Objects in museums relate stories, and 26 of them tell all sorts of tales in the newest exhibition, “Martha’s Vineyard Museum A-Z.” The show is a compact treasure trove — a tasting menu, so to speak, from the collection. You’ll see everything from an intriguing fabric-constructed Nancy Luce doll to majestic signal flags whose abstract, colored designs allow ships to communicate with each other, to elegant calling cards from the likes of Edgartown-born coal dealer William Worth Pease and future judge Everett Allen Davis that give us a window into the social circles on the Island in the 19th and early 20th century.
The show is handsomely laid out with an object or so for each letter of the alphabet. It’s fascinating to walk around the intimate Adele H. Waggaman Community Gallery to see which ones have been selected. Usually, exhibitions center around a theme, artist, or group of artists. This one is rather eclectic, but held together not just through the clever idea of the alphabet, but in the fact that it primarily looks at the museum’s collection of rarely exhibited pieces — all of which make us think about some aspect of the Vineyard’s history. There are reminders of the boatbuilding tradition with the handsome tools of local craftsman Erford Burt from the mid-20th century, the Island’s whaling past with a ca.1880s portrait of Wampanoag fisherman Thomas Conant Jeffers, as well as a “Jaws” souvenir cup from about 1975 in front of a black-and-white photo of Island extras fleeing the ocean from the iconic movie that brought nationwide fame — as well as multitudes of tourists — to the Island.
Looking closely at the amusing, illustrated dog licenses with the breed, age, and name of the respective resident’s best friend, in one example, you can detect the word “West” handwritten in front of the printed word “Tisbury” on the form, because the new ones for West Tisbury hadn’t been printed yet, even though the town had incorporated the year before, in 1892.
The objects for each alphabet letter are expounded upon in an interactive screen where you can learn more about them and what they reflect. The explanatory material for the display of glass bottles reminds us that the words printed on them or cast in raised letters can tell us about local businesses, and that about a third of the museum’s over 200 bottles are milk bottles, telling the story of the local dairies that once prospered here. And for an Island that prides itself on primarily eschewing chain stores, it turns out that a soda bottle represents that there once was a Coca-Cola factory in Vineyard Haven.
In “G is for Gem Photos,” we see tiny, palm-size photo albums that were popular for their low price, durability, and quick production. Apparently, the miniature albums were a way to “collect” your friends and family in one little keepsake. Some of the letters were harder to connect to objects than others. For example, in “X is for X-ray,” we learn that the possibly puzzling object was the X-ray room signal light, originally from the 1895 Marine Hospital that now houses the museum. And, amusingly, a 19th-century corset represents the section “U is for Unmentionables.”
Another way the exhibit conveys information is a station where you can listen to engaging recordings of actual Islanders recounting personal tales in “O is for Oral History.”
The show’s curator, exhibitions assistant Kate Logue, explains that the original idea came from then museum teacher Ann DuCharme, who thought it would be fun to look at the collection through this lens. Recounting putting the exhibition together, Logue says, “Every time I get to dive into the collection, often it’s thematic, and I already know what I’m looking for. I know the topic of the exhibit. But here the topic was everything.”
She points out that when the museum was founded nearly 100 years ago as the Duke’s County Historical Society, the focus at the time was on the Island’s first white settlers and its whaling history. The introductory panel reflects that the museum is trying to broaden the collection to include more artifacts from the Brazilian and Wampanoag communities to tell the once overlooked stories, “hoping that one day everyone who played a part in the Island’s history will also be part of the museum.” It invites us to explore the collection and consider the stories we don’t see.
Along these lines is a table with writing materials and a request for visitors to describe what objects they would display, leaving them thinking about how they might possibly tell their own stories.
“Martha’s Vineyard Museum A-Z” is on display through July 15 at 151 Lagoon Pond Road, Vineyard Haven.
