September 26, 2016 — Still basking in the sparkle of its 2-year-old renovation, the Cape Ann Museum is turning its eyes to re-imagining its permanent exhibition of the region’s offshore fishing industry during the halcyon days of sail that bridged the previous two centuries.
The new quest for the museum on Pleasant Street is to re-interpret and re-install the fishing and marine exhibits on its second floor, with a focus on a trio of central themes: the fishing industry as a portal to new lives and opportunities for immigrants; the overarching influence of innovations that sprung from the industry; and man’s struggles against nature as an element of the collective national identity.
“One of our goals is to bring the fishing exhibition up to the same caliber as the other parts of the museum that were transformed in the renovation,” said Martha Oaks, the museum’s curator. “To do that, we want to re-think everything, from physical improvements in the galleries to lighting and attention to the walls.”
It is a heady task, made even more challenging by the elemental nature of fishing to Gloucester’s history and the industry’s seminal role at the core of the Gloucester story and, ultimately, in the development the city’s very identity.
“The challenge will be to take our story and make it relevant to everybody else,” Oaks said.
The good news is Cape Ann Museum will have no shortage of resources available to tell Gloucester’s fishing story from the period of roughly 1840 to 1930.