Mattapoisett Library’s new Marine Room is approrpiately named for the late Howard Stillman Bates.

“He would always sail at midnight,” said Maureen Butler, a representative of Bates’ foundation that donated funds for the new research room. “He loved Mattapoisett. He loved everything marine, so it is really fitting to have this room in his honor.”

On Thursday, July 26, the Library Building Committee, library staff, trustees and guests celebrated the official opening of the Howard Stillman Bates Marine Room - a project six-and-a-half years in the making.

“The marine room concept came from one of our early donors,” said co-project manager Robert Cattley.

The small research room was part of the first floor wing added to the library, which reopened its doors in 2008 after extensive renovations and building.

Although the room was in blueprints from the start, finances and nailing down a good design pushed the project back.

“We couldn’t really settle in on what to do in a small area. Everybody had big ideas that didn’t fit,” said Cattley.

A handful of Building Committee members, including Cattley, his fellow project manager Fran Gordon and Town Historian Seth Mendell, reunited to get the Marine Room completed.

The committee wanted the room to be a receptacle for all things marine, said Mendell. With help from architect Bonnie Souza, who Gordon would share sketches with over dog walks, the group got their plan on paper and hired woodworkers to craft the cabinets and trim in the room.

“We took out some of our ugly metal shelves, left wall space for paintings and pictures and added glass cabinets for artifacts and rare books,” said Mendell. “We think it has come out very nicely.

Although the committee cut the ribbon on Thursday, the room is far from finished.

“The Marine Room is really a work in progress,” said Mendell.

“We want for people to be fully aware now that we have an area in the Mattapoisett Library that is climate controlled, a secure room where artifacts and research material can be cataloged, stored in acid-free containers and ready for people to come in and use as research materials.”

The room already houses a variety of documents as well as a painting of the Wanderer, the last whaling ship launched in Mattapoisett, boat building guides and even a paper whale created by Mendell’s six-year-old granddaughter Kelsea McCoy.

“It’s just a start, but it gives you an idea of the range of materials that we think are appropriate for our new research room,” said Pizzolato.