[scooby do]

Near my home is a small military museum. The curator is a friend of mine. I had a chance meeting with him . He told me about a collection of photographs, journals. etc that two elderly ladies had given to the museum after the death of thier brother. They just wanted to clear out the deceased home and did'nt know what else to do with it all. The curator took the collection more out of courtesy, It does'nt have a place in the museum he said to me! It's all merchant navy. [keep yu cool like as iff it never existed i thought] I went to the store room to look at it.
It is absolutly amazing what looks like a life times work. A photographic collection of about 2-3000 thats thousands of british merchant ships going back 60 years all indexed and listed by company. P&O. CUNARD. B&I. NZSC. ELLERMAN, BROCKLEBANKS, ELDER DEMPSTER. and many many more. Hand written on the back of every picture the ships name and history. Interestinglly not many are post cards but all personal photos They are all perfectly the same size and quality. Also there was sea breeze magazine boxed collections 20 years worth. A HMSO gazette, listing the names of every merchant ship lost in ww2. loads of merchant navel history to much to list.it realy is a life times dedication to the history merchant fleet.

I find my self on the horns of a dilema. I can't sit back and see it broken up.
I don't want it to be just left in a damp store room.
On no account should a monetary value be attached to it.
The person that compiled it all i'm sure did it as a labour of love.
I need to think of something to keep it all together for people to see.????

 

[David Wilcockson]

Hey scooby do
That sounds like the mother of all treasures for those with an interest in shipping. Just take your time on deciding what to do with the collection. Maybe a naval museum would be interested. Must admit I would love to see the trove myself.
David

 

[Tmac1720]

Scooby do that is pure gold you have there, have you thought about approaching a publisher? that way the world can share in the find.

 

[scooby do]

I was realy amazed at the sight of it all. I could have spent the whole day just looking through it . The condition and quality of it all is brilliant.The bloke that put it all together has done a great job it realy must have taken many years.

 

[Ron Stringer]

MN Historic Collection

Scooby,

Have you contacted anyone at the National Maritime Museum or the Guildhall Museum Library here in the UK? They may be able to offer suggestions as how to proceed in order to protect this important collection. The Liverpool Maritime Museum is another possiblility.

Ron

 

[John Rogers]

Just a thought,but one of our members Billy McGee may know some organization that could make copies of it and a place where it could be kept for history.
John

 

[Hugh MacLean]

It sounds like you have quite a find there.

It would be good if they could be preserved someway for the good of Merchant Navy history.

My only worry about the likes of the NMM and others is that once they have their hands on photos of ships they tend to archive them and you have to pay them about £20 a go to get a scan. The result as you can see on this site is loads of folk looking for photos of ships that they or their forebears sailed on but cannot get access to them because of cost.

Rgds

 

[Gulpers]

Collection

Scoobs,
Are you in the UK and, if so, which part? There are several maritime museums scattered round the country who would be able to offer advice.

Tell me you are not really in Western Sahara, as your wee flag would suggest! (Thumb)

 

[Jim MacIntyre]

Collection

Here's a thought
Is it possible for shipsnostalgia to acquire the collection formally with a view to posting it somehow in the web-site ?
Such posting would probably be a big job and might require professional help. (I'm the illiterate part of 'computer illiterate' so if I'm off track here i rely on someone to put me back in line).
Bottom line if it requires hiring someone to do the legwork then I for one (and I'm sure many others) would willingly contribute to any costs involved in order to have access to such a collection.
Once the information is on our web-site and in the 'public domain' the material could be turned over to a museum for proper preservation and display.
This way we get the best of all worlds. We all get access to the collection. The collection is properly preserved with respect for the person who put it together.
In going through old threads I read nightmare stories about total destruction of shipping memorabilia in company takeovers etc etc. and the outrage expressed here for such actions.
We need to consider this opportunity carefully and do the right thing.

Jim MacIntyre

 

[David Wilcockson]

I would second Jim MacIntyre as that would get around any copyright infringement, & allow enthusiasts to view whenever they wanted regardless of world time zones, or museum opening hours. If it was on SN available at anytime, anywhere.
David (Thumb)

 

[John Rogers]

With 6,000 members Im sure we could muster up a few dubloons/dollars/pounds/euros/pieces of eight. Trouble would be the administration of the project,thats if the collection is for sale.
John.

 

[billyboy]

if not for sale could it not be hired for as long as it takes to get it on the web? I have absolutly no idea how one would go about this or what would be involved in getting on site, so, I am prepared for my keelhauling by the seniors of this site should i be out of order on this one.

 

[Eric Wallace]

Hi Scooby,what is the guys name?could you post a little bit about him.someone may recognise him.just a thought

 

[tunatownshipwreck]

Here's a thought
Is it possible for shipsnostalgia to acquire the collection formally with a view to posting it somehow in the web-site ?
Such posting would probably be a big job and might require professional help. (I'm the illiterate part of 'computer illiterate' so if I'm off track here i rely on someone to put me back in line).
Bottom line if it requires hiring someone to do the legwork then I for one (and I'm sure many others) would willingly contribute to any costs involved in order to have access to such a collection.
Once the information is on our web-site and in the 'public domain' the material could be turned over to a museum for proper preservation and display.
This way we get the best of all worlds. We all get access to the collection. The collection is properly preserved with respect for the person who put it together.
In going through old threads I read nightmare stories about total destruction of shipping memorabilia in company takeovers etc etc. and the outrage expressed here for such actions.
We need to consider this opportunity carefully and do the right thing.

Jim MacIntyre

Great idea. Good on you, Jim.

 

[cheddarnibbles]

I would second Jim MacIntyre as that would get around any copyright infringement, & allow enthusiasts to view whenever they wanted regardless of world time zones, or museum opening hours. If it was on SN available at anytime, anywhere.
David (Thumb)

David : Here,here. Count me in.
Jim : Great idea.
SN Admin : Okay lads,the ball's in your court.

 

[Guest]

Leo Hannan

I'll drink to Jim MacIntrye's idea. This material is to important to lose, and a medal for the member who saved it from what could have been oblivion. We're talking Merchant Navy history here.
Regards Leo (Applause)

 

[Guest]

I forgot to add Scooby, the guy who created all this, could you name the collection after him?

 

[Jim MacIntyre]

Mechant Navy Collection

I think since Scooby is the person who has seen the extent of the collection we need to hear his thoughts on what has been dicussed so far.
Posting the photos might not be any problem but I'm sure Sea Breezes and the HMSO gazette will involve copyright hurdles.
Also to what extent would a project of this magnitude place a burden on the site administrators.
let's hear from the folks where the rubber meets the road...

Jim MacIntyre

 

[scooby do]

A summary of events thus far and reply to above comments. This morning I spoke with the museum curator about the photographic archive in his possession. It took a bit of persuading but after some time he agreed to allow the archive to be put on a web site for all to see. He would require some assurances regards the safe return and protection of it's contents. He then told me i had not seen the entire collection there are six thousand photos in all. The other three thousand are at another location. It appears
to be the work of two men. Father and son over a period of many years W. Allen and Frank Allen his son. The latter had no connection with the merchant navy other than this archive. The father did, but to what extent i don't know. To find out this information I Knocked on doors in the the street where they lived so it's all a bit vague at the moment. One of the neighbours mentioned that Frank did talk about publishing the work but did'nt get around to it. He died suddenly followed by his wife shortly after.

Jim MacIntyre seems to have the best idea.Put the archive on a web site. This one would be perfect. Advice from those concerned and obviously permission would be required.
The work required to get the archive on to a site like this is huge.
It would have to be searchable indexes etc.etc. I'm not able to.
Out of interest I live in Pembroke Dock West Wales.
Thank you all very much for your comments
I'll try to figure out the next move and will appreciate any advice.

 

[Andy]

We'll certainly give it an online home.
cheers,
Andy