Keeping the USS Constitution Afloat: Maritime Conservation and Public History
Over 200 years ago, "Old Ironsides" was built and launched from Boston Harbor as one of the six original frigates which began the U.S. Navy. Today, Boston remains the permanent home for the iconic wooden vessel. But what does it actually take to preserve a historic warship in the modern era? And what does that work tell us about how we remember and share history with the public?
Margherita M. Desy, historian of ship, brings her expertise in maritime conservation to Maritime Conversations, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the intersection of preservation, public history, and the USS Constitution. She'll present her work and then join Scott Knowles for a conversation, followed by audience Q&A.
☕ Light food and refreshments will be provided.
🎙️ Format: Presentation + moderated conversation and audience Q&A
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About the Speaker:
Margherita M. Desy is a curator and historian of New England maritime and early U.S. Navy histories. She is employed by the Naval History & Heritage Command Detachment Boston as the historian for USS Constitution. Desy has previously worked for Historic New England, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Hartford, and spent 20 years at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. She also taught for fourteen years in the Museum Studies Program in Tufts University’s Graduate and Professional Studies Department.
Desy holds a B.A. in History and Art History from the College of the Holy Cross, an M.A. in American Civilization from The George Washington University, and has studied at Sotheby’s Institute in London. She has been published in scholarly and popular journals and has served as a script advisor and on-camera historian for several PBS television shows and documentaries broadcast in the U.S. and Europe.
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About Maritime Conversations:
Explore the maritime innovations and strategies that shaped U.S. history and define today's most urgent security challenges through a four-part series with the sharpest minds in maritime history and geopolitics. The series will be moderated by Northeastern University's Dr. Scott Knowles, Senior Director of Research at the Defense Industrial Base Institute (DIBI) and Research Professor of History in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH).
All Northeastern students, faculty, staff, and outside guests are encouraged to register. Free to attend.
Other talks in the series – register to attend:
Thursday, April 2: Portrait of a Portrait: A Maritime History of Boston with Dr. William M. Fowler. 909 Renaissance Park, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 9: The Free and Open Indo-Pacific: Minilateralism and Security Cooperation in Northeast Asia with Matthew Fleming. 909 Renaissance Park, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Wednesday, April 22: Liberty Ships, Then and Now with Doug Most. 909 Renaissance Park, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
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About DIBI:
This event series is hosted by the Defense Industrial Base Institute (DIBI) at Northeastern University, a solutions engine that transforms America's defense industrial base. DIBI connects research, capital, and coalitions to deliver results at scale vital to deterrence and safeguarding America's freedom and prosperity. Learn more about the institute at dibi.northeastern.edu.