Garden Party a Success
​
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.
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).
​
CACF grants are awarded from the proceeds made from the Cape Ann License Plate program and direct donations from the community.
​
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.
​
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.
​
Interested in volunteering? Contact us at info@MBTSmuseum.org
​
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.