29th Annual Scrimshaw Weekend at the New Bedford Whaling Museum
Friday, May 12 through Sunday, May 14, 2017
18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA 02740
(508) 997-0046

Since it was first launched in 1989, the annual Scrimshaw Weekend is the world’s only regular forum where collectors, dealers, curators, folk art enthusiasts, whaling history buffs, and casual bystanders nationwide can gather to share their interests in, and insights into, the whalers’ indigenous occupational art of scrimshaw. Defined as the making of utilitarian and decorative objects from the hard byproducts of whaling—sperm whale ivory, walrus ivory, baleen, and skeletal bone—scrimshandering had its heyday on American and foreign whaleships in the Age of Sail, and scrimshaw-making carried over to the modern shore-whaling stations and factory-ships of the 20th century.

Weekend presentations will include:
  • The John Fitzgerald Kennedy Scrimshaw Collection
  • Medicalshaw: Aspects of Medical Practice in Scrimshaw Art
  • The Catalpa Scrimshaw
  • What the Whalemen Wore
  • Scrimshaw in the London South Sea Whale Fishery
  • Scrimshaw in Tasmania —The Art of the Yankee Whale Hunt
  • Annual Market Report
  • Antique Scrimshaw Collectors Association — progress to date 

The New Bedford Whaling Museum holds the world’s largest and most comprehensive scrimshaw collection and has uniquely been hard at work examining and cataloguing scrimshaw from its own collection and from all over the world, disseminating the results. Scrimshaw Weekend is characterized by a wide spectrum of world-class scrimshaw, fine food, new ideas, and high camaraderie. Calculated to come at the tail end of the popular, all-week Brimfield antiques show in May, Scrimshaw Weekend attracts seasoned collectors and distinguished experts as well as antiques dealers, neophyte collectors, whaling history devotees, and interested bystanders from around the world.

The 29th Annual Scrimshaw Weekend:  Friday, May 12 — Sunday, May 14, 2017

The 8th Annual Nautical Antiques Show:  Friday, May 12, 2017 — Noon to 5:00pm, with 11:00am Early Bird special admission, providing opportunities to browse hundreds of high-quality antiques from some of New England’s most respected dealers.

Visit www.whalingmuseum.org/programs/scrimshaw-weekend for complete details and registration information.