UNITED KINGDOM MARITIME COLLECTIONS STRATEGY

Notes of the Working Group meeting, 16 January 2002

Present: Roy Clare, Richard Holdsworth, Brian Lavery, Margarette Lincoln, Mike Stammers, Matthew Tanner

PLANS FOR A UK-WIDE NETWORK (Draft)

The Working Group discussed how best to achieve UK-wide coverage for the UKMCS in the light of Re:source's recent report, Renaissance in the Regions. This report proposes a regional hub system in which certain designated 'hub museums' provide strong sectoral leadership in the regions, to the benefit of smaller museums.

UKMCS Lead Museums have been selected for their strong collections and expertise in certain subject areas. These museums are:

• Aberdeen Maritime Museum (Offshore marine and gas industries)
• Scottish Maritime Museum (Scottish and UK shipbuilding centre)
• Tyne and Wear Museums and Archives (Northeast shipbuilding)
• Merseyside Maritime Museum (Shipping industry, Atlantic trades and port services)
• National Museum of Science and Industry (19th-century marine engineering)
• National Maritime Museum (Marine environment post 1970, maritime exploration, maritime sport and recreation, naval history and technology pre-1900, 20th-century naval policy, navigation, wooden shipbuilding, trade and empire)
• Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust
• Imperial War Museum (War in 20th-century society)
• Mary Rose Trust (Maritime archaelology)
• Royal Naval Museum (Modern naval history, social history of the Navy)
• National Maritime Museum Cornwall (Leisure, yachting and boats, Cornwall maritime history)

The Lead Museums do not offer complete regional coverage, although they will be joined by:

• Swansea Maritime Museum (Welsh maritime history)
• Ulster Museum, Belfast (Harland & Wolf, etc)

It was agreed that the Inland Waterways Museum at Gloucestershire should be invited to join the Lead Museums since it represented a clear area of maritime history not covered by the others.

It was also agreed that since Grimsby had lost its funding, fishing and the fishing industries were under-represented. Hull, Yarmouth and Fleetwood museums might take on the responsibility for deep water aspects, but the Working Group recognised that inshore fishing would continue to be a local issue.

UKMCS and Re:source's proposed regional hubs
The UKMCS offers a thematic lead to museums throughout the UK, illustrates the potential of national/regional links, and offers a specific maritime solution to the issue of providing greater support for the regions. When the hub system proposed by Re:source is in place, links can be built between its regional hub museums and those museums within UKMCS who now have defined responsibilities for certain subject areas - although it should be remembered that Renaissance in the Regions applies only to England. UKMCS will work with smaller maritime museums who might not benefit from Re:source's regional hub system.

However, it is important to secure a better regional coverage for UKMCS. This will be needed to progress several initiatives, including the touring exhibition circuit proposed by the National Maritime Museum. Ideally, the UKMCS needs a representative museum in each of the government office regions that can act as a gateway to the group of UKMCS Lead Museums and also as a first point of contact for the regional hub museums, when established.

Regional 'Gateway' museums
The following Gateway museums were suggested for each of the government office regions:

Tyne and Wear Museums - the North-east
Maritime Museum, Hull - Yorkshire and the East Midlands
Merseyside Maritime Museum - the North-west
National Waterways Museum, Gloucestershire - the West Midlands
SS Great Britain, Bristol - the South-west
Royal Naval Museum or Chatham Historic Dockyard - the South-east
Yarmouth Maritime Museum - the East of England

Ulster Museum would represent Northern Ireland
Aberdeen Maritime Museum and Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine would represent Scotland
Swansea Maritime Museum would represent Wales
Maritime Museum, St Helier would represent the Channel Islands

The role of a Gateway Museum

1. To facilitate two-way communication between the UKMCS and regional hub museums
2. To act as a regional focus for museums with maritime collections and help to ensure that activity related to maritime collections is balanced across the UK
3. To provide expert advice on maritime matters locally or else suggest a more appropriate source of advice
4. To help to provide new content for the UKMCS website (that may deal with routine enquiries)
5. To be responsible for regional maritime issues, liaising with local representatives of other institutions as appropriate.

It was agreed that once a regional structure was approved, UKMCS Lead Museums would at once need to initiate better contacts with the Gateway Museums (where different) and those Lead Museums which were also Gateway Museums would need to improve contacts with other maritime museums in their region.

It was also agreed that the Gateway Museums would need a list of key issue areas. These might include:

• Liaising with local archives and libraries that had maritime collections
• Making contact with local representatives from English Heritage, Crown Estate and the National Trust. (All of these have maritime interests: Crown Estate is responsible for 75% of the coastline and aim to integrate their work with that of the National Trust; English Heritage has responsibility for maritime archaeology out to the 12-mile limit)
• Providing material for a page on the UKMCS website dedicated to each Gateway Museum

Next steps
It was agreed that this draft would be presented at the meeting of Lead Museums in February. Meanwhile, potential Gateway Museums should be contacted by Greenwich to see if they would be happy to be nominated. Funding for the UKMCS initiative could be bid for once the regional structure was established, at the point when national agencies were briefed in full.