Legacy of Azorean Whalers

This 3-day installation of the exhibit featured a lecture by NBWM President James Russell, assisted by Alison Smart, NBWM Director of Development. It was hosted by the San Diego Portuguese Historical Society at the Point Loma, CA Public Library, February 23-25, 2012. The exhibit tells the story of whaling in the Azorean Archipelago and its role in the development of American whaling, in particular from the port of New Bedford, which became the whaling capital of the world by the 1850s. Transcending an ocean and national borders, a cultural bond was established over the centuries by whalers using “a bridge of whale ships,” which linked the nine islands to the continental United States.

The traveling exhibit introduces a larger, permanent exhibition at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, The Azorean Whaleman Gallery, which chronicles the global contributions and impact of the Portu¬guese speaking world on American maritime history – the only permanent gallery of its kind in the United States. It was made possible through a gift from the Government of Portugal – Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The traveling exhibit consists of fifteen large modular panels and includes an introduction to the New Bedford Whaling Museum; Subsistence Whaling; Early Commercial Whaling; Yankee Innovation; The Hunt; The Whaling Capital of the World; Cultural Crossroads; Whaling in the Azores; Familia Dabney; Helping Hands; Dabneys Document the Azores; and Azorean New Bedford.

Photos by Robert Sandberg