Captain’s Corner June

Captain’s Corner

Date: Saturday, June 17

Time: 6 – 8 PM

Location: Cruiser Olympia Cost: Included with any Ticket Package I Free for ISM Members

Bios: A native of Virginia, Rathbun was educated in Scotland and holds a Master of Arts in Medieval History and Master of Letters in Medieval History from St. Andrews and a Master of Science in Museum Studies from Glasgow. She was recruited by Battleship Cove in 2021 following tenures as project manager for Virginia Fundraising Consultants, a curatorial assistant on Norfolk’s USS Wisconsin, and curator on board USS Missouri, one of Hawaii’s most popular tourist attractions. There, the battleship expert spearheaded elements of Missouri’s educational programming, exhibits, and restoration and interpretation efforts. Her work creating a climate-controlled collection and archival storage facility won the first annual Naval History and Heritage Command Curatorial Excellence Award. She currently resides in Rhode Island and is the Executive Director of Battleship Cove.

Ryan Szimanski has worked on museum ships for more than half his life. He has been the executive director of the Historic Naval Ships Association for the last two years and the vice president of curatorial and education affairs for Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial for more than five years. Previously he spent twelve years with Historic Ships in Baltimore starting as a tour guide and working up to managing the maintenance on one of their ships.

Gregory Williams has over a decade of experience in the museum field and with macro artifacts. He got his start as an intern with the Fire Museum of Maryland, learning curatorial practices and digitizing firehouse log books, and helping to maintain their fleet of historic fire engines. He then worked for Historic Ships in Baltimore as a docent and overnight leader and has been employed by Independence Seaport Museum for the last seven years. He currently serves ISM in a number of roles from preservation to interpretation, and is the museum’s resident content expert regarding American fleet boats and submarines.