Exhibits & Collections
February 7 - March 23rd, 2026
Sea & Sky Exhibit
A feast for winter-weary eyes, the 28th Annual Sea & Sky Art Show, juried by marine artist Russ Kramer, features over 70 works of art selected from nearly 120 entries by talented artists from the South Shore and beyond. This year's exhibition celebrates the beauty of our coastal environment and the richness of the artistic community.
Online Exhibits
Discover Our Collections Digitally
Experience the museum’s treasures online. From rare postcards to lifesaving artifacts, our online exhibits showcase the history, culture, and stories of coastal communities, including the Samuel and Beatrice Arnold Antique Postcard Collection.
The Samuel and Beatrice Arnold Antique Postcard Collection
The Samuel and Beatrice Arnold Antique Postcard Collection
Past Exhibits
For the Souls of Strangers: True Tales of Rescues at Sea
Open Through January 2026
Imagine setting out amid a raging nor’easter in a simple rowing boat, powered only by your crew’s resolute will to save the life of someone you have never met…
Step into the gripping world of maritime heroism and uncover Hull’s vital role in the U.S. Life-Saving Service. This exhibit brings to life the extraordinary courage of the surfmen who braved raging storms and treacherous waters to rescue those in peril. Learn about their daily routines, the challenges they faced, and the dramatic rescues that shaped the history of this original life-saving station. Witness the selflessness of those who risked everything—for the souls of strangers.
Beach Days and Bathing Suits
Open Through January 2026
Beach Days and Bathing Suits showcases a playful collection of actual vintage bathing suits and a curated array of classic Nantasket Beach posters-artworks that once enticed generations of beachgoers to our iconic shoreline.
Each piece on display tells a story of sunny days, shifting styles, and the enduring charm of summer by the sea
—and every one is available for purchase. Whether you’re a beach lover, vintage collector, or history enthusiast, you’ll find something to love.
Patricia Abbate Retrospective ~ at Joshua's Staircase Gallery
March 25th – April 24th 2023
Although not a Hullonian by birth, more importantly, Patti was a Hullonian by heart. All who knew Patti personally or admired her photography were touched by her innate sense of the beauty of Hull peninsula and her fiercely loyal admiration of all its inhabitants. The Lifesaving Museum is taking this opportunity to pay tribute to the soul of Patti captured through this retrospective. Come join us so you might also fee that beauty captured through her photography.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America
October 30th – December 10th 2022
“The Crossroads: Change in Rural America” exhibit offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred. Learn more including our program schedule.
Storm Seasons ~ Shipwrecks Remembered
June 2022 – October 2022
Winter season along the New England coast provides a stark reminder of storms and gales of the past and valiant rescues performed by Humane Society volunteers and the crews of the Point Allerton US Lifesaving Station. With that in mind, we dove into the archives to revisit some of the extreme weather events of the past including the Great Storm of 1888, the wreck of the Ulrica in 1896, the Portland Gale of 1898, and the grounding of the Nancy in 1927. The exhibit includes photographs, official documents, postcards, awarded medals and ship fragments from our collections.
A Life Lived In Color: Trish Turner Retrospective
September 10 – November 7, 2021
In honor of Trish Turner, a dear and treasured friend of the museum and the community, HLM is hosting a retrospective of her work. We know there are many folks in town who boast at least one “Trish Turner” in the collection. This show is an opportunity to view the larger body of her work, many of which convey her zest for life and her wit while capturing iconic local scenes that quite often carry their own personal story for both the artist and the art lover.
No date
Archibishop Williams Middle School Boat Designs
Inspired by a remote tour of the museum's winter show: Miniature Ships - Epic Stories, Model Ship Exhibition, Middle School students from Archbishop Williams School employed mixed media techniques to create an online slide show of their work with accompanying artist statements from each student.
October 2020 - February 2021
Miniature Ships - Epic Stories, 2020 Model Ship Exhibition
Our exciting new exhibition featured ship and boat models from our collection.
No date
Keeping a Weather Eye: Shipwrecks and Lifesaving in Boston Harbor
Keeping a Weather Eye interprets the historic Point Allerton Lifesaving Station in photographs, log book accounts, newspaper articles, artifacts, and film clips, as well as interactive elements for visitors of all ages.
No date
Sea Dogs! Great Tails of the Sea
A traveling exhibit on loan from Mystic Seaport Museum celebrates the special relationship shared by humans and dogs who live and work by the sea.
October 2020 - February 2021
Lifebuoy Saves Lives!
Turn-of-the-century advertisements for Lifebuoy soap proclaimed the slogan "Lifebuoy Saves Lives" and featured images of heroic coastal lifesavers.
No date
The Camera's Coast
A sampler of historic coastal New England images from the collections of Historic New England.
Joshua James
Joshua James (1826-1902) was born in Hull, Massachusetts, and lived his entire life in this small seaside town. He lived to be 75, devoting 60 of those years to saving over 1,000 lives from shipwrecks at the mouth of Boston Harbor. James and the surfmen from Hull’s Massachusetts Humane Society and U.S. Life Saving Service crews were the best in the world – and renowned for their deeds. Amazingly, no one ever died in a rescue in which Joshua James participated.
Nantasket, Massachusetts Humane Society Surfboat
Nantasket was a part of the network of volunteer lifesavers and rescue equipment maintained along the Massachusetts coast by the Humane Society. Designed by Joshua James’ older brother, Captain Samuel James, Nantasket was styled to handle the heavy surf off Hull’s Nantasket Beach.
Great Storm of 1888
On the morning of November 25, 1888, Joshua James spotted six schooners anchored in Nantasket Roads, a half mile southwest of Boston Light. The first to run aground in the mounting storm was the Cox and Green, which struck rocks in mid-afternoon, half a mile from the Humane Society’s boathouse at Stony Beach. The breeches buoy was used to rescue all eight sailors aboard.
Point Allerton US Lifesaving Station - USLSS Era
The Point Allerton US Lifesaving Station was constructed in 1889 to provide coastal lifesaving services in Boston Harbor. The original building is an A.B. Bibb #2 Type U.S. Lifesaving Station, the first new station design of architect Albert Buruley Bibb, who designed four station plans and two one-of-a-kind stations in his career with the Lifesaving Service.
USCG Era
Keeper William Sparrow commanded the Point Allerton Station through its transition to the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915. Point Allerton Station is one of the busiest and most distinguished in the northeast.
Research Collections
The museum’s collections number more than 5,000 objects, and continue to grow. Our collections include United States Lifesaving Service and Massachusetts Humane Society artifacts, a beach cart, the c. 1887 surfboat Nantasket, lighthouse artifacts, including a rare 1903 Fourth Order Fresnel lens, ship and lighthouse models, ship fittings, shipwreck fragments, aids to navigation and historical charts.
United States Lifesaving Service
Congress first debated federalizing a lifesaving service following the horrific 1837 loss of the Barque Mexico with 116 Irish immigrant passengers, mostly women and children, off the New Jersey coast. Instead, legislators sporadically funded regional lifesaving efforts for several decades.
Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Humane Society, modeled on Britain’s Royal Humane Society, was established by an act of Congress in 1796. The Massachusetts Humane Society was an all-volunteer, purely humanitarian organization.
United States Coast Guard
For more information on Coast Guard history, please visit the Coast Guard Historian’s website.
Edward Rowe Snow
The Museum’s Edward Rowe Snow collection includes books, newspaper articles, photographs, and original documents by the popular Boston Harbor historian and author. Many of these materials are related to Snow’s role as “Flying Santa,” delivering gifts to lighthouses along the coast. Please call to arrange research access to this collection.
Famous Rescues
Portland Gale
The Portland Gale of November 26-28, 1898, one of the most devastating storms in the history of the Massachusetts coast, bears the name of the steamer Portland, lost with all souls after leaving Boston Harbor for Maine. The shores of Hull also saw loss of life during the Portland Gale, despite the tireless efforts of the Hull lifesaving crews. The following ships were among those wrecked off Hull during the storm.
Abel B. Babock
Henry Hilton
Calvin Baker
Wreck of the Ulrica
Bound from Nova Scotia to Hoboken, New Jersey, loaded with plaster. All on board were rescued by the Point Allerton US Lifesaving Station crew, led by Captain Joshua James. They were brought to shore in the surfboat Nantasket.
Nancy
On February 20, 1927, during a severe northeast storm with winds exceeding 70 mph, the Nancy, of Philadelphia, was driven onto the shore. In what proved to be their last rescue in Hull, Massachusetts, Humane Society volunteers, led by Captain Osceola James (Joshua’s son), brought all nine crew members safely ashore.
Boston Harbor Shipwrecks
To learn more about these famous shipwrecks and daring rescues visit our companion website.
