New Exhibit At Cleveland Museum of Natural History

From Cleveland Museum of Natural History: Sailing for Science: The Voyage of the Blossom will be on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History from March 24-August 5. This substantial in- house presentation tells the extraordinarily story of the voyage of the three-masted schooner Blossom and its 16-man crew that set sail on October 29, 1923.

The exhibit includes a variety of mediums to tell the story of the fabled voyage of the Blossom...tales of mutiny, adventure and discovery. Glass lanterns slides with images imprinted on glass panes and dozens of objects from the 20,000- mile-trans-oceanic trek are on display, many that have never been show publicly. The lantern slides depict scenes throughout the expedition, from the mundane (crewman shaving on the deck) to the dramatic (scrambling to recover gear after a landing boat capsized). A scaled-down ship’s bow is a hands-on play area for children, complete with a spyglass and steering wheel. This exhibit began with the discovery of a chart by Librarian and Archivist, Wendy Wasman. The chart traced the vessel’s long, meandering course crisscrossing the North and South Atlantic and noted numerous locations where it had stopped along the way. The philanthropic Blossom family was the benefactor for the expedition. The Museum Archives holds a treasure trove of documents, imagery and artifacts that vividly recounted the Blossom’s Expedition’s daring, perilous and quixotic 31-month quest. “I become fascinated with it, “Wasman says. “The people on the Blossom crew came alive for me. I felt like I was hearing their voices in my head.” The exhibition showcases the story of George Finlay Simmons, a tall, charming Texan who Museum officials selected to plan and execute the ambitious specimen-gathering voyage, and who would then join the institution’s staff as its ornithology curator.

“The exhibition really is his story,” Wasman says of Simmons. “Simmons was so charismatic that he was actually turned into a comic book character, Captain Easy, in the 1920’s by his brother-in-law, illustrator Roy Crane. Captain Easy had all kinds of adventures similar to the ones Simmons had. He was like a movie star,” said Wasman. One of Wasman’s favorite items in the exhibit is a simulation of Simmons’ captain’s desk, holding books, navigational tools and a reproduction of hand- drawn map of South Trinidad (Trindade) Island where the Blossom laid anchor to explore and collect birds. Also on display will be Blossom scientists’ field notebooks with sketches of the fish they collected; jars of lizards, geckos and mollusks; the voluminous field accession book that catalogues the nearly 13,000 specimens gathered on the voyage; an oil painting of the Blossom at sea, and the weathered 48-star U.S. flag that flew from the Blossom’s mast during its long journey.

“If you like adventure, if you like exploration, it’s a great story,“ says Director of Exhibits, Joel Alpern, who helped to create this vibrant multi-sensory experience for the Museum. Key lantern slide images have been digitized, printed and framed for the exhibit. “They help tell the visual story and support the artifacts by providing context.” Wasman is thrilled to share her findings with visitors. “I hope that visitors will leave the Blossom exhibit feeling inspired by our history, “said Wasman, “And that they’ll understand that museums still do these expeditions today. We still go out and collect specimens—it doesn’t take three years on a sailing ship, but this is our legacy. I want people to know about it.”

Image Via Shuttershock