A sextant belonging to Captain James Earle, master of the Charles W. Morgan during nine of her voyages between 1890 and 1908, was recently given to the Museum. The sextant and case was a generous donation from a gentleman from Georgia who acquired it years earlier at an auction of the Barbara Johnson Whaling Collection. Barbara Johnson's collection was known as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) private whaling collections ever assembled. We are ecstatic to have this new piece added to the Museum's collection while the Morgan is being restored.

Distinguished Visitors

Yesterday, May 5th, 30 archivist from China, in association with a program hosted by Yale University, visited the Collections Research Center to learn about Mystic Seaport's manuscript cataloging practices and view items from the Rare Book and Manuscripts Collection.

They were particularly interested in items relating to China Trade such as the Opium papers in the Howard A. Krumwiede Collection and the early folios. (As are we all!)

New Book

The Fisherman's Cause: Atlantic Commerce and Maritime Dimensions of the American Revolution is described as "In the first book-length examination of the connections between the commercial fishing industry in colonial America and the American Revolution, Christopher Magra places the origins and progress of this formative event in a wider Atlantic context. The Fisherman's Cause utilizes extensive research from archives in the United States [including Mystic Seaport], Canada, and the U.K. in order to take this Atlantic approach."

New Hours

Beginning the week of May 4, 2009 the Collections Access and Research Room will be open for Independent, Visiting Researchers:

10:00-5:00 Thursday and Friday.

To better serve our visitors we strongly encourage a call or email ahead.

Closure

The Collections Access Room is temporarily unavailable, reopening on May 8. Please excuse the interruption in service while we update our processes and schedule to insure excellent ongoing collections access. We will post an update as soon as possible.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Sincerely,
The Collections Research Center Staff

Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Power in Maritime America

The Papers from the Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Power in Maritime America Conference Held at Mystic Seaport, September 2006, are now available. The book contains 12 papers, "all offer a wide range of ways in which gender, race and ethnicity are entwined and redefined in the context of the sea."

I was lucky enough to attend many of the sessions represented in the book. They were good then, but it is excellent now to have such detailed scholarship in print. From Jason Mancini's exploration of the previously hidden nature of Native American involvement in maritime occupations from 1713-1861, to Deanne Nuwer's discussion of the vital role played by women in Biloxi's seafood industry from 1863 to the present, the papers represent the range and depth of the maritime experience and the historical work undertaken to understand it.

Costumes of the Mediterranean - Misc. Vol. 464

Now Online - Book containing hand colored drawings by Edward C. Young. Drawn in 1830, images include the costumes of several nationalities as seen in a number of Mediterranean ports, primarily Smyrna, Turkey. Clergy, military, merchants, townspeople, and servants of the Sultan's court are pictured as well the USS Concord's, Sergeant, Band Member and Boatswains Mate.