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September
5, 1995
Mel
Fisher Maritime Heritage Society
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TOWER
OF LONDON’S ANGUS KONSTAM NAMED CURATOR OF
MEL
FISHER MARITIME HERITAGE SOCIETY MUSEUM
Dr.
Madeleine Burnside, executive director of the Mel Fisher
Maritime Heritage Society, is pleased to announce that
internationally recognized weapons expert Angus Konstam
has accepted an appointment as chief curator of the
society’s Key West museum. Konstam is the former
Curator of Weapons of the Royal Armouries at Her
Majesty’s Tower of London in Great Britain.
A
Scotsman born in 1960 in Aberdeen, Konstam served as a
Seaman Officer in the Royal Navy for six years before
embarking on his academic career. He holds a Masters
degree in History from Aberdeen University, a Masters in
Maritime Studies from St. Andrews University, and a
Masters in Museum Studies from London’s University
College. He has consulted on collections of historic
weapons throughout Europe, including Russia—where he
worked on a joint exhibition project between the Tower
of London and the Kremlin museum. Additionally, as a
consulting maritime archeologist, he has participated in
historical excavations in Scotland, Wales, and England;
as an author, he has published several historical books
and articles.
“Angus’s
connoisseurship and familiarity with everyday objects
that customarily would be aboard galleons and ships of
the Atocha and
Henrietta Marie
periods are of tremendous importance,” says Dr.
Burnside. “The society’s collection is much
recognized for the pieces of silver and precious metals
it contains—but because Angus has studied European
collections of artifacts similar to those we have here,
he has the experience and ability to interpret our
cultural material as a whole.”
Konstam’s
first contact with the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage
Society came when his help was requested in identifying
and authenticating weapons found on the shipwreck of the
English merchant slave vessel Henrietta
Marie. In April of 1994, he journeyed to the
society’s museum to examine weapons discovered at the
sites of the Henrietta
Marie and Nuestra
Señora de Atocha shipwrecks, as well as those from
an unidentified Discovery-era wreck the society is
excavating in Bahamian waters.
Konstam
was intrigued by the extensive collection of weapons and
artifacts he found at the museum—such as the arquebus
guns recovered from the Atocha, so rare that even Madrid’s state naval museum has none.
Offered the curatorship several months ago, he left the
Tower of London, arranged for the proper visas, and had
arrived in Key West by the end of June.
According
to Melissa Kendrick, general manager of the Mel Fisher
Maritime Heritage Society, Konstam’s primary duties
will be to interpret the museum’s existing
collections, organize new exhibitions, and preside over
the interpretation of new collections. He will also
spearhead comprehensive research into and reinstallation
of the Atocha
artifacts.
“The
Henrietta Marie
exhibition will leave here in November and travel to
many of the country’s major museums in the next four
years,” says Konstam. “In December, we’ll open an
exhibition on Spanish treasure fleets, which will also
go on the road. We have a whole program of exhibitions
planned—including one on pirates—plus the
reinstallation of the Atocha
collection. That’s going to be kind of fun.”
Konstam
and his friend Tony Halliday, a British civil servant,
have recently found a small Conch house in the Meadows
area of Key West and are settling in to their new
community. Regarding life in Key West, the new curator
comments, “The two things I miss most are British beer
and British soccer. Only time will tell if Bud and the
Dolphins will help fill the gap!”
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