ichard Updike has spent the past 50 years collecting all things maritime, from paintings of vessels at sea to rare objects dating back hundreds of years.
By Philip Sean Curran, Packet Media Group
Richard Updike has spent the past 50 years collecting all things maritime, from paintings of vessels at sea to rare objects dating back hundreds of years.
More than 100 items that the Hamilton man owns are on display in an exhibit, “The Age of Sail: a New Jersey Collection,” that runs through March 23 at Morven Museum and Garden.
”It’s an eclectic collection,” Mr. Updike said Thursday at the opening reception. “I’m glad to share it with people.”
With guests eyeing the various objects and artwork, the retired teacher answered questions about himself and how he came to start his collection.
Mr. Updike, a distant relative of the Princeton Updikes, grew up in Trenton. In the summer, his family would take vacations at the Jersey shore. But it wasn’t until the early 1960s that he began collecting maritime-related objects. Those include an American flag with 13 stars, a swivel gun from the 1600s — both are displayed as part of the exhibit at Morven.
Mr. Updike, 80, explained that he found some of the objects “by chance and sometimes by networking.” For instance, he was at a flea market in South Jersey when he came across a large cannon ball. The dealer, he said, explained to him that the cannon ball had been dredged up in Cape May and had been resting in the dealer’s garden as an ornament.
Morven, once the official residence of New Jersey’s governors into the 20th century, does two to three exhibits a year. One of those was last fall of the private collection of Joseph Falcone, a friend of Mr. Updike’s. He served as point of contact between Morven and Mr. Updike, said Morven curator Elizabeth Allan.
”So he introduced us, and we had a few meetings. And (Mr. Updike) was agreeable to showing it here,” she said.
She said both sides worked together in deciding what from Mr. Updike’s much larger collection would become part of the exhibit.
”A lot of this, he was kind of really the expert, so teaching me the significance of each thing,” she said. “Some of it came down to what fit where.”
Visitors can see the exhibit from Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is $6. For information, visit www.morven.org.