Opening this week at the State Library of Massachusetts is a
new exhibition entitled “Exercised in Fishing”: A History of the Fishing,
Whaling, and Shellfish Industries in Massachusetts. When William Bradford
described the Plimoth Plantation settlers’ first harvest celebration in 1621,
he wrote: “For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were
exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took
good store, of which every family had their portion.” The harvesting of animals
from the ocean continued to support Massachusetts and its residents for
hundreds of years. This exhibition, drawn from the collections at the State
Library of Massachusetts, traces that history from before the European
settlements to the present.
The exhibition runs from June 6 through August 31, 2016. It
can be viewed outside of the Library, Room 341 of the State House, Monday-Friday,
9am-5pm.