BATH

A $125,600 grant from The Council on Library and Information Resources will allow Maine Maritime Museum to catalog millions of documents in its collection.

The museum is among 19 recipients nationwide of the 2011 “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” grant, awarded by CLIR.

“Getting historic information about who captained a Maine ship when the vessel sailed on a particular voyage is readily accessible through current electronic databases of historic materials. However, gathering information about the rest of the crew, if not impossible, would take months or years of digging and research through handwritten records and ships logs,” a release from the museum states.

Access to such information will be easier after the project to catalog “millions of documents the museum holds” is completed.

“The 18-month project will uncover information about thousands of men and women who made up the crews of Maine vessels from the late 18th century through the early 20th century,” the release states. “The information is contained in hundreds of thousands of pages of documents in 44 separate manuscript collections occupying 133 linear feet of library shelving. The papers include numerous Maine sea captains’ business papers, crew lists and voyage accounts, some ship owners’ and customs house records, and a shipping agent’s records. Collection highlights include important and revealing correspondence between captains and owners, correspondence with families, construction details of ships, detailed documentation of port visits and charter, cargo and insurance information.”

The Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives awards program was created in 2008 and is supported by ongoing funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.