Calendar of Events
Winter 2011
33rd Annual Model Show
Saturday, February 4, 2012 -Saturday, March 24, 2012
10:00AM-5:00PM
at the USS Constitution Museum
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USS Constitution Museum Photo |
Members of the USS Constitution Model Shipwright Guild display the finest of their craft at the USS Constitution Museum this winter. The Museum and exhibition of models is open to all daily from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Donations encouraged.
Over 50 different ships created by modelers from across New England will be on display, presenting a variety of reproductions from World War II destroyers to fishing dories, ships-in-bottles to sailing vessels. The modelers have masterfully captured the richness of our maritime history in miniature. A panel of Guild members judge qualifying entries on scale, detail and artistic excellence to award the top craftsmen in respective categories. YOU can vote for your favorite model as well!
Sponsored by Boston Marine Society
Click here to learn more!
“A Model of a Good Time”
February School Vacation Week
Saturday, February 18, 2012 - Sunday, February 26, 2012
10:00AM-5:00PM
at the USS Constitution Museum
Enjoy fun for the whole family at the USS Constitution Museum. Discover how USS Constitution earned her nickname "Old Ironsides" in our hands-on gallery programs; test your sailor skills by caulking, or waterproofing, a ship; learn how to write like an officer by using a quill pen, and more! Don't forget to visit our theater to see the 33rd Annual Ship Model Show. Explore over 50 handcrafted models with a special-themed scavenger hunt and family guide to the Museum. After talking with and seeing the modelers in action, try your hand at building a paper boat at our craft station.
Scheduled Activities All Week:
11:00 - Caulking Demonstration
1:00 - Quill Pen Writing
For more information, call (617) 426-1812.
Spring 2012
Discovering American War of 1812 Veterans
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
6:00 - 7:30PM
at New England Historic Genealogical Society (99-101 Newbury Street, Boston, MA)
This year marks the Bicentennial of the War of 1812. Over the past decade, the USS Constitution Museum has researched the lives of over 1,000 members of the Constitution’s War of 1812 crew. Join us as USS Constitution Museum Research Historian Matthew Brenckle presents newly discovered personal stories of the men who made “Old Ironsides” famous. Then, learn how to research War of 1812 veterans using a variety of sources with David Allen Lambert, NEHGS’s Online Genealogist and an expert in tracing military ancestors. Co-sponsored with the USS Constitution Museum.
For more information, call (617) 536-5740. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Sidney Hart, “Visualizing the War of 1812”
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
6:00 - 8:0 PM
at the USS Constitution Museum Theater
Sidney Hart, Ph.D., Senior Historian at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, will present an illustrated lecture about the bicentennial exhibition on the War of 1812, which will open at the National Portrait Gallery on June, 15, 2012. Dr. Hart will be highlighting some of the art works in the exhibition. He will be showing not only works by American artists who depicted the heroes and battles scenes of the war, but also works by Canadian and British artists which will be in the exhibition, some of which have never been exhibited publicly. The USS Constitution Museum is proud to be Boston’s first Smithsonian Institution Affiliate.
Supported by Lowell Institute's Lowell Lecture Series and is free and open to the public. For more information, call (617) 426-1812.
A Sailor’s Life for Me: School Vacation Family Fun
Saturday, April 14, 2012 - Sunday, April 22, 2012
10:00AM - 5:00 PM
at USS Constitution Museum
Swing in a hammock, furl a sail, and experience life at sea in the USS Constitution Museum’s hands-on exhibit, All Hands on Deck. Vacation week activities include demonstrations, crafts, and an exploratory Quest through the galleries.
For more information, call (617) 426-1812.
Lieutenant-General Jonathon Riley, “The World at War, 1812-1815”
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
6:00 - 8:00PM
at the USS Constitution Museum
In 1812, the United States of America declared war on Great Britain, a county already at full stretch with war against France. It was a total war, from which only one side would emerge intact. During the war years, 1812-14, Great Britain’s highest priority, therefore, was not the enemy across the Atlantic Ocean, but the one across the English Channel.
How did the demands of other theatres of the Napoleonic wars affect British military strategy and operations in America? To what degree was the War of 1812 a sideshow? What was the context of coalition and world war in the Napoleonic age?
Lieutenant-General Jonathon Riley CB DSO PhD MA, Director-General and Master of the Royal Armouries, will discuss these and other questions by putting the War of 1812 in a global context. Lieutenant-General Riley is one of Britain's most senior generals having held military commands of British operations in the Balkans as a battalion and brigade commander, in Sierra Leone as Joint Task Force Commander, in Iraq as Divisional Commander, and in Afghanistan as Deputy Commander of all NATO forces. He is a military historian with an MA and a PhD in history and has published fourteen books on military history, most recently the biography of Sir Isaac Brock, the British Field Commander in Canada in 1812: A Matter of Honour. In 2009, General Riley became the Director General and Master of the Royal Armouries (www.royalarmouries.org), the award winning home of Britain's national collections of arms and armour.
For more information, call (617) 426-1812. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Boarding Party and Collections Open House
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
6:00 - 8:00PM
at the USS Constitution Museum
Join us as we kick-off the USS Constitution Museum's commemorations of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 and celebrate a remarkable 200 years of peace between the United States, Great Britain, and Canada.
During this fun, festive evening, you will get a sneak peak at our newest exhibition, the Old Ironsides 1812 Discovery Center, a combined programming and exhibit space that traces the history of the War of 1812 and Constitution's role in that conflict through artifacts and hands-on interactive elements. You will also have the opportunity to see unique artifacts relating to the War of 1812 that are not on display for the public.
All Hands on Deck: Memorial Day Weekend Family Fun
Saturday, May 26, 2012 - May 28, 2012
9:00AM - 6:00PM
at the USS Constitution Museum
Learn about the life of a Marine and Sailor at sea by learning to march, deciding whether to “sign on” to Constitution, and taking part in other demonstrations and craft activities. Discover Constitution’s history with the new exploratory activity, “Mutinous Expedition: A Quest Based on Honest Truth.”
For more information, call (617) 426-1812.