On the Water: Stories from Maritime America

Extending the immense exhibition of ship models, documents, images, and artifacts from maritime life that comprises the On the Water: Stories from Maritime America exhibition, this companion Web site presents stories across seven chronological sections, from the 17th century to the present day. The site’s thematic collections of artifacts within each era highlight changing aspects of maritime life, as visitors read descriptions, listen to audio narratives, view contemporary images, and search the artifacts database for specific records.

In addition to giving visitors access to high-resolution images of Smithsonian artifacts, the site’s educational section provides learning resources to teachers and students, including downloadable activities and snapshots as well as links to other online reference material. In 2010, Second Story updated the learning resources with a new interactive called, The Gold Rush Journey. This feature invites visitors to travel back in time to 1849 and follow the journey of an ambitious gold miner during his sea-voyage around the Americas. As the journey progresses, visitors can explore historical images, documents and audio clips that provide context and a better understanding of the writer’s voyage.