AHPCS Annual Meeting in New Bedford

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The 50th Annual Meeting of the American Historical Print Collectors Society will take place from June 8–11, 2026, honoring half a century of scholarship, discovery, and community.

We launch the festivities on June 8th with a special optional session at the Heritage Museum in Sandwich, Massachusetts—the very site of AHPCS’s inaugural meeting in 1975. From this meaningful point of origin, the program expands to two immersive days in New Bedford, culminating in a memorable day trip to Nantucket Island.

Our home base in New Bedford will be the New Bedford Whaling Museum where we will explore the museum’s rich collections documenting the region’s culture and history. A series of lectures will include talks on whaling and maritime prints, print-related scrimshaw, etchings by local artists R. Swain Gifford and LeRoy Yale and illustrations to Moby Dick. Curator-led tours will focus on the prints on view in the museum’s galleries and provide access to additional prints in the museum’s Research Room.

Beyond the museum’s extraordinary collections, walking tours will bring the downtown historic district to life. We will have lunch in the Harborview Room at the Whaling Museum, and Tuesday night dinner in the Harborview Room will be preceded by a cocktail reception in the Lagoda Gallery. Wednesday night dinner, which is preceded by the Print Mart, will take place in the Sea Loft, a historic commercial building on the waterfront.