Voyage of discovery as exhibition tells story of Mayflower
AN EXHIBITION about the famous Mayflower expedition to America has opened with photographs of people descended from passengers and crew aboard the ship.
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower to America, and today more than 30 million people claim a connection to the vessel and its passengers. Organisers at The Box museum in Plymouth said the display was an important event to mark the anniversary.
A museum spokesman said: “We share in a history which challenged traditions, caused conflicts and created communities. It is a story of survival and imagination. In Plymouth, it will be told through objects, images and ideas from both sides of the Atlantic.”
The exhibition is said to be the
UK’s largest ever commemorative exhibition on the Mayflower, with works on loan from both the Smithsonian and Peabody institutes in America.
The spokesman said: “Many objects are coming to Plymouth for the first time, or are returning to the city for the first time in 400 years.
“Native American items from the National Museum of the American Indian and the Harvard Peabody collection present 12,000 years of indigenous history, while the Second Peirce Patent from Pilgrim Hall Museum is the oldest existing state document of New England.”
The Mayflower transported the first English Puritans to the ‘ New World’ in 1620. The vessel had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30.