Mystic Seaport recently acquired a significant new addition to the
collection, a 1946 60' wooden-hulled "eastern rig dragger," (commercial
fishing boat) named Roann.  We already possessed the designer's and
builder's plans in our manuscript (ships' plans) collection, and we were
able to send a team - video, photograph, and oral history - on her final
trawl this June, to document the vessel at work.

Purchasing the vessel from the fisherman/owner was a firm donation from a
"friend" of Roann and the museum; however, our board of directors placed a
contingency on the actual acquisition -- a substantial endowment had to be
raised for Roann's maintenance within a short time period, or the
acquisition would not take place.  The community came through; major
amounts from individual donors to fishermen pledging $100 a year for the
next five years.

Roann is afloat and will be exhibited at the museum's waterfront, thus
maintenance is obviously an on-going/never ending task.  The cost of this
maintenance is likewise never going to disappear.

This situation is a bit different from a painting which needs to be
restretched, so I thought an example such as this might broaden the
perspective.  Yes, our museum will, in certain instances, request (even
require) donations for care of collections with new acquisitions.

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Edward Baker
Supervisor of Interpretation
Mystic Seaport Museum
Box 6000
Mystic, CT  06355
(860)572-0711
[log in to unmask]
http://www.mysticseaport.org
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