It's official!   Restoration of the Baltimore Museum of Industry's 1942 shipyard crane started on April 3, as heavy equipment arrived on the BMI campus. The crane's 80-foot long boom was removed, and placed on the ground to be painted and repaired.  The crane tower will be encased in plastic to protect passers-by before removing the old paint, and when the plastic comes off and the boom is replaced six weeks from now--voila! A gleaming green crane.

 

During restoration, you'll see a small staging area in our parking lot--but the museum will be open to visitors! 

 

Our whirley crane--so called because its cab could rotate a full 360 degrees--built WWII Liberty and Victory ships at the Bethlehem Steel Fairfield Shipyard. Later, it was moved to the Key Highway shipyard, where it remained until 1982, when the yard closed. Shortly afterwards, it was donated to the BMI and has resided on our museum campus ever since. We are so grateful to the many community members whose generosity enabled us to reach our $700,000 Phase I campaign goal.

 

But we're not quite done yet. Phase II will add an energy-efficient LED lighting system to complete the crane's transformation. With just the click of a button, we can change the color: think orange for the O's; purple for the Ravens; red, white, and blue for July 4^th. We have just $75,000 left to reach our Phase II campaign goal.  For more details on the restoration plans and how you can help out, click here.

Stay updated on the Crane! Be sure to check our website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts to follow along on our shipyard crane's transformative journey.

Happy National Volunteer Month! We are so grateful to have an extraordinary group of volunteers who dedicate their time, knowledge, and energy to help make the BMI a fun and engaging space for the community. Originally from Queens in New York City, Phil Levery decided to join the BMI team about three years ago.

 

"As I was approaching 70 and about to retire, I decided to cut back on my work hours and dedicate some of my time to volunteering. The BMI looked interesting--it had a lot of old stuff, a machine shop, and a lot of goodies that I could work on. At the same time the museum needed a lot of help so I decided to become a volunteer," says Phil.

 

Once a week, Phil can be found in the museum addressing tasks ranging from fixing machine shop equipment and neon signs to performing plumbing and electrical work. Phil has proven to be handy in many areas, and confesses that he does not shy away from tackling tasks he hasn't done before, stemming from his years of experience working on hi-tech, mechanical, and industrial equipment at local factories and agencies such as NASA, B. Green & Company, and Westinghouse, now known as Northrop Grumman.

 

Phil claims he does not like to sit still and spends his spare time painting, writing poetry, traveling, and spending time with loved ones. He's currently the president of the Annapolis Chess Club and teaches chess at a senior center in Glen Burnie.

 

Without hesitation, he confessed that his favorite BMI gallery is the Machine Shop because of all the machinery on display. "I used to work on more modern types of equipment and it's good to see that basic machines like those in the Machine Shop still exist today even though they're run by computers instead of people. They work the same way--mechanically things like belts may have been replaced by motors, but the way they perform and the jobs they do function just like these old machines."

 

Thank you, Phil, for the invaluable impact you make at the BMI!

The BMI's multi-year effort to preserve and share Bethlehem Steel's legacy is moving ahead with several new initiatives. We've created a dedicated page on the museum's website to provide updates on events, connect with former Bethlehem Steel workers and families, provide information on the artifact donation process, and more. Dozens of community members have already responded to offer support for the project, from sharing their story as a worker at the mill, to offering to assist with cataloging artifacts in our Bethlehem Steel archives.

	Wooden shoes at Bethlehem Steel.

Members of our collections team have been onsite at Tradepoint Atlantic (which is redeveloping the former Bethlehem Steel site at Sparrows Point) once a week, sorting and cataloging artifacts like signs, photographs, company and mill records, drawings, books, and clothing. They've even come across a pair of large wooden shoes that were worn over work boots to prevent the boot soles from melting as workers got near the furnaces.

On April 17, BMI staff will attend the Tradepoint Atlantic Open House to meet members of the community and share details of the Bethlehem Steel preservation initiative. The open house will be held Wed, April 17, 6pm-8pm at Tradepoint Atlantic located at 1600 Sparrows Point Blvd., Baltimore MD 21219.

Learn more about the Bethlehem Steel Legacy Project! Join us at Tradepoint Atlantic for the April 17th open house. You can also stay informed about this exciting initiative by regularly visiting our website.

For more than a decade, the BMI's Homeschool Days program has invited homeschool families to explore Baltimore's industrial heritage through hands-on activities and interactive tours. The museum sets aside three days each school year exclusively for homeschoolers to transform into autoworkers on an automobile assembly line, engineers working together to tackle a STEM-related challenge, and more.

 

"Not all homeschool families are part of a co-op or a group large enough to book a field trip, which involves having a minimum of 10 participating students," says Jessica Celmer, the BMI's education manager. "By having homeschool days, individual homeschool families have the chance to partake in our awesome field trip programs. We continue to offer homeschool days for this reason, to be as inclusive as possible."

 

The Kids' Cannery, a hands-on activity that simulates a day at Mr. Platt's Oyster Cannery, is one of the BMI's most popular programs. During this program, geared for students in grade 3 and up, each student is assigned one of many cannery jobs--such as an oyster shucker, can maker, printer, foreman, or company owner--to gain first-hand insight into the experiences skilled and unskilled workers would have had in Baltimore's  canning industry in 1883.

 

This past winter, Nicole Jessop-Welden and her homeschool group visited the BMI. "The kids loved it, and so did the parents. It was a great way to learn and have fun at the same time!" she says.

Secure a hands-on experience for your homeschoolers! Homeschools with 10+ students may book as a group, and those with fewer students are invited to attend the museum's dedicated Homeschool Days.