Mystic, Connecticut – Think Mystic Seaport is strictly about tall ships and a 19thcentury village? Think again. Encompassing more than two million objects, the Collections Research Center at Mystic Seaport houses one of the premier maritime collections in the United States. Located across the street from the Mystic Seaport Museum in a renovated 43,000 squarefoot velvet mill, the collections reflect the extraordinary scope of America’s relationship with the sea and inland waterways.
Maritime photographs and paintings, vessels, books, manuscripts and periodicals, figureheads, films and videos, tools, carvings and fine art populate the building, along with a prolific collection of more than 130,000 naval architectural drawings. The museum’s Ships Plans Collection illustrates the ingenious and timeless creations of numerous renowned designers including William Starling Burgess, Cox & Stephens, William Garden, L. Francis Herreshoff, Philip Rhodes and Henry A. Scheel.
Reflecting the varying ways in which boats are powered through water – manual, wind, steam and gas – the plans also reflect a wide variety of vessel dimensions, from small canoes, dories and day sailers to yachts, barges and naval vessels. Additionally, the archives feature plans for vessels that are currently found in the museum’s collection, such as the Charles W. Morgan, the L.A. Dunton, the Joseph Conrad and the Emma C. Berry.
Acquisition of the collection is an ongoing process that results from the generous gifts of donors and from the designers themselves. The plans arrive at the Collections Research Center rolled in cardboard tubes in various stages of wear and tear. Most arrive on typical sheets of paper, while other designs have arrived on unique mediums such as linen, mylar and even the back of a piece of wallpaper.
“Designers are just like any other artist,” said Collections Access Associate Quinn Sayles. “They use whatever is nearby when inspiration hits.” After removed from the tubes the preservation process begins. Wearing archival gloves, the Cataloging team carefully unrolls the plans and places them on a tray in a machine called a “relaxer” where they reside for approximately two weeks.
The relaxer – fondly nicknamed by Sayles as “the pizza oven” – slowly releases humidity into the sheets which in turn flattens them back to their organic state. The plans are then catalogued into the Collections Management System and laid flat in archival drawers in a climate controlled vault.
Weekly, nearly 15 to 20 phone calls and emails are fielded by the Collections team by boat enthusiasts looking for a particular design: those hoping to rebuild a certain vessel, researchers looking into the history of naval design, genealogists trying to piece together pieces of a family tree and even artists looking for a unique print.
Increasingly, the Collections Research Center is contacted by those interested in purchasing scanned copies of historical ships plans for decorative pieces in their homes. Researchers, consumers and many others come to Mystic Seaport in search of blueprints of America’s maritime history, proving once again, the countless ways in which the sea touches all of our lives.
Maritime photographs and paintings, vessels, books, manuscripts and periodicals, figureheads, films and videos, tools, carvings and fine art populate the building, along with a prolific collection of more than 130,000 naval architectural drawings. The museum’s Ships Plans Collection illustrates the ingenious and timeless creations of numerous renowned designers including William Starling Burgess, Cox & Stephens, William Garden, L. Francis Herreshoff, Philip Rhodes and Henry A. Scheel.
Reflecting the varying ways in which boats are powered through water – manual, wind, steam and gas – the plans also reflect a wide variety of vessel dimensions, from small canoes, dories and day sailers to yachts, barges and naval vessels. Additionally, the archives feature plans for vessels that are currently found in the museum’s collection, such as the Charles W. Morgan, the L.A. Dunton, the Joseph Conrad and the Emma C. Berry.
Acquisition of the collection is an ongoing process that results from the generous gifts of donors and from the designers themselves. The plans arrive at the Collections Research Center rolled in cardboard tubes in various stages of wear and tear. Most arrive on typical sheets of paper, while other designs have arrived on unique mediums such as linen, mylar and even the back of a piece of wallpaper.
“Designers are just like any other artist,” said Collections Access Associate Quinn Sayles. “They use whatever is nearby when inspiration hits.” After removed from the tubes the preservation process begins. Wearing archival gloves, the Cataloging team carefully unrolls the plans and places them on a tray in a machine called a “relaxer” where they reside for approximately two weeks.
The relaxer – fondly nicknamed by Sayles as “the pizza oven” – slowly releases humidity into the sheets which in turn flattens them back to their organic state. The plans are then catalogued into the Collections Management System and laid flat in archival drawers in a climate controlled vault.
Weekly, nearly 15 to 20 phone calls and emails are fielded by the Collections team by boat enthusiasts looking for a particular design: those hoping to rebuild a certain vessel, researchers looking into the history of naval design, genealogists trying to piece together pieces of a family tree and even artists looking for a unique print.
Increasingly, the Collections Research Center is contacted by those interested in purchasing scanned copies of historical ships plans for decorative pieces in their homes. Researchers, consumers and many others come to Mystic Seaport in search of blueprints of America’s maritime history, proving once again, the countless ways in which the sea touches all of our lives.
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