User:ODHS-NBWM/Old Dartmouth Historical Society

Old Dartmouth Historical Society was established in 1903 “to create and foster an interest in the history of Old Dartmouth (which today includes the City of New Bedford, Massachusetts and the towns of Acushnet, Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and Westport, Massachusetts. Comprising a part of Southeastern Massachusetts and located along the shores Buzzards Bay this area incorporates more than 185 square miles with a population exceeding 250,000. Today, Society members hail from many more communities, such as nearby Marion, Massachusetts, Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, and Rochester, Massachusetts, to international members in Europe and Asia.

Initially comprised of the leading figures and descendants of the American whaling industry in New Bedford, the Society established soon after its founding the New Bedford Whaling Museum, which it continues to govern today. The Society began amassing its collection of whaling art and artifacts at first by bequeaths and later by acquisition. During its first three years the Society rented rooms near City Hall Square as it's first exhibition space.

The steady growth of of the Society's collection, programming and membership required a permanent home. This need was answered through the generosity of Standard Oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers a philanthropist and native of Fairhaven, located on the eastern shores of the harbor. In 1906, Rogers purchased for the society the 1884 ornate red sandstone building of the defunct National Bank of Commerce, located on North Water Street.