Director Matthew Swindell (back row, center).
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CACF grants are awarded from the proceeds made from the Cape Ann License Plate program and direct donations from the community.
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'Summers by the Sea' Exhibit Opens
JUNE 5, 2024 --The exhibit examines Manchester-by-the-Sea's transformation from a furniture-making mill town to an international summer-resort destination.
A sold-out audience of more than 100 people attended the "Summers by the Sea: Masconomo House Hotel & the Resort Era" exhibit opening and lecture on May 30. Since its opening, the exhibit has been seen by visitors from as far away as Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
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Image from the cover of Masconomo House Hotel's Dinner Menu of August 31, 1881.
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Charles Smith announces grant award to MBTS Museum at Essex Heritage’s Annual Meeting at Hamilton Hall in Salem.
Museum Awarded Grant for Program on MBTS’s Role in American Revolutionary War
APRIL 23, 2024 -- The Manchester-by-the-Sea Museum received a matching grant from Essex Heritage.
The grant will be used to create a new program exploring Manchester-by-the-Sea's role in the American Revolution, particularly focusing on the war at sea and privateering. The Museum plans to unveil the new program next year – to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution.
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About Essex Heritage
Essex Heritage is the nonprofit organization that manages the Essex National Heritage Area. Essex Heritage provides programs that enhance, preserve, and encourage recreation, education, conservation, and interpretation projects on Boston’s North Shore and the Lower Merrimack River Valley. The Essex National Heritage Area comprises the 34 cities and towns of Essex County, MA.
One of the more than 10,000 items in our Collection & Archives.
Welcome to Our New Volunteers
APRIL 22, 2024 -- Joining us are Em Cicala, who is a history major at American University, and Libby Mulry, who is doing her high school senior-year S.C.O.R.E. project at the Museum. In the fall Libby will be studying history at Trinity College in Dublin. Both Em and Libby will be helping with the Museum’s project of digitizing MBTS photos, documents, manuscripts, and records — with the ultimate goal of providing the public with online access to the Archives.
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Interested in volunteering? Contact us at info@MBTSmuseum.org
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Museum's First Anna Coleman Ladd Artwork Added to Collection
APRIL 18, 2024 -- We are delighted to share the good news that the Museum has added to its permanent collection its first artwork by Anna Coleman Ladd (1878 – 1939), the accomplished Manchester-by-the-Sea sculptor and humanitarian. The small bas-relief bronze plaque depicts a woman with outstretched arms, thought to be a self-portrait of Ladd in her World War I American Red Cross uniform. The bronze was created in 1918 in Ladd’s newly opened Paris Studio for Portrait Masks, where she established her humanitarian legacy. Working with the American Red Cross, she pioneered how to sculpt life-like facial prosthetics to help countless soldiers disfigured by severe battle wounds, facilitating their rehabilitation and easing their return to civilian life. "The addition of Ladd's bronze fills a gap in the collection and represents a notable MBTS artist," said Rebecca Campbell, Chair of the Museum’s Curatorial Advisory Committee. “We want visitors to enjoy the diverse forms of expression and the creative talents of prominent artists who worked and lived in MBTS." We would like to extend our thanks to Susana and Robert Thompson of MBTS for this wonderful gift. We hope you will stop by and help us celebrate our newest addition to the collection.