Throwing a lifeline to Philadelphia’s rich rowing history

Just as a physical museum is closing in Philadelphia, a new digital museum is opening. Oct. 1 is the launch date for the Rowing History Project, which will showcase the historic holdings of Philadelphia’s 160-year-old rowing clubs — a trove of trophies, banners, artwork, and documents that passersby on Amtrak and Kelly Drive can only imagine.

But that’s not the only reason a small group of Boathouse Row historians volunteered to create this online-only museum. It was fear. Fear that the history of one of the city’s most iconic landmarks was vanishing along with stories about the traditions and culture of 19th-century Philadelphians. This, after all, is the place where Thomas Eakins rowed and painted, where Frank Furness left an architectural statement, and where a dynasty of Kellys (father, son, and daughter, Grace) propelled the city to international fame.

I first worried about this impending loss of history a decade ago when I was writing a book about Boathouse Row. Sitting on my dining room table was a 19th-century minute book of the Vesper Boat Club that I had borrowed from a member who had taken it home because the club wasn’t caring for it. Its leather cover was split, and pieces were flaking off. Gently turning its pages, I read about the constant break-ins, rules about smoking, drinking, and women, and the obsession with uniforms, including the dress one: “dark blue cloth, naval officers’ pattern, with name of Vesper on front in gold bullion, block letter ½ inch in height.”

Afterward, I carefully wrapped the disintegrating book in plastic wrap, not knowing what else to do.

While some clubs have put their old documents in places like the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Independence Seaport Museum, others have crammed them under staircases and beside boilers while their members focus on winning races.

The idea for the Rowing History Project emerged after COVID-19 canceled the 2020 Head of the Schuylkill Regatta (HOSR) — right when it was celebrating its 50th year. Instead, the HOSR pulled together a half dozen Boathouse Row history buffs to organize Zooms called “50 Years, 50 Stories.” The volunteers started meeting every Friday at 11 a.m., and over the years, their weekly planning sessions turned to the dire condition of the clubs’ artifacts.

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While the row could easily fill a physical museum, we watched as the prestigious River and Rowing Museum in Henley, England, shuttered and the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut closed its rowing section.

Then in 2023, architect and Vesper member Hilary Langer went into the bowels of his club to look at air handlers that needed replacement.

“I couldn’t get to them because I discovered trophies, plaques — all the heavy stuff,” Langer said. “I was so scared. We were so focused on rowing and operating a very, very complicated operation with masters, lightweights, women, heavy weights, juniors, high schools, that all this stuff was forgotten and neglected. It would still be there if those units hadn’t needed replacement. That is a fact.”

After reaching into every cranny of the club, he pulled out 1,000 items, including the minute book that I’d covered in plastic wrap.

That galvanized the HOSR group, which includes people with backgrounds in management and technology, not to mention the finish-line-driven spirit typical of rowers. We researched museum-style platforms and paid two professionals — an archivist and a webmaster — to help.

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Vesper’s collection became the “proof of concept,” and when the data for its holdings — photos, descriptions, condition, location, and more — were successfully uploaded, we raced to convince the rest of Boathouse Row to photograph and document its artifacts. The group held information sessions, created instructional videos, and hired a few library students to work with the boathouses. Some private collectors, including one with 3,000 rowing artifacts, are also joining the Rowing History Project as it evolves into an ever-larger museum.

“What we wound up with is not a software program designed just for Philadelphia or Boathouse Row,” said Chris Doyle of the Pennsylvania Barge Club. “It’s intended as a national platform. Our big contribution is a national platform for rowing history.”

Dotty Brown is a former reporter and editor at The Inquirer and the author of “Boathouse Row: Waves of Change in the Birthplace of American Rowing.” Visit the Rowing History Project at rowinghistoryproject.org.