New Exhibition Opens This Weekend At Pequot Library In Southport

Information from Pequot Library:

FAIRFIELD, CT — Pequot Library is pleased to announce the opening of its newest Special Collections exhibition, Charting Your Course: Cutting-Edge Navigation and Seafaring. The opening reception will take place on February 24 with a 3:00 p.m. introduction to the exhibition from Special Collections Librarian Cecily Dyer. This exhibition and related programs are sponsored in part by Connecticut Humanities.

These exquisite maps and rare books tell the stories of individual achievements in scientific
knowledge and craftsmanship--achievements that advanced navigation and influenced an
international race for conquest and power. And because it's also a story about astronomy, clocks,
navigation, and local history, there really is something for everyone in this exhibition.

Until the late 1700s, sailors and navigators had no reliable way to measure longitude at sea,
costing time, money, and lives. When the British Longitude Act of 1714 offered an impressive
£20,000 reward to anyone who could solve this problem, self-taught carpenter John Harrison
began a decades-long pursuit of the solution. Unlike renowned scientists including Galileo and
Newton, who believed the answer could be found by measuring the celestial movements of the
clockwork universe, Harrison created a mechanical alternative: the marine chronometer.

Charting Your Course: Cutting-Edge Navigation and Seafaring explores the revolutionary
inventions and advancements of Harrison and others, pairing Pequot Library’s 16th to 19th
century manuals, maps, and atlases with manuscript workbooks in which students in Connecticut
learned the latest principles of navigation. Together, these materials illuminate the ways that
ideas, innovation, and geography shaped Connecticut’s culture and economy in ways still felt
today. This exhibition remains on view through May 11, 2024.

Related programs include collaborations with the Connecticut River Museum, Yale University’s Naval Reserve Officer Training Corp, and Mystic Seaport Museum, among others. Of particular note also, bestselling author Dava Sobel will join the library for a Meet the Author program on April 25 at 6:00 p.m. Please visit the library’s calendar for more information.

ABOUT PEQUOT LIBRARY:

Founded in 1889, Pequot Library’s mission is to enrich lives by serving the cultural, educational,
and intellectual needs of the entire community. Its annual programs for adults and children serve
more than 45,000 participants a year. As a public association library 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization, the library relies on the generosity of individual donors and foundations, special
event fundraisers, grants, corporate and community partners, and Friends of Pequot Library
memberships. Follow Pequot Library on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.