21 April 2026

By Göran R Buckhorn

In the April issue of Rowing News, the eminent “Doctor Rowing” – Andy Anderson – writes in his column, titled “WANTED: A Place to Celebrate Rowing”, that he mourns the closing of the River and Rowing Museum (RRM) in Henley-on-Thames, which permanently closed its door in September last year.

Andy Anderson writes that he used to take his crews to the RMM when they were racing at Henley Royal, giving them a bit of history to their sport. However, Andy points out that, “If a museum celebrating the history of our sport can’t make it in Henley, where thousands of rowing aficionados gather every summer and where there are rowing clubs around every bend in the river, is there any hope that a rowing museum can succeed anywhere?”

He replies with a laconic, “No”, and continues, “A stand-alone rowing museum just doesn’t attract enough interest to pay the bills.”

This is the sad truth.

A rowing museum has been tried on this side of the pond, too. It didn’t last.

I was one of the National Rowing Foundation’s volunteers who cleaned out the rowing exhibit “Let Her Run” and the NRF’s Rowing Hall of Fame at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut in September 2014. The exhibit and the Hall of Fame lasted for only six and half years and had to close when the museum management decided to demolish the building holding the collections of rowing memorabilia – the old G. W. Blunt White Building which used to be the museum’s research library – to make room for a new 14,000 square-foot new main entrance to the museum.

As the museum shamefully didn’t offer a new space to the NRF, most of the rowing artefacts went back to rowing historians Tom Weil and Bill Miller, who were the ones lending the rowing “stuff” to the exhibition. What stayed at the museum – and is still there – is NRF’s collection of boats and oars. In the new library across the street from the museum, there is also printed rowing material, such as books, magazines and regatta programmes.

So, ever since September 2014, NRF’s Tom Weil and Bill Miller searched for a new spot to set up an exhibit and a Hall of Fame. In the beginning there were talks about Boston, Princeton and Sarasota. The two first ones fell through, but Bill thinks there is still hope for Sarasota, Florida, with its fine rowing venue in Nathan Benderson Park, he tells Andy.

Bill also mentions to Andy that Mystic Seaport Museum will open a new exhibit in the Wells Boat Hall, which will display more than 100 vessels, including rowing shells and oars, some which have been donated to the museum by the NRF. HTBS wrote about this in July 2024. At the time of writing this article, an opening date for the exhibition has not been released.

Andy wraps up his column with, “The sport of rowing and the extraordinary people who have rowed need a place where they can be celebrated. Let’s not give up just because a great museum [RRM] has closed its doors.”

The rowing community, and maybe especially the small group of rowing historians, lost two giants in the field when Tom Weil passed away on 1 September 2024 and Chris Dodd died on 25 January 2026. Chris co-founded the RRM in 1998 and saw the museum closing in Henley. Tom, battling his illness, was in contact with Marist University in Poughkeepsie, New York, to secure a home for his up to 10,000 rowing artefacts at the university. The university’s archivists, led by John Ansley, are right now cataloging and digitising Tom’s collection.

Ansley contacted HTBS the other day to share the wonderful news that Marist will celebrate the “Thomas E. Weil Jr. Rowing History Collection” on Saturday, 15 August. Bill Miller will give a talk, “Great International University Race of 1869”, from 1 to 2 pm in the Student Center. Bill’s talk will be followed by a panel discussion from 2:15 to 3:30 pm on the state of rowing history, where the field stands today and where it will hopefully go in the future.

After the panel discussion, the attendees will make their way to the James A. Cannavino Library on campus for the opening of an exhibit drawn from Tom’s remarkable collection. The exhibit and reception will run from 4 to 6 pm in the Library and in Archives & Special Collections.

HTBS will offer more details soon, including a link to register for the event. Watch this space!