research.mysticseaport.orgCollections & Research

CollectionsResearchCollectionsResearch Menu Home CollectionsLibrary Collections overview Catalog of books, periodicals and manuscripts Catalog of art, objects, photography and ships plans Manuscript Collections Ships Plans Collections Chart Inventory Discover Rosenfeld Digital Resources Databases American Offshore Whaling Voyages Connecticut Ship Database, 1789-1939 Charles W. Morgan Crew Lists Fall River Whaling Crew Lists New London Crew Lists, 1803-1878 New London Whaling Masters Salem Crew Lists, 1799-1879 San Francisco Shangaiers 1886-1890 Seamen’s Protection Certificates Digital Library Yacht Registers Ship Registers Imprints Individual manuscripts From manuscript collections Exhibits The Charles W. Morgan 19th Century American Merchant Marine Digital Library ImmigrationSteamships To the Arctic What Did Explorers Read? Indexes Log of Mystic Seaport MotorBoating The Rudder Yachting Index to Ship Registers Index to Yacht Registers Microfilm William Garden Design Articles Reference Coriolis, Interdisciplinary Journal of Maritime Studies National Maritime Digital Library Oral History Interviews Information Bulletins Whalemen’s Shipping List 1843-1914 Connecticut History Illustrated Additional Resources Services Research requests Reference copies Rosenfeld Collection Ships Plans store Visit Hoursdirections Schedule a visit About Log of Mystic Seaport Contact Us News The CRC will be closed to visitors May 22nd – May 24th. We will reopen May 29th. A ppointments are now required for all CRC visitors and must be made at least 7 days in advance. See the Visit the CRC” link at right for details. Preserving the past and ensuring a bright future. The Collections Research Center (CRC) is the nation’s leading maritime research facility. Located across the street from Mystic Seaport, the former J. Rossie Velvet Company houses the Museum’s collections and offers safe and easy access to maritime researchers and scholars. Artifacts at the CRC include more than two million examples of maritime art, artifacts, tools, buildings, imprints and other documents, photographs, 1,000 ships registers, 600 audiotaped oral history interviews, 200 videotaped interviews, and 1.5 million feet of historic and contemporary maritime-related footage. The CRC opened in the fall of 2002 and was designed to exceed national museum standards for conservation, preservation, accessibility, and safety. The research center provides cutting-edge temperature and humidity control for the Museum’s artifacts and also boasts audio/video production suites and extensive photo processing and digitizing labs. An Ocean Liner Sampler May 31, 2023 We have posted a number of items over the last two years pertaining to an extraordinary collection that was given to the Museum a few years ago. This collection of ocean liner ephemera entails nearly 10,000 items and will be a great source of exhibit and research material for the Museum for years to come. A number of people have been involved in cataloging and digitizing the collection, and one member of the staff has created descriptions for a sampling of what appears in the collection. You can see that sampling through this link . A Nautical Novelty: Dr. Seuss’ Navy March 1, 2023 Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to all as Dr. Seuss, the beloved children’s book author and illustrator, began his career as cartoonist for Vanity Fair , Life and other publications before moving into advertising; most notably for Standard Oil, the parent company of Esso Marine Oil and Lubricants. As ad man for Esso, Seuss created a menagerie of sea-dwelling creatures and a host of mariner characters that appear in numerous advertisements in boating publications such as Yachting and Motor Boating . Captain Taylor, a mariner who often dispensed tongue-in-cheek boating advice, and perhaps the most well-known of the characters, is seen here adorning a roving advertisement for Burr’s Yacht Station (New London, CT) during the Harvard-Yale Rowing Race in June of 1935. MSM Rosenfeld Collection. Acc. # 1984.187.71507F When asked to create a campaign for Esso Marine Lube for the 1936 New York International [Motor] Boat Show, Seuss and his colleagues created 15 certificates stating that the selectee had been named an Admiral in Seuss’ Navy. The inductees, especially in the beginning, were celebrity boaters like Vincent Astor. The aim, much like today’s advertising campaigns, was to attach the Esso Marine brand to the celebrity, If it’s good enough for [celebrity], it’s got to be good.” The campaign was supposed to be somewhat in jest, but the selectees hung their certificates up in their yachts and soon everyone wanted to be part of Seuss’ Navy, where every man was an Admiral. Certificate: MSM Acc. # 1988.107.35 With growing interest in becoming a member of Seuss’ Navy, the simple ad campaign became a full-fledged feature at the shows. Seuss’ Navy was deemed the Fun-Makers” and sponsored boat races, games, contests, and hosted an annual Seuss Navy Luncheon and Frolic” MSM Rosenfeld Collection. Acc. # 1984.187.85312F. Esso marketers and salesmen even put on short plays created by Seuss. In one of Seuss’ Little Dramas of the Deep,” The demon sludge fish is the villain… an enlightening story for those embryo mariners who would gamble on lubricants…”- a big hit. Seuss went on to create three 30-page Seuss Navy story booklets - with rhyming text. Seuss later said his experience working at Standard Oil taught him conciseness and how to marry pictures with words.” Seuss published his first children’s book in 1937. The Navy sank by 1949 as a result of what Seuss claims was a casualty of its own commercialism.” Esso Marine Advertisements Emily Mayotte And the Band Plays on… in Mystic Seaport’s Collections December 12, 2022 2020.39.7177 A photograph of the Titanic leaving Southampton, part of the Witherill Collection. by Michelle Turner The Titanic is so much a part of our collective memory and pop culture that the simple phrase the band played on” may be enough to bring a lump to your throat. In the midst of a terrible disaster, on a cold and chaotic deck in the North Atlantic, the eight musicians of the ship’s band played ragtime songs and hymns, hoping to calm and soothe the people around them. Everything we know about those final moments comes to us from the memories of survivors. Many of them remembered being in their lifeboats and hearing music floating across the calm water as they rowed away. They remembered the music ending as the ship sank, replaced by the screams of people in the water. A Carpathia discovery We have been cataloging a collection of ocean liner materials donated by collector Linda Witherill, which includes many remarkable items directly connected to the Titanic and the disaster. But recently we discovered another small but chilling bit of the story hidden in a concert program. 2020.39.7607 Programme of Grand Concert, from the Witherill Collection. This is a program from a shipboard concert on the Carpathia, the ship that became famous for its heroic rescue of the 700 or so survivors of the Titanic after it sank on April 15, 1912. What you might notice first is the beautiful floral decoration. Then you might notice the date, February 20, 1912. And if you happen to know more about the Titanic ’s story, you might notice the names of Roger Bricoux and William Theo Bailey. They were members of Carpathia ’s band, but about a month and a half after this concert, they both signed up for the new band formed for the Titanic ’s maiden voyage. (1) Like all of the Titanic ’s musicians, they died in the disaster. On this Grand Concert” program, from the Carpathia ’s February cruise from New York to the Mediterranean, the two of them are listed along with Edgar Heap, bandmaster and violinist. They played two classical pieces together. Theo Brailey, who also accompanied the other performers on piano, was 25 years old. Roger...