MIT Museum to Celebrate a New England Icon
Opening October 2018 at the MIT Museum, “Lighter, Stronger, Faster” spotlights the revolutionary design of Rhode Island’s Herreshoff boats.
By Yankee Staff|Aug 16 2018|
The Gloriana
Credit: Courtesy MIT Museum
Herreshoff boats
Credit: Courtesy MIT MuseumCredit: Courtesy MIT Museum “The whole collection is going online, making it the first major marine design collection available on the World Wide Web,” Hasselbalch says. “There are other design collections and other marine design pieces and bits and pieces around the world, but if you look, there isn’t really anything really close to this in terms of scale and historic importance.” To spotlight that landmark achievement, the MIT Museum organized the complementary exhibit “Lighter, Stronger, Faster.” And it’s a big undertaking in its own right. The estimated 5,000-square-foot exhibit will feature close to 130 objects — artifacts, plans, photographs, art — and a combination of multimedia, hands-on, and digital interactive displays to tell the Herreshoff story.
The Gloriana
Credit: Courtesy MIT MuseumCredit: Courtesy MIT Museum Although Nathanael Herreshoff, also known as N.G. or Captain Nat, would become famous in boating circles worldwide for his innovative boat designs (even earning the nickname “the Wizard of Bristol”), the story that the exhibit tells is not just “a hero story,” says Hasselbalch. “It’s a story is about brothers, it’s about an incredible New England family…. There are things that they did that have become emblematic of how you build a really good product,” he says. “The Herreshoff focus was to design and build the very best thing that you can. What a great, simple formula.” “Lighter, Stronger, Faster: The Herreshoff Legacy” opens 10/18 and will run for at least two years as a “bridge exhibition” between the MIT Museum’s current home on Mass. Ave. and its in-progress new facility in Kendall Square. The Herreshoffs also have a permanent spotlight in their hometown of Bristol, Rhode Island, in the form of the venerable Herreshoff Marine Museum/America’s Cup Hall of Fame.
SEE MORE: Uncharted Waters | Timeless New England Bristol, Rhode Island | Fall Day Trip Maritime Trail | 400 Years of Seafaring History
