Moby-Dick and the World of Whaling in the Digital Age

June 23–28 online and July 7–19 at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA

Scholars from the Melville Society Cultural Project and curators from the New Bedford Whaling Museum gathered for a three-week hybrid Summer Institute (one week online June and two weeks in New Bedford, Massachusetts) with 25 K-12 teachers to focused on Moby-Dick and the World of Whaling in the Digital Age. Participant teachers encountered the dynamic worlds of Moby-Dick to: 1) better understand and appreciate Herman Melville’s literary power and interpret its wonders for their varied students; 2) ground this inquiry in the vital material culture of the major whaling port in the United States; and 3) draw on digital archives, tools, methods, and pedagogies as ways to respond to the challenges of diverse classrooms. This Institute empowered teachers from around the nation to journey boldly and immersively with their students into Moby-Dick and to dramatize the imperative value of the humanities as an essential force of social revitalization.