The USS Constitution Museum by Richard C . Wheeler, Director
Prior to my interview for the position of director at the USS Constitution Museum fi ve years ago, there was a recurring question that made me wo nder whether I'd want the position were it offered to me. How much could anyone do with a one-ship museum? The selection committee convinced me that the museum's greatest resource was its trustees , that small enlightened group of people who had fo unded the museum in 1972. In answer to my questions about the museum 's mission, members of the selection committee said that they were dedicated to a " narrow" focus on the ship . That word seemed to corroborate my initi al fear that a museum devoted to just one vessel might not hold a continuing challenge. The implication o f a narrow focus was that the museum would be restricti ve in its collection polic ies and in its interpretation of the nearly two-hundredyear-old fri gate. Narrow foc us conj ures up visions of people wearing blinders . So we came to agree that it would be better to describe the museum 's hu mani stic goals as intense . An intense foc us implies the magnification of detail under strong light; it means seeing things that aren' t visible to the naked eye. Fro m thi s shift in the institutional perspecti ve, the museum has headed off on a new tac k. The USS Constitution is the greatest survi ving technological achievement from eighteenth century America. T hin k, for example, of the artisanry represented in her construction, and of the numero us wood-working specialties that had reached the ir zenith when her kee l was laid in 1794. Consider, too, the other highl y developed skill s in metal working, rope working, sail making and leather work. Virtually every craft known at that time was empl oyed in one way or another in the construction and sailing of the Constitution. As a result of the meticulous care that has go ne into the preservation and renewing of the Constitution over the decades, there ex ists no better visual aid for teaching the industries of our earl y Republic than thi s survivor from our earliest naval fo rce . Recogni z ing this , the museum is committed to undertaking projects, di splays and exhibitions that ori gin ate in the hi stori c fiber of the Constitution and which involve working artisans and progra ms in living hi story. The Constitution is also the best sing le arti fac t to employ as a teaching aid fo r the stud y of the Federal Peri od . George Washington named the ship for the document that Constitution sailed to defend, and each of our earl y pres idents became involved in some way with " that most fo rtunate ship ." So well did she d isSEA HISTORY , SUMM ER 1987
Above, a visitor touches the massive timbers of the full size hull section. This display conveys the structure and solidity of the vessel in a way no diagram can . Below, a young visitor tries out a seaman's hammock .
charge her du ty that her name has assumed a separate li fe and mean ing in our hi story and cul ture. As a decorative arts icon of the Federal Period , O ld Irons ides ra nks just behind George Washington and the Ameri can eagle as a symbol of the yo ung nation . Viewed in this light, the shi p's story is fa r from res tricti ve. In fact , the museum probab ly can never express all that the USS Constitution means to those who are moved by the vessel. The challenge of the attempt will absorb us far into the future. What fo llows are descriptions of some of the d isplays and exhibi-
tion s currently in the works. We are now plann ing fo r an exhibit entitled " Images of the USS Constitution" to open in 1988. Thi s will include rare (and some not so rare) prints fro m the Beverley R. Robinson Collection at the US Naval Academy in Annapoli s and from our own ho ldings. We have also begun research for an exhibit of paintings of the Constitution . The litany of arti sts both in this cou ntry and abroad who have painted O ld Ironsides reads like a who's who of marine art. In this country, espec iall y, it is almost as though pai nting the Constitution were a sort of rite of pass17