South Street Seaport Museum Announces Programmatic Collaboration With Flagship Niagara League

South Street Seaport Museum announces a new collaboration with the Erie Maritime Museum and Flagship Niagara League, as the 1893 Essex, MA-built fishing schooner Lettie G. Howard will offer programming at the Erie Maritime Museum.

South Street Seaport Museum in collaboration with the Erie Maritime Museum and the Flagship Niagara League will bring the beloved fishing schooner Lettie G. Howard to the Erie community while the U.S. Brig Niagara will visit Great Lakes ports during the 2018 and 2019 sailing seasons. This program will expand the Seaport Museum's reach in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal.

New York City and Erie both owe their success to this vital inland waterway and these partnerships the will allow the South Street Seaport Museum to expand its programming and mission along the Erie Canal and will directly connect New York City and Erie in ways that have not been possible since the Canal was phased out in 1918.

This collaboration is one of two important initiatives the Seaport Museum will take in 2018 related to the Erie Canal Bicentennial, each of which will have one of their historic vessels voyaging in the Erie Canal corridor. The 1930 tug W.O. Decker will undertake a four-month voyage in collaboration with the Corning Museum of Glass, celebrating 200 years of the Erie Canal and 150 years of glassmaking at Corning, NY. Expect Decker back at South Street in September.

"These partnerships allow for an expansion of the South Street Seaport Museum's educational mission, broadening our reach during this 200thAnniversary Celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal, as we partner with both Flagship Niagara League, Erie Maritime Museum, and Corning Museum of Glass to bring our mission to communities along the Erie Canal, and provide access not previously available" said Capt. Jonathan Boulware, Executive Director of the South Street Seaport Museum. "In many museums, artifacts are preserved behind glass; the Seaport Museum brings history to living experience as we sail historic vessels, operate 19th-century printing presses, and pass along the skills that make these possible. These collaborations expand our reach and deliver our mission as these two ships sail as ambassadors far beyond the waters of New York Harbor."

"The Flagship Niagara League is excited to partner with the South Street Seaport Museum," said E. Shawn Waskiewicz, Executive Director, Flagship Niagara League. "Lettie G. Howard expands our educational and sail training programs at a local level, but also gives the Flagship Niagara League another renowned vessel to collaborate with on a national level."

The South Street Seaport Museum, located in the heart of the historic Seaport district in New York City, preserves and interprets the history of New York as a great port city. Designated by Congress as America's National Maritime Museum, the Museum houses exhibition galleries and education spaces, working nineteenth century print shops, and an active fleet of historic vessels that all work to tell the story of "Where New York Begins."

The beloved Lettie G. Howard is the last surviving Grand Banks fishing schooner, once in wide use in the North Atlantic. Built in Essex, Massachusetts, she exemplifies the type of craft used widely from Maine to the Gulf Coast and is a rare beauty with classic fishing schooner lines, turning heads wherever she goes. After an active life in the fisheries of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Lettie arrived at South Street Seaport Museum in 1968 and later designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1994, after an extensive two-year rebuild that restored her to her original appearance, she was certified as a Sailing School Vessel by the U.S. Coast Guard, and began a new career carrying students of all ages on life-changing voyages.Lettie G. Howard is owned by the South Street Seaport Museum and is operated in collaboration with the Flagship Niagara League.

The U.S. Brig Niagara is owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and is operated by the Flagship Niagara League (FNL), a 501 (C) 3 non-profit educational associate organization of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), chartered to facilitate citizen participation and operation of the U.S. Brig Niagara and its homeport, Erie Maritime Museum