Whaling and Industry Monument
New Bedford has long been conflicted about its historical identity. The city has been, at different times, a world leader in extracting energy from whales and in using energy to produce textiles. Despite a relative lack of physical reminders of whaling, and the abundance of “monuments” to manufacturing—in the form of mill buildings and worker housing—“going down to the sea in ships” is remembered and cherished, while the textile industry is largely overlooked. Very rarely are whaling and textiles remembered and memorialized equally.
One exception is this monument, sculpted in 1914 by Hungarian immigrant artist George Julian Zolnay. The sculpture is known as the Barnard Memorial, after the person who provided the funding, George D. Barnard, who was born in New Bedford but moved to St. Louis and formed a stationery company. At its dedication, Barnard described his idea for the monument: “Why not erect a statue that would show the whaler at home and among his neighbors or a representation of the early New Bedford as I knew it as well as of the present city to continue the story.” Zolnay, a St. Louis resident at the time, accepted the commission to memorialize “all that New Bedford was, all that it is and all it ever will be."
At the base of the monument stand seafaring men and women. Standing above them is a blacksmith wearing a thick apron balancing a gear upon an anvil. The inscription reads, “Dedicated as a Tribute to the sturdy whalemen who early won fame for New Bedford and their successors who, inheriting ideals and resourcefulness gave to the city new prominence by creating a great manufacturing center.”
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