Happy 220th Anniversary to the Brooklyn Navy Yard
United States Coast Guard Identification Card for Lucille Gewirtz, 1943. Gift of Lucille Kolkin, South Street Seaport Museum 1996.030
The Brooklyn Navy Yard served as America's premier naval shipbuilding facility for 165 years and played a pivotal role in World War II, building battleships and aircraft carriers, repairing over 5,000 ships, and sending troops and supplies to fronts across the globe. At the time, some 70,000 people worked at the Yard, including women and people of color, for whom the war presented both challenges and new opportunities. This identification card in our collection belonged to Lucile Gewirtz (Kolkin), a real-life "Rosie the Riveter." Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1918, Lucille was a mechanic learner at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II. 
Click below to learn more about the Brooklyn Navy Yard and its history.
Celebrating Black History
George Hayward (ca. 1800–ca. 1872) artist and lithographer, “Catharine Market, N.Y. 1850” ca. 1857. Gift of Rosemary McCann, South Street Seaport Museum 1995.002.0015
In celebration of Black History Month we are featuring the often-overlooked legacy of Black sailors, craftspeople, and communities around the Port of New York and beyond.
The image above is an illustration from D.T. Valentine's Manual of the Corporation for the City of New York (1841-1870) showing the Catharine Fish Market in 1850. Catharine Slip (or today’s Catherine Slip) is located between Cherry and South Streets, nestled between the footings of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge.
At a time when slavery was being abolished across the northeastern states, the Catharine Market became renowned as a unique gathering place where both enslaved and free people from New Jersey and New York would meet to socialize, gamble, dance, and play music.
Left to right: Ferdinand Smith, National Secretary, National Maritime Union. Alderman Earl B. Dickerson of Chicago, a member of the President's Committee on Fair Employment Practices; and Donald M. Nelson, Chairman of the War Production Board.” 1940-1946. Nitrate negative. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, 2017691162.
The National Maritime Union (NMU) was founded in 1937 by Ferdinand Smith (a Jamaican-born labor activist), Joseph Curran, and M. Hedley Stone. The NMU was, in part, a reaction to the racially segregated International Seamen’s Union that denied membership to non-white workers. The NMU ran education campaigns highlighting the contributions of Black workers to the maritime trades and reported on successful struggles for integration around the United States.
Virtual Programming at the Seaport Museum
Sea Chanteys and Maritime Music
Ready to sing a chorus or two of "Wellerman" yourself? Or maybe just listen in as people from around the world share sea songs and maritime music?

Sign up for the next installment of our sea song sing-along that includes a virtual look at objects from our collection. If you would like to lead a song, please register at least a week in advance. The next session is Sunday, March 7.
Past Virtual Programs
Did you miss out on a program like our recent hit webinar Sing in Rhyme, Work In Time? No worries!

You can watch all our free virtual programming on-demand in the past programs section of our site.
Highlights From Our Social Media Channels
Happy Anniversary Peking

We can hardly wait until we can visit her in person, but in the meantime a virtual tour will do just fine.

Valentine's Day

We think this Currier & Ives print dedicated to the Season of Love makes the perfect Valentine.

Empress of China

In 1784 the ship Empress of China set sail from the East River, becoming the first United States trade mission to China.

The Brooklyn Bridge

This photograph captures a time when ships' masts still lined South Street and the Brooklyn Bridge still towered over nearly every structure in the city.

Our Campaign to Save the Seaport Museum
This pandemic has dealt our beloved city a terrible blow, the full extent of which is still unclear. As New Yorkers, we have faith that the city will rebound as it has time and again. For a city that constantly reinvents itself, there must—there will—be a bright future.

Our Campaign—Our City, Our Seaport—is engaging our friends and neighbors to save the South Street Seaport Museum.

Read this article that ran in amNY which highlights the benefits the South Street Seaport Museum could receive as a result of a plan put forth in the district. Chief among these are elements that would help provide for the Museum’s long term sustainability as well as for reopening Museum galleries.

Recent stories in the New York Daily News The Real Deal, Gothamist, Politico and New York YIMBY highlighted the project while the editorial boards of The New York Times, New York Post, the New York Daily News and the Wall Street Journal all endorsed it. It is rare to have every single editorial board agree on an issue, which is yet another resounding affirmation of this proposal.

Stop by ourcityourseaport.org for news and updates, click the button below to sign up for campaign updates, or text SEAPORTMUSEUM to 22828
Become a member of the South Street Seaport Museum and get unlimited admission, invitations to special events, and great discounts year-round. Memberships start at $50 and directly make it possible for us to present both virtual and in-person programming, whether online or outdoors.

Join today to help support the Museum’s exhibitions, preserve the ships and the collections, grow public programs, and serve over 12,000 students annually through education initiatives. Availability of some benefits is subject to temporary COVID-19 restrictions, but your support will truly go a long way to ensuring that the Museum weathers this storm.
Join, renew, or buy a membership for a friend today!
Follow us on social media and keep an eye out for upcoming digital object-of-the-month features and posts that will help you find your #MuseumMomentofZen

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The South Street Seaport Museum preserves and interprets the ​origins and growth of New York City as a world port, a place where goods, labor, and cultures are exchanged through work, commerce, and the interaction of diverse communities.
Header Image: Detail from John W. Hill (1812-1879), artist; C. Mottram (1807-1876), engraver; F. and G. W. Smith, 59 Beekman Street, printer and publisher; "New York" 1855. Gift of Dr. Eben Breed, South Street Seaport Museum 1975.027