What's new at the Mu? Titanic artifact on display at U.S. Capitol

Margy Vogt
·2 min read
This printed list of rescued second-cabin Titanic passengers, a gift of the Edward Abbott Estate, is part of the Massillon Museum's permanent collection. It will be on loan for display through July at the United States Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C.
This printed list of rescued second-cabin Titanic passengers, a gift of the Edward Abbott Estate, is part of the Massillon Museum's permanent collection. It will be on loan for display through July at the United States Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C.

A printed list of rescued second-cabin Titanic passengers, in the Massillon Museum's permanent collection, is currently displayed at the United States Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., for its Congressional Investigations exhibition through July 2024.

Details

The Titanic, launched on its inaugural voyage on April 10, 1912, struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912, and foundered. Of the 2,200 people aboard, only 705 survived, rescued by the crew of the RMS Carpathia, which arrived two hours after Titanic sank. Rescuers worked four hours to lift survivors from the lifeboats.

Edward Abbott, 25, a native of Liverpool, England, was a steward on theCarpathiaand was among 320 crew and officers honored by Titanic survivors in the Carpathia’s saloon on May 29, 1912.

Margaret Brown, known posthumously as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” was among the prominent survivors who attendedthe ceremony. The Carpathia, designed in 1902 for second- and third-class travelers, was transformed into a troop transport during World War I. It went down on July 1918 off the Irish coast, torpedoed by a German submarine.

Abbott moved to Massillon in the 1920s to work in the steel industry – Reliance Manufacturing, Union Drawn Steel and Republic Steel – over the next three decades. After his 1958 death, his estate donated to the Massillon Museum several Titanic-related artifacts, including the passenger list and a bronze medal for “gallant and heroic services” presented to him by Titanic survivors at the gathering in the Carpathia’s saloon.

Making the connection

Capitol Visitor Center staff located the passenger list preserved in the Massillon Museum’s permanent collection via an online search. Visitors enter the Capitol Building through the Visitor Center, where the Congressional Investigations exhibition can be seen. There is no fee for a Capitol tour, but reservations are required. For details, go to visitthecapitol.gov.

If you go

WHAT – MassMu artifact exhibited at United States Capitol Visitor Center

WHEN – Through July 2024

WHERE – United States Capitol Visitor Center, First Street SE in Washington, D.C.

MORE – MassillonMuseum.org or 330-833-4061

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: What's new at the Mu? Titanic artifact on display at U.S. Capitol