Museum Pieces: History through young lives
“It’s important to me that I create the type of representation I want to see.” –Zoe Alphonse
Zoe Alphonse is a 16-year-old filmmaker from Chicago whose family also has a residence on the Vineyard. It...
Museum Pieces: Devin, the Semenaks, and a Big Red Dog
“We are a glass-half-full type of family.” –Judah Semenak
It was a special day at Martha’s Vineyard Museum on July 11 when we welcomed the Semenak family from Ottawa, the capital of Canada. They came...
Museum Pieces: Discover the Island
“My mother believed that a North Atlantic summer was one of the most magical gifts in life.” –Caroline B. Kennedy
Martha’s Vineyard is a mystical place full of lore, thanks to its first people, the...
Museum Pieces: Independence, fireworks, and fire engines
“As the sun dips to dusk, downtown Edgartown pairs pyrotechnics with a picturesque backdrop of its iconic lighthouse and seascape.” –MV Times, June 28, 2023
Edgartown Lighthouse is part of Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s roster of...
Museum Pieces: Oral histories, Eisenstadt, small business, and more
“I could never in a hundred summers get tired of this.” –Susan Branch
It’s here. The summer of 2024! What memories will we make and keep forevermore? All of us at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum...
Museum Pieces: History lives here
Why visit a museum on Martha’s Vineyard during summer? Isn’t it time to “turn off your mind, relax and float downstream,” to paraphrase the Beatles tune “Tomorrow Never Knows”? There are so many other...
‘Sailing to Freedom’
“Sailing to Freedom” at the M.V. Museum dives into the lesser-known history of the Underground Railroad — the maritime route to freedom.
The show is based on research by Dr. Timothy Walker and a previous...
‘Sailing to Freedom’
“Sailing to Freedom” at the M.V. Museum dives into the lesser-known history of the Underground Railroad — the maritime route to freedom.
The show is based on research by Dr. Timothy Walker and a previous...
Museum Pieces: Link to the past and the future
“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.” —Sue Monk Kidd
Our curatorial team worked with Dr. Timothy Walker on the...
Museum Pieces: Knowing our way through history
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” –Henry David Thoreau
I was walking along the beach in...
Museum Pieces: Connecting with the past
“... because you can’t take it all in at once.” –Audrey Hepburn
The past matters to all of us, no matter our previously held feelings about museums, or how we engage with them. The M.V....
Ferry Tales
If you think regularly getting to and from our beloved Vineyard now by ferry can sometimes be challenging, imagine relying on the very first ones, in the 1700s. Powered only by the wind in...
Museum Pieces: The Cooke House renaissance
We wake up each morning, some of us with a plan, others of us wondering what to do. It can be said that the more we know who we are, the easier it is...
Museum Pieces: Island music
“I enjoy music wherever it’s coming from.” –Taj Mahal
Music is the pulse of a community. It helps set memories, spark ideas, and save stories. Martha’s Vineyard Museum values local music and musicians for the...
Museum Pieces: Voices
“Their lost voices must continue to be heard.” –John Boyne, “Boy in the Striped Pajamas��
Martha’s Vineyard Museum is the protector of hundreds of our Island’s lost voices through the work of longtime oral history...
‘Voices of Land and Sea’ with Linsey Lee
If you love the Island and like a good story, you are in for a treat on Tuesday, May 14, at 5:30 pm, when Linsey Lee, oral history curator at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum,...
Museum Pieces: Celebrating choices
“Life is the sum of your choices.” —Albert Camus
Choices. There are too many sometimes, right? Some of us are better than others at making them. Those of us who are lucky enough to have...
Museum Pieces: Feel free to explore
“Would you like your adventure now, or should we have our tea first?” —J.M.Barrie
J.M. Barrie was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was someone who stirred...
Museum Pieces: Focus on environment
“The photographs I take on Martha’s Vineyard are taken because I feel something special. Nowhere in the world is there a place more beautiful than this.” —Alfred Eisenstaedt
The noted Life Magazine photographer made that...
Museum Pieces: What’s in your garden?
“To have a devoted neighbor rob her own garden to give you plants that shriek at your own plants and devastate your scheme of decoration, is about as unhappy a garden situation as can...