Anne Barnes Miller
LIS 640
October 25, 2013
…”there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing
about in boats.”
Kenneth Grahame, Wind in the Willows
Cataloging a Boat Collection
Defining Collection
For the purposes of this catalog, a boat is defined as a vessel capable of travelling
on or underneath water, propelled by paddle, oars, sail, an engine or any combination of
these. This collection is limited to vessels capable of carrying human or other cargo.
Though worthy of study for both historical and artistic merit, toy boats and boat models
are therefore excluded. In accordance to maritime and museum tradition, this paper will
use the words vessel, watercraft and boat interchangeably.
Controlled Vocabularies
Finding a viable controlled vocabulary for a large watercraft collection is
incredibly challenging. The cataloger has to contend with a huge variety of designs, hull
shapes, uses, construction material, rigging, regional preferences and nomenclature. The
descriptors used for small boats are particularly challenging because of the hundreds of
opinions about incremental changes between boats: wherries and dories and dhows, just
to name a few. Cat boats, the iconic small sailing vessel that developed independently in
both New England and the Mississippi delta in the mid 19th century, can refer to either
cat-rigging or cat-hull design (Bray, Fuller & Vermilya, 2001). It is precisely because it
is so challenging that a controlled vocabulary is crucial for this cataloging project.
Both the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and the Art and
Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) of the Getty Museum contained suitably specific entries
for a 500 vessel collection. Though more difficult to access, the AAT listings contained
more detail than the LCSH and included specific reference to hull shape, a distinction
that would be useful when cataloging the small boats in the collection.
Existing Classification Schemes
Soon after I began my research I realized two things: first, that very few museums
or organizations collect boats and second; even fewer have working classification
schemes. The reasons for this are clear – vessels are somewhat fragile, require constant
upkeep and because of their size, are extremely difficult to display and store. Many
museums, most notably the Smithsonian Institute and the Naval Academy have large
collections of ships plans and ship models, both much easier to store. The classification
schemes for these did not fit what is necessary for real vessels, however. After
researching ten museums only two deserve mention for their watercraft collections.
North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort
This wonderful state museum has three branches on the North Carolina coast. The
Beaufort branch focuses on North Carolina’s maritime heritage, including fisheries,
watercraft and of course, the salvaged artifacts of Blackbeard’s vessel, the Queen Anne’s
Revenge. The NC Maritime Museum is also home to the Watercraft Center, a boat
works that builds and restores North Carolina traditional watercraft (North Carolina
Maritime Museum, 2013).
Due to limited storage, display and dock footage, the museum’s collection of
35,000 artifacts includes only 30 boats. The boats in the collection are limited to 25’ in
length. The boats are cataloged in a state-mandated database with limited field capacity
and versatility. The registrar at the maritime museum stated the database was not
sufficient to describe watercraft, and suggested the use of another museum software,
PastPerfect (L. Anderson, personal communication, October 23). I could not locate any
museum with a significant watercraft collection using PastPerfect so did not consider it
for my collection.
Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea
Mystic Seaport is located on 19 acres along the Mystic River in eastern
Connecticut. This large museum includes a 19th century village, complete with a
shipsmith built in 1885, a working shipyard where wooden boats are built and restored
and the Charley Morgan, the only remaining American whaling ship. Surprising to
many visitors is that the seaport is also home to the largest collection of watercraft in the
United States. The museum collection includes over 500 vessels ranging in dates from
1842 to the present. In addition to the watercraft, the Collections Research Center (CRC)
has over 2 million artifacts in its collection. The CRC is housed in a 4-acre former velvet
factory allowing display of many artifacts and storage for the remaining objects.
(O’Pecko, personal communication, October 23).
The CRC uses a combination of Voyageur and MimsyXG to catalog and manage
this collection. Because it is a “robust collections management system” with great
versatility, Mimsy XG is used for the watercraft collection (Mystic Seaport, 2013).
Current cataloging standards are also followed including MARC and AACR2/RDA.
Thesauri include LCSH and AAT as well as Lloyd’s Register of Ships, and the American
Bureau of Shipping (ABS). Because of the huge variety in nomenclature for vessels,
particular small sailing craft, much time and effort has been spent at the museum to
develop naming conventions and a committee exists to review these conventions at least
twice a year. The current list, though not complete, can be seen in Appendix C. The
museum’s efforts in this area are well known in the maritime community and CRC
contributed to the development of the AAT maritime entries. This explains the great
detail of the AAT verses the LCSH.
The Miller Maritime Museum Catalog
The CRC of Mystic Seaport has by far the most sophisticated, well-researched
and comprehensive cataloging system for watercraft I could find. The Miller Maritime
Museum (MMM) is therefore adopting their system, including the use of Mimsy XG,
their cataloging fields and the controlled vocabulary found in the AAT and the CRC’s
own list. The CRC has also offered to assist the MMM in our efforts to catalog our
collection, which means we will benefit from their vast experience and knowledge, as
well as their already tested cataloging system.
The MMM will also use the basic storage layout designed by the CRM and used
in their research facility. This storage layout includes grouping of general boat categories
including powerboats, sailboats, rowboats and canoes. If the boat is temporarily in dry
dock display, in the shipyard or at a museum dock, that information will be kept for
reference in the research facility and posted near the storage bays. If the boat is on
permanent display that information will be indicated in the storage field in the record.
Description of Fields and Cataloging Conventions
Accession Numbers: ####.### First four numbers are the year which the collection
obtained the artifact. Numbers to the right of the decimal point show in what order the
object was acquired in that year. For example, if a boat was acquired in 1954 and was the
17the object acquired that year, its Accession number would be: 1954.17
Vessel Name: Given name of ship. If persons name, enter in natural order. For example,
the bark Charles W. Morgan is listed in this field as ‘Charles W. Morgan.’
Vessel Type: Model or manufacture given name
Vessel Category: Sailing craft (with rigging designation), Rowing craft (with round or
flat bottom designation) Power craft (inboard and outboard designation), Canoe or
Iceboat.
Builder: Builder of vessel. Names are listed in natural order. If company, use company
name.
Designer: Designer of vessel plans. Names are listed in natural order.
Associated Place: Place (city, state, country) where vessel was built.
Date Made: Year vessel was built. If no date is available, enter shipyard estimate and
include [estimated] after the date.
Propulsion: Powered or non-powered. Type of power and fuel should be listed if
available, for example ‘inboard diesel.’ For non-powered, sail, oar or paddle should be
listed. For boats with dual propulsion, both should be listed with primary coming first.
For example a Dyer Dhow would be listed as ‘sail and oar’.
Construction: Construction method, for example ‘stitch and glue.’
Shape: Hull and bottom shape. Vee, flat-bottomed, or round bottomed. If double ended
that should be included. Any additional information, like hard chine, can be added.
Materials: Primary material used in construction.
Measurements: Measurement represents the overall length and maximum beam of hull,
rounded off to the nearest inch. Beam measurements exclude guardrails and moldings.
Length and beam are presented in the following format #’ #” x #’ #”. For example,
if a boat had a length of 17 feet 4 inches and a beam of 6 feet 3 inches the
measurements would be listed as 17’ 4”x 6’ 3.” Length measurement can also be seen
listed as LOA.
Other measurements: Mast height from deck, square footage sail area, length at
waterline (LWL). Could include any known measurements with descriptors.
Use: Primary use of vessel. Generally categories are commercial, recreational and
racing.
Notes: This field is used to record any other known information about the vessel, its
history, former ports, captains, owners, and uses.
Linked Objects: Any objects in the collection that are connected to this vessel, for
example - plans, photographs, vessel pieces.
Linked Events: Significant events involving the vessel.
Linked People: Former owners, crew members, donors or anyone with significant
connection to the vessel.
Donor: Names are listed in natural order.
Owner: Miller Maritime Museum. This field, though it may seem redundant, allows the
identification of the vessel as MMM property if the record becomes separated from the
database through printed copy and/or human error.
Linked Publications: Any articles or books on the vessel or vessel type
Linked Vessels: Vessels connected to this one either by owner, builder, designer, region
or other means
Linked Places: Former ports or harbors of vessel, other significant locations
Linked Media: Any photograph, video or other media involving this vessel
Storage Location: Permanent display - dock, dry dock or shipyard or Storage Facility
with bay number indicated
References
American Bureau of Shipping. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.eagle.org/
eagleExternalPortalWEB/
Bray, M. , Fuller B. & Vermilya, P. (2001). Mystic Seaport Watercraft (3rd ed.).
Mystic, Connecticut: Mystic Seaport.
Getty Research Institute (2013). Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online. Retrieved
from http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/
Library of Congress (2013). Library of Congress Subject Headings. Retrieved from
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85121591.html
Lloyd’s Register Group. (2013). Lloyd’s Register of Ships Online. Retrieved from
http://www.lr.org/about_us/shipping_information/Lloyds_Register_of_Ships
_online.aspx
Mystic Seaport. (2013). Mystic Seaport Watercraft. Retrieved from
http://www.mysticseaport.org/research/collections/watercraft/
North Carolina Maritime Museum. (2013). Retrieved from
http://www.ncmaritimemuseums.com/beaufort.html