Amanda is the Marketing & Events Photographer at The Mariners’ Museum and Park, where her love of visual storytelling and history perfectly intersects. She loves to get creative with her work. Whether she’s geeking out in the studio over the museum’s incredible collection of artifacts or performing acrobatic maneuvers at an event to capture the perfect shot, she does it with a sense of wonder and enthusiasm. Amanda spent several years living in Naples, Italy, where she apprenticed under a master photographer and traveled around Europe experiencing ancient cities and architecture through her lens. It was through these experiences she grew to understand that even when you can’t be in a place physically, a photograph can inspire you as though you were there. Through her images, she hopes that others might come to connect with the world around them and with their own history at The Mariners’ Museum.
Lady Figurehead – The Mariners’ Museum and Park – Accession Number: 1937.0487.000001A
Fear Not! For I have scoured The Mariners’ Collection, walked the dark storage rooms, and gotten up close and personal with five of our creepiest and most mysterious artifacts, so you don’t have to. I’ve listed the following artifacts for their varying levels of creep-factor or for the fascinating or mysterious stories behind them. All just in time for spooky season!
The Lady
In her heyday, theLadyfigurehead sailed the open waters on a European vessel and arrived at the Museum in January 1982. She graced the walls of what was once The Great Hall of Steam until the Museum opened theSpeed and Innovationexhibit. She’s not currently on display; however, her glass eyes and blank stare haunt our Collections Specialist from the workspace storage room. There’s just something unsettling about her…Read more
(Accession Number 2019.0004.000001) -Harper’s Weekly, April 17, 1869. Illustration of Ida Lewis rescuing two drowning soldiers.
Ida Lewis: Mother of All Keepers
Here at The Mariners’ Museum and Park, Ida Lewis is no stranger. We’veblogged,Tweeted,written, andlecturedall about our heroine of Lime Rock Light. However, our mission here at the Museum is all about Maritime Connections because we’re all connected by the water. That’s why I chose Ida Lewis. Her acts of heroism are still inspiring women of all ages and created legacies that now bear her name. Out of these legacies have come a personal maritime connection and a story of another young woman with a link to Ida’s legacy. I want to take Ida’s story one step further than all the reasons she had the reputation of being able to “row a boat faster than any man in Newport.” As you can probably tell, I’m excited to share these stories with you just in time for Women’s History Month.
Mother’s Keeper
First, I’d be doing you and Ida herself a disservice if I didn’t give you a little background on our brave lightkeeper. Idawalley Zorada (sometimes spelled “Zoradia”) Lewis, the second oldest of four children and eldest daughter of Captain Hosea Lewis. Capt. Lewis became keeper of Lime Rock Light at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1854 when Ida was 12-years-old.Read more
Since its inception in 1930, The Mariners’ Museum and Park has employed photographers to document the institution’s collection and progression and tell our stories visually. Through the waters, through our shared maritime heritage, we are all connected. Our photographs aim to bring that point home. Amanda and I are lucky to work for an organization that understands that a picture is often worth a thousand words.
尽管2020年的挑战,obstacles, we have done our best to continue the tradition of visual storytelling. In March, we closed our doors to the public amid the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our staff headed home for two weeks. Two weeks turned into much longer. I believe I speak for both of us when I say that we were elated when we got the green light to return to continue photographing our Collection and various happenings around the Museum.Read more
Rachel, the Museum’s Information Specialist, searching the archives.All images in this blog: Amanda Shields/Mariners’ Museum and Park.
Episode III – Digitization of the Print
In a museum not so far far away there’s not just one, buttwoMariners’ crew whose work is so interconnected that even a pandemic can’t change that. Now, our Library Information Specialist and Cultural Heritage Photographer are discovering what “working closely” looks like at a distance.
A Reference in References
An unassuming white door is nestled in the center of a white wall you’d never even notice was there unless someone pointed it out to you. Through that door is what we callGallery 1.Inside it, a large table fills the front of the room to lay out large items. It’s filled with books, photos, drawings, and the most high-tech shelves I’ve ever seen! Seriously, these are not your grandpa’s stagnant library shelves. With the push of a button, they slide together, closing one aisle and revealing the next aisle of records.Read more
Noelle preparing to package & ship our most popular models, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia/USS Merrimack. Ordered via our online gift shop. (All images in this blog: Amanda Shields/Mariners’ Museum & Park)
The Gifts That Keep Giving
Back in April, at the height of Virginia’s stay-at-home orders and less than a month into the museum’s work-from-home status due to the pandemic, the only staff still physically working at the museum at the time were a skeleton crew of essential personnel. Noelle, our visitor services manager, was working from home when she noticed an order come through the online gift shop. Problem was, all of the packing and shipping had to be done while physically in the museum gift shop, but not only was the museum closed, even our park was closed. With everything going on in the world and the museum itself, I’m sure no one would have blamed Noelle for responding to the customer that the museum was closed and we just couldn’t fulfill the request at this time. After all, it was a small order from out of state, just toymodels of theUSS Monitorand theCSS Virginia. Instead, she reached out to the buyer to find out more and discovered that it was a father buying the ships for his 6-year-old son’s birthday which was coming up that weekend. He explained how much his son loves the story of theMonitorand theMerrimack. Noelle told him we would make it happen; if the items were shipped by Monday they would reach the family in New York in plenty of time for the little boy’s birthday that weekend. She came in Monday, packaged the models, and even included a note wishing the little mariner a happy birthday. She then confirmed that the item was picked up, and upon receiving the tracking number passed it on to the family. This special kind of dedication and empathy isn’t found everywhere, but it’s here, even behind the scenes, at the Mariners’ Museum.
In this exclusive behind the scenes series, I am introducing you to several members of our Mariners’ crew who are still manning the ship even though our beloved museum remains closed to the public. Allow me to introduce you to the resourceful and dedicated leader of our visitor services department.Read more
