| UNITED KINGDOM MARITIME COLLECTIONS STRATEGY
Notes from the meeting held at SS Great Britain, Bristol, 18 May 2006
Attendees:
Sally Archer, National Maritime Museum
Roy Clare, National Maritime Museum
Christopher Dobbs, Mary Rose Trust
Lindsey Doulton, Chatham Historic Dockyard
John Edwards, Aberdeen Maritime Museum
Richard Holdsworth, Chatham Historic Dockyard
David Jenkins, The National Waterfront Museum, Swansea
Graham Kennison, Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine
Margarette Lincoln, National Maritime Museum
Campbell McMurray, Royal Naval Museum
Janet Owen, National Maritime Museum
Charles Payton
Fergus Read, Imperial War Museum
Matthew Tanner, SS Great Britain
Tony Tibbles, National Museums Liverpool
Catherine Walker, Aberdeen Maritime Museum
Ian Whitehead, Tyne and Wear Museum
Apologies: Jonathan Griffin, NMM Cornwall
Items for discussion
- UKMCS/MCG Conference
A discussion took place on the merits of holding a maritime conference this year (an idea which was tabled at the last UKMCS meeting in 2005 and circulated in proposal form to UKMCS members in January). After some debate about the reasons for having a conference, there was general agreement on the need to raise awareness in the professional museums, libraries and archives community of maritime material in their collections and archives that can be ‘unlocked' for the benefit of the wider public. An outcome of this awareness raising will be to improve the general public's knowledge and understanding of British maritime history and affairs, consolidating the success of SeaBritain 2005. Before this can happen, however, the maritime heritage community itself needs to shape its own vision of the sector's future.
After some discussion it was therefore decided that there should be a two-stage process. A one-day internal conference will be held in the Autumn to discuss broad issues of where the maritime heritage sector wants to be in ten years' time and how this can be furthered in the short term with regards to audiences and the participation of the wider museums, libraries and archives sector. The second stage in the process, informed by the outcome of the initial conference, will consist of action to reach this wider target audience, which could take the form of a further conference, or a series of events, or another means of communication. There may also need to be a third stage, with the maritime heritage community examining the outcome of the second audience-related stage and agreeing how to take the awareness raising further.
It was also agreed that the conference would be held in Swansea at the National Waterfront Museum and the proposed dates to keep free are 13, 14 and possibly 15 November – precise timings to be confirmed.
Action: JO , MT and RH to collaborate on a proposal for the structure of the conference, to be circulated to members.
- Marine Technology and Engineering
LD gave an update on progress of the Marine Technology and Engineering review, including collections mapping work. A seminar took place in October 2005 at which key milestones were identified, discussed and plotted against a timeline. The timeline is now posted on the UKMCS website and UKMCS/MCG members are invited to send comments to LD up until 30 September. The next steps are to undertake a ‘gap analysis' of the Timeline, identifying areas that require further development, e.g. leisure craft and developments post 1960. There may also be a second seminar in autumn 2006, to look at developments post 1960 and beyond. A final version of the Timeline and report will be completed by Spring 2007. The next stage would be to explore whether this approach is transferable to other sectors beyond marine technology. ML proposed that collecting and the transferability of the process could be one of the themes for the conference.
Action: UKMCS (and MCG) members to look at timeline on UKMCS website and send any comments to Lindsay Doulton by 30 September. (Email: ldoulton@chdt.org.uk )
- Subject Specialist Network second tranche funding
RC briefed the group on communication from MLA concerning a new opportunity to apply for SSN grants in autumn 2006, whilst noting that funding for the MCG was unsuccessfully applied for the first time round. MT proposed seeking funding for the outputs of the conference in the autumn, i.e. for whatever audience-related programmes are proposed at that time, which was given assent by the group.
RH also pointed out that MLA only refer to SSNs that they have funded, not pre-existing ones such as the MCG.
Action: NMM to flag up the intention to MLA to apply for second round funding and to highlight the omission of pre-existing SSNs from the official list (already actioned – see response from MLA).
AOB
- Joint Nautical Archaeology Policy Committee (JNAPC)
RC updated the group on recent correspondence with Bob Yorke, Chairman of the JNAPC, on the proposal that UKMCS has a representative on the Committee. It was agreed that the Mary Rose Trust would represent UKMCS on the Committee. Alongside this, the NMM will become an observer on the Committee, in line with other publicly funded bodies such as the National Trust.
Action: NMM to write to Bob Yorke to confirm Mary Rose's representative status (already actioned).
CD from the Mary Rose Trust also drew attention to the Burlington House Declaration which calls on the UK government to ratify the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage 2001. He proposed that UKMCS offer their support to this process.
Action: UKMCS to take a view on this by the next meeting. UKMCS members to send comments to Christopher Dobbs (c.dobbs@maryrose.org).
- Picket Boat at Irvine
RC tabled a request from the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine as to whether any other museums were interested in an ex-RN picket boat hull that may have to be broken up if there is no interest in preserving her.
Date of next meeting: Propose that next meeting should be at Swansea in November – precise date to be confirmed.
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