ABOUT RIMAP MEMBERSHIP

The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) is an organization that trains its members to volunteer for marine archaeology research under professional direction. RIMAP membership ($40/year) is open to anyone interested in maritime history and marine archaeology. Some RIMAP activities are free and open to the general public, but membership is required to take our training and to participate in our various research projects.

The RIMAP members include trainees and volunteers who are divers and non-divers. They come from many backgrounds, but all share an interest in maritime history and marine archaeology. They are administrators, carpenters, CPAs, diplomats, dive shop owners, documentary producers, elected officials, engineers, farmers, First Nations members, housewives, government administrators, historical society staff, IT experts, lawyers, librarians, marine industry owners and workers, museum staffs, New York Yacht Club members and others in the sailing community, plumbers, politicians, preservationists, retirees, secretaries, teachers, tourism specialists, venture capitalists, and the CEO of an international luxury company.

They come mainly from the New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont -- but also from as far as Arizona, California, Colorado, DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and even the countries of Australia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, and the UK.

Some member trainee/volunteers are also college and university undergraduate and graduate students who want marine archaeology fieldwork experience that isn't available at their home institutions. These have included students from Bristol Community College, Brown University, Community College of Rhode Island, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, New York Maritime Academy, Texas A&M, University of Arizona, University of Rhode Island, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. RIMAP was not designed to serve a youth population, but mature high school students have participated in the training and research, coming from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and even Kentucky and Oklahoma !