News Release
Dec. 12, 2017
Contact: Nancy Bergerson, 207.338.8049, nancy.bergerson@maine.edu

Maine’s merchant marine in 19th-century world trade the focus of Feb. 2 lecture at the Hutchinson Center

Belfast, Maine — Maine’s 19th-century merchant marine will be the focus of a lecture Feb 2 by the curator and collections manager at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine.

Cipperly Good’s free public presentation, “Globalization is not new: Maine’s merchant marine in 19th-century world trade,” will be held from 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m., Feb. 2 at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center.

Primary source material, artifacts, and images from the Penobscot Marine Museum were used to track the Maine merchant marine in the global market when Downeast mariners were global shippers. Maine’s location in the far northeast United States served as the perfect point of departure for sailing merchant ships pushed by the prevailing westerly winds and the flow of the Gulf Stream to trade ports in Europe and beyond. Its location, coupled with rich timber reserves for shipbuilding and a workforce adept at navigating, captaining and crewing the large cargo ships known as downeasters, made Maine ships and crew dominate in global shipping during the last half of the 19th century.

According to Good, it is said that a Maine merchant marine family was as likely to see their neighbors in far-off Canton, China, as back home in Searsport.

Good holds a bachelor’s degree from Colby College, where she majored in history and American studies. She spent her junior year in the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program, which sparked her career in maritime history and maritime museums. She also holds a masters degree in museum studies from George Washington University.

As the curator and collections manager at the Penobscot Marine Museum, Good oversees the object, archive and library collections. Prior to working at Penobscot Marine Museum, she taught maritime history for the Ocean Classroom-Proctor Academy and worked as a curator at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum and Falmouth (Massachusetts) Historical Society.

For more information about the lecture or to request a disability accommodation, contact Nancy Bergerson, 207.338.8049. Additional information about the Hutchinson Center is online (hutchinsoncenter.umaine.edu).

About the University of Maine:
The University of Maine, founded in Orono in 1865, is the state’s land grant and sea grant university. As Maine’s flagship public university, UMaine has a statewide mission of teaching, research and economic development, and community service. UMaine is among the most comprehensive higher education institutions in the Northeast and attracts students from Maine and 49 other states, and 67 countries. It currently enrolls 11,240 total undergraduate and graduate students who can directly participate in groundbreaking research working with world-class scholars. The University of Maine offers 35 doctoral programs and master’s degrees in 85 fields; more than 90 undergraduate majors and academic programs; and one of the oldest and most prestigious honors programs in the U.S. The university promotes environmental stewardship, with substantial efforts campuswide aimed at conserving energy, recycling and adhering to green building standards in new construction. For more information about UMaine, visit umaine.edu.