Mission
The South Street Seaport Museum preserves and interprets the history of New York City as a world port, a place where goods, labor and cultures are exchanged through work, commerce, and the interaction of diverse communities.
From transatlantic shipping to immigration to New York’s rise to economic pre-eminence, the waterfront world has played a critical role in developments that have transformed the entire city. Designated by Congress as America’s National Maritime Museum in 1998, the South Street Seaport Museum is located in a 12 square-block historic district on the East River in Lower Manhattan, the site of the original port of New York City.
The Museum is comprised of over 30,000 square feet of exhibition space and educational facilities in New York City’s largest concentration of restored early 19th-century commercial buildings. The Museum houses exhibition galleries, a working 19th-century print shop, an archaeology center, a maritime library, a craft center, a marine life conservation lab, and the largest privately-owned fleet of historic ships in the country.
In addition to an array of permanent and temporary exhibitions, the Museum provides curriculum-based educational, youth, social service, family and public programs that bring the history and culture of the seaport to life. These programs interpret maritime history (navigation, trade, immigration and communication) and/or focus on the natural environment and the sea (ecology, oceanography, astronomy and physics). Programs are delivered in such venues as 19th-century schooners, exhibition galleries and hundreds of public classrooms throughout the five boroughs. The Museum’s educational programming and other museum-based learning opportunities for youth are made through partnerships with the New York school and social services systems. More than 25,000 public school students from New York’s five boroughs participate annually. The students come from all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, including ‘at-risk’ students and those with developmental, physical, and emotional disabilities. The Museum also provides learning and cultural opportunities for the general public and specialized programs focused on particular groups such as families and older adults.
The Museum’s operating expenses are at the national average of 25%. Seventy-five percent of the funds raised go directly to the museum and its programs. Seaport activities are planned and carried out by full- and part-time staff in partnership with various community and educational organizations and by volunteers who contribute more than 40,000 hours of their time.