Exhibitions
EXHIBITIONS
EVENTS
EXPLORE OUR WIDE RANGE OF ONGOING, UPCOMING, AND ONLINE EXHIBITIONS
There’s something new to experience every time you come to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. Exhibitions change frequently allowing you to explore new facets of Island history and culture with each visit.
The Morse Hallway
Faces of a Century
Thirteen rarely-seen portraits from the Museum’s collection highlight individuals who shaped Island life over the past 100 years. Featuring works by celebrated painters and photographers.
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The Hollinshead, Cox, and Fleischner Galleries
Stay Safe, Stand Strong: Martha’s Vineyard in 2020
Photographer Dan Waters captures the resilience of Vineyarders during a year of crisis, isolation, and solidarity. Experience the Island’s response to 2020 through powerful black-and-white images.
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Grain Family Gallery
Finding Our Way Home: The Denniston Family and 11 Masonic Avenue
Step inside the inspiring story of Rev. Oscar Denniston, his family, and the vibrant community he nurtured at 11 Masonic Avenue in Oak Bluffs. From its beginnings as the Oakland Mission serving immigrant families, to its transformation into the Bradley Memorial Church, this historic space was a home, a sanctuary, and a beacon of hope for people of all backgrounds.
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Adele H. Waggaman Community Gallery
Where They Still Remain
African American and Wampanoag History Intertwined
This exhibition explores the work of photographer and writer Austin Bryant, who focuses on the connections between African American and Wampanoag communities on the Island over the past several hundred years.
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Saltzman Cabinet of Curiosities
Vanity: The Last Working Catboat
Built over the winter of 1928-29 by Edgartown boatbuilder Manuel Swartz Roberts for commercial fisherman Thomas Pease and his son Oscar, the catboat Vanity worked the waters of Martha’s Vineyard for over half a century. In this exhibit, explore the life of the last working catboat of Martha’s Vineyard through artifacts, photographs, archival materials, and film footage.
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The Grain Family, Hollinshead, Cox, and Fleischner Galleries
Jaws at 50: A Deeper Dive
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of JAWS, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum is proud to present the first-ever comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the film's production on Martha’s Vineyard. Through photographs, oral histories, original art, and movie props, this exhibit will delve into how the Island became the fictional Amity Island, showcasing the Vineyarders who brought the movie to life and the enduring legacy of Spielberg's blockbuster.
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The Aileen and Brian Roberts Gallery
One Island, Many Stories
This exhibit offers an introduction to Island history arranged in a thematic way. Visitors are able to learn about the diverse history of Martha’s Vineyard through the lenses of fishing, farming, changing, voyaging, creating, escaping, and belonging.
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The Linnemann Pavilion, Lower Level
Flashes of Brilliance
This exhibit chronicles the history of lighthouses on the Island diving into the details of the Gay Head Light in Aquinnah. Set in the midst of this space, and spanning two floors like a suspended jewel, is the magnificent first-order Fresnel Lens, which was first installed in the Gay Head Light from 1854 to 1952.
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The Linnemann Pavilion, Lower Level
The Challenge of the Sea
This exhibit explores the stories associated with shipping and navigation, lifesaving, and weather in Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds, the second-busiest waterways in the world in the 19th century.
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The Linnemann Pavilion, Lower Level
Hands-On History
This special place is “kid-scale.” A climb-in boat, a sea captain’s cabin, a fishing shack – these are some of the iconic experiences that will help kids to learn through discovery.
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The Johnston/Conrad Family Gallery
On This Site
This exhibit chronicles the historical significance of the site that the Museum sits on. Did you know a lighthouse once existed on the front terrace?
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The Lana and Willie Woods Orientation Theater
History Highlights
This gallery presents a brief animated program that introduces the Island’s timeline, from prehistory to present day. It is meant to provide context to visitors and an overview of Island history before they explore the other permanent and rotating galleries in the Museum.
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Doherty Hall is located behind the main building, adjacent to the Bodman Courtyard and Rose Styron Garden.
Doherty Hall
Doherty Hall is home to some of the larger objects in the Museum’s collection. Located inside are a number of boats, the original hearse from the town of Edgartown, the Mayhew peddler’s cart used for deliveries at Alley’s General Store, a Hawaiian canoe, surfboards, an Erford Burt kayak, the headlamp from the Island’s locomotive and much more. Located in the barn behind the main Museum building.
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Treasured Beacon: The Edgartown Lighthouse
Explore the history, transformation, and importance of this beloved beacon.
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