Lobster Lore

For years many people have claimed colonial lobster folklore as fact.
But what’s the real story?

Marina Santos, a first-year student at Wellesley College, created this StoryMap, Lobster Lore, as a part of an internship with MIT Sea Grant under the supervision of Dr. Carolina Bastidas through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).

After noticing a sea of misinformation regarding lobster consumption in New England, she began to investigate a specific piece of lobster lore that claimed there was a riot in colonial Massachusetts about overfeeding lobster to indentured servants and prisoners.

Jan Davidsz. de Heem. Still Life with Fruit and Lobster. 17th century. Oil on canvas. Photographer: Jörg P. Anders. Image and data provided by Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz.

This research would not have been possible without the help of:

Carolina Bastidas, Lily Keyes, Elaine Sun, Maggie Erwin | MIT Sea Grant
Rebecca Selden | Wellesley College Biology Department
Dani Henry, Sarah Barbrow, Daria Hafner, Brooke Henderson, Shane Cox | Wellesley College Library
Ece Turnator | MIT Libraries
Nancy Balcom | CT Sea Grant
Nancy Solomon | Long Island Traditions
Kathleen Curtin | University of Massachusetts Lowell
Massachusetts Historical Commission, State Library of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Archives, Massachusetts Historical Society, Maine State Museum, Maine Department of Marine Resources, and NOAA Sea Grant

VIEW THE LOBSTER LORE STORYMAP!

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Lobster Lore

For years many people have claimed colonial lobster folklore as fact.But what’s the real story?

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For years many people have claimed colonial lobster folklore as fact.
But what’s the real story?