Norman Rockwell would have loved this picture. A father and son standing side by side engaged in a patriotic scene early in the 20th century that would have sold a boatload of war bonds in later years. The father is William Porter White, a career navy man from Illinois who entered the navy in 1874 at the age of 15, graduated from the Naval Academy, and served his country for the next 52 years, ending his stint as a Captain. The boy, George William Blunt White, known to all as Blunt, is 10 years old in this picture taken in Chicago in 1905. Blunt would later serve in the U.S. Navy Aviation Corps in World War I and then spend the next four decades as a successful businessman in the Mystic area. Along the way he started sailing, eventually becoming the Commodore of the Cruising Club of America. He also took an interest in the local Marine Historical Society (Mystic Seaport), joining the Board in 1947 and serving as the Vice President from 1955 until his death from a heart attack in 1962 while doing what he loved. Sailing.
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| William Porter White and son, G.W. Blunt White, 1905. MSM accession# 2002.20.23 |
After Blunt’s passing, his good friend, Henry
DuPont, was instrumental in raising and donating funds to build the new library
at Mystic Seaport, which had been in planning since 1960. The Museum memorialized Blunt by naming it the G.W. Blunt White Library. Completed in 1964, the
Library's design and construction were overseen by Dr. Charles W. David. Dr. David was instrumental in bringing about a
transformation at Mystic Seaport through his scholarly endeavors and keen
understanding of institutional process. Prior to becoming Mystic Seaport's first professional librarian, Dr. David had been the Director of Libraries at the University of Pennsylvania. Henry DuPont had also contracted him to oversee the research library design, construction and staffing at the Hagley Museum and Library at Eleutherian Mills near Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. David's expertise in libraries and fund-raising was critical to the early development
of the G.W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport and the Library’s growth into
the successful operation that it is today. He helped lift the Museum and indeed
the field of maritime research and scholarship to a new level of esteem and
capacity.
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| Sketch of the original G.W. Blunt White Library. |
Over the years the Library’s collection has grown
into the largest maritime research library of its kind in the country with its
broad collection of books, periodicals, manuscripts, ships plans, charts and
maps and more. When the Museum was considering expanding the Library building
in 2000 to house the ever-growing collection, a decision was made to reconsider
the expansion for a number of reasons. The two primary reasons centered on the
site of the building. First, the underpinnings of the granite-clad edifice were
suffering from the intrusion of both fresh and brackish water. The building had
been situated on a piece of land that not only suffered from having the
ground saturated due to high tides, but also had the unfortunate happenstance
of being located directly above an underground stream that magnified the watery
problem during rainstorms, causing and regular seepage into the basement of the
building. Mold and mildew became an insurmountable problem. Second, the site
overlooked prime real estate for future Museum expansion and any addition to
the Library needed to move in the direction of the river, thereby fragmenting
the space for future uses.
The decision was made to finally move the Library
out of the deteriorating building in 2007. The collections and staff made the
journey across the street to the Collections Research Center in the Rossie Mill
after necessary monies were raised by friends and trustees to outfit a section
of the CRC for Library use. Today the G.W. Blunt White Library remains a major
center of maritime research and also acts as the gateway to the rest of the
collections at Mystic Seaport.
Blunt’s legacy was carried on by his son, Bill,
another long-time, active member of the Museum’s Board, and Bill’s son, Blunt,
who also served his time as a trustee. It is sad to see the passing of an era
with the razing of the former library building, but the boy in the uniform will
continue to be remembered in the new G.W. Blunt White Library in the
Collections Research Center at Mystic Seaport, the Museum of America and the
Sea.