New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center receives $20K grant

NEW BEDFORD – The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center was awarded a $20,000 Maritime Heritage Grant to fund a 15-minute orientation film tentatively titled, “Resilience: The Story of New Bedford’s Fishing Industry.”

The center was one of 34 projects in 19 states to receive a portion of the total $2,580,197 Maritime Heritage Grant funding awarded in 2015.

Big Ocean Media was hired by the center to produce the film, which will introduce and outline the last century of New Bedford’s commercial fishing industry. The film is estimated to be completed for the summer 2017 season and will be shown at the Fishing Heritage Center, which is set to open June 25 in the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

Other venues to show the film include the State Pier Ferry Terminal, the city’s Waterfront Visitor Center, Seastreak Fast Ferry trips to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket cruise ships.

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Grant money awarded to the center was provided by the Maritime Heritage Program, part of the National Park Service’s Park History Program, which advances the awareness of the role of maritime events in the nation’s history.

In addition, the center is hosting two free events focused on preserving cultural heritage of the coastal fishing community and digitizing maritime history.

An Industry Antiques Road Show will be held on Tuesday, May 10, at 7 p.m. where members of the community will display photographs, papers and fishing paraphernalia to document how the industry has changed over time. The event is free and open to the public and will be held at the Fishing Heritage Center (38 Bethel St.).

From 11 a.m to 3 p.m. on May 21, the public is invited to bring photographs, documents and artifacts which demonstrate their fishing heritage to the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park (33 William St.) for Fishing Heritage Digitizing Day. Those items brought by the public will be scanned or photographed onto a USB drive to create a digital record in the hopes of preserving the way of life for future generations. Preservation specialists will also be on sight to provide wear-and-tear advice and identify people and places in older photographs. In addition, an oral historian will record memories of those who wish to share. Those who bring in an artifact will receive a digital file; however, files will also be copied and stored at the University of Massachusetts Boston, UMass Dartmouth, the New Bedford Public Library and the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center.

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