Every other year we plan to have a Rowing History Forum organized by the Friends of Rowing History, Mystic Seaport Museum and the National Rowing Foundation.
Next - 5th Rowing History Forum
Past Rowing History Forums
- January 26th, 2003 Special Guest - Ernestine Bayer, 1938 founder-PGRC
4
th Rowing History Forum - March 9th, 2008
Presentations by:
∙ David Wight, #2 1956
U.S. Olympic
Gold Medal
Tour & Grand Opening of the National Rowing Hall of Fame & Rowing History Exhibit
On March 9th 2008, 96 people attended the Rowing History Forum in the River Room at the Seamen's Inne at Mystic Seaport Museum. Interesting discussions were presented and a wonderful description of the 1956 Olympic effort was explained by David Wight, #2 in the U.S. Olympic Gold Medal Eight (Yale) with slides and the announcers' audio broadcast of the Gold Medal race. The U.S. Rowing Board of Directors attended the Forum and everyone heard Tom Weil's wonderful description of rowing in America in 1872 and the founding of the NAAO. Dan Boyne spoke about his research that went into the, just released, The Kellys: A Father, A Son, An American Quest. Great images and details were described by Dan.
The 15-year dream of having a permanent home for rowing history was realized on March 9th as permanent & dedicated space for rowing history and the National Rowing Hall of Fame was opened in the Blunt White Building at Mystic Seaport Museum. Hart & Gill Perry negotiated with the Mystic Seaport Museum to secure three rooms for displaying our rowing heritage. A great group of volunteers, Ready All, Row! Volunteers, worked tirelessly to prepare the rooms for the display of hundreds of rowing objects. The effort by the Seaport staff was beyond all expectations. The display of numerous and rare rowing memorabilia was made possible by the HUGE effort of Thomas Weil, the premier rowing historian and collector of these objects. At least 80% of the items on display are from his collections. He also, spent hundreds of hours cataloguing and annotating the items for the inventory and labeling for the exhibit. A gigantic THANKS to everyone for a job well done!
Please visit the Museum to see the wonderful exhibit.
(photos by Goran Buckhorn, Harry Darling and Kris Grudt)
Dave Wight thrills us with his description of the
Speaker, Chris Dodd, chats about UK events
1956 Gold Medal Olympic race
Speakers, Tom Weil and Chris Dodd, chat at the
Dan Boyne explains about researching the
rowing history exhibit
his new Kelly book
Hazard Gillespie, Yale '32, & Mrs. John
P. Cooke enjoy stories about the 1956 Olympic crew
The US Rowing Board of Directors' table
The Yale guys
Peter Mallory & Dan Boyne talk rowing history
More rowing history being discussed
Forum reception at the NRF exhibit is full swing
Tom Weil & Ed Monahan enjoy the reception
rd Rowing History Forum - Feb. 26, 2006
Presentations by:
∙ Harry Parker -
Special Guest Speaker
∙ Alison Derrick -
John Biglin's trophy gold watch brought by Bernard Biglin
(great-grandson of John)
Harry Parker
Alison Derrick
Tom Weil book-signing
Bill Lanouette
Bob Negaard, in the boat storage building
(Photos by Göran Buckhorn)
After being delayed by a couple of winter blizzards, the 3rd Rowing History Forum was worth the wait. The speakers and their topics were riveting and filled with great information and stories. News about rowing history activities was announced, books signed, historical rowing equipment was visited, and a social hour sponsored by Concept 2 capped off a very nice day.
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Original date - Jan. 23rd 2005:
At 5:00 PM Friday, Jan. 21 the weather predictions turned
dire with the forecast of 12-16" of snow in blizzard conditions starting
Saturday afternoon continuing through Sunday morning. The notices went out and
the web page was updated with the announcement that we had to cancel Sunday's Forum.
One very positive outcome of the weekend was those who arrived for the Forum from distant places on Friday, spent Saturday, Sunday and half of Monday snowbound, but were able to discuss many rowing history issues. Chris Dodd & Liz Ransley from London, Tom Weil from Houston, Peter Mallory from San Diego, Bill Miller from Duxbury MA, Dick Dunham from Hanover NH and Hart & Gill Perry from N. Stonington CT were able to bounce around ideas and many resolutions were made. It was very productive in an entirely different way than planned.
Rescheduled date - Feb. 12, 2006
How surprised we were to hear the exact same weather prediction as a year
before. Again, emails went out but this time with an alternate date scheduled
for two weeks later.
Like last year, the long distance travelers, Chris Dodd & Liz Ransley, Peter
Mallory along with Tom Weil, Hart & Gill Perry and Bill Miller, met at the
Seamen's Inne and took
advantage of the time by chatting about rowing history.
left>right - Hart, Tom, Bill, Liz, Chris and Peter
2nd
Rowing History Forum -
Feb. 10, 2004
Presentations by:
∙ Frank Cunningham -
Special Guest Speaker
∙ Chris Dodd
On Sunday, Feb. 10th Mystic Seaport co-hosted the 2nd Annual Rowing History Forum with the National Rowing Foundation and the Friends of Rowing History. Approximately 60 people from all over the Northeast listened to rowing history specialists speak about their topics.
Guest speakers included Christopher Dodd from the River and Rowing Museum from Henley-on-Thames, UK who spoke about the British rowing history projects. Mr. Frank Cunningham, 1947 Harvard stroke oar from the championship varsity crew and Rowing Hall of Fame inductee, joined us from Seattle and brilliantly enlightened everyone about his life experiences. Mr. John Cooke, Yale ’56 and Olympic gold medal crew, revealed some special moments written by Dr. Benjamin Spock, a member of the 1924 Yale Olympic gold medal crew.
Tom Weil, Jr. from Houston, TX discussed the wealth of rowing memorabilia that exists, especially from the height of popularity of competitive rowing in the 19th century. Susan Saint Sing from Stuart, FL spoke about the 1920 US Naval Academy Olympic gold medal crew and the famous Glendon coaching family. Mrs. Eileen and Mr. Duncan Glendon, grandson of Richard Glendon, listened intently and added a few bits of information. Lastly, Bill Miller from Duxbury, MA presented a slide show about the development and innovation of rowing equipment in the 19th century.
The group strolled through the Seaport grounds from the Youth Training Building to the Rossi Mill to view the new collection of over 20 vintage rowing shells. Following these activities the group enjoyed a social reception on the 2nd floor of the Seamen's Inne sponsored by Concept 2 .
Special thanks to Mystic Seaport for use of the Youth Training Building and setup, Concept 2 for sponsoring the social, and Mr. Michael Joukowsky for supporting Rowing History at Mystic.
The History Team at Mystic Seaport
(left to right)
Tomas E. Weil-Houston TX, Bill Miller-Duxbury MA, Hart Perry-N Stonington CT,
John Cooke-Ridgefield CT, Frank Cunningham-Seattle WA, Mrs. Eileen Glendon,
Brookline MA
Ms. Susan Saint Sing-Stuart FL, Duncan Glendon Brookline MA, Christopher
Dodd-Henley UK
Dick Dunham, Hart Perry & Doug Teeson at the reception
Peter Vermilya, Ed Monahan, Dana Hewson and Frank Cunningham
Chris Dodd & Göran Buckhorn in the boat
storage room
- Jan. 26, 2003
Presentations by:
∙ Ernestine Bayer -
Special Guest Speaker
∙ Thomas E. Weil -
Our second objective was to see who and how many people are actually interested in rowing history. Everyone who attended is now a Friend of Rowing History. We have an excited group and we'll add to it as each year picks up more people.
Walter Hoover, Jr. & Ed Monahan
with Walter Hoover Sr.'s original Box-Boat
(Read about acquiring the Box-Boat)
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