New Bedford Whaling Museum Email Format
Museums, Historical Sites, and ZoosMassachusetts, United States51-200 Employees
The New Bedford Whaling Museum is a mid-sized cultural institution rooted in the region's whaling history, based in New Bedford in the SouthCoast region of Massachusetts. It collects and presents a broad range of stories from the area's maritime communities, linking past livelihoods to present-day cultures. Founded in 1903 as the Old Dartmouth Historical Society, the organization has a long-standing relationship with local communities and a mission to preserve artifacts and narratives. The institution highlights how whaling shaped economic development and helped diversify the SouthCoast region. It functions as a learning hub focused on humans' impact on the oceans, offering opportunities to examine heritage and sustainability. In 2025, the museum hosted its first Story Summit in New Bedford, signaling ongoing community engagement.