0800-1700

Well, I thought I was done with the “Dahlgren” and “Craven” but found more records, so I continued to work on these throughout the day. There appears to be over 300 plans in this collection and is really the first set of plans that appear to be mostly there.

Every Wednesday during the summer, Nathan, my boss and Senior Curator, does a workshop for volunteers with a specific theme. I did attend this workshop as I thought it would be educational and a chance to get out of the basement for a bit. I took several pages of notes, but I won’t bore you with them.

Here is a few things I pulled from it and will mention… Bath, Maine was (and is still today) a HUGE part of national shipbuilding. In 1856, Bath was the 4th largest ship producing “port” (even though it is located 10 miles up a river from the ocean) in the United States. New York, Boston, and Philadelphia were the top three and honestly, I’m surprised to see Bath on this list. Probably not many of you have even heard of this small community. Why 1856? Well, the west was now open and expanding quickly, gold was found in California, and U.S. commerce was through the roof. Ships were the greyhounds of the world and shipyards responded to these commercial needs.

Why Maine? What makes it so important and why did shipbuilding take off in this region? Resources. During this period, wooden sailing ships were still being produced and Maine was the “Norway of the States.” Its jagged coastline is over 3,000 miles long if you follow it from north to south and its huge deposits of timber assisted in production. Not only was the timber important but the geography of the state was as well. It could easily be floated down rivers to shipyards and like Bath, did not have to be directly on the ocean.

The four biggest reasons Maine flourished in shipbuilding production: 1. Geography (as mentioned), 2. Availabilty of resources (as mentioned), 3. Skill- towns like Bath, Maine are full of individuals who have been brought up in generations of mariners. Small yards are up and down the coast. The people that work these yards are multitaskers and quick learners. 4) These individuals commanded the ability to take advantage of the previous 3.

The remainder of workshop was spent advancing through the 19^th and eventual 20^th century, the evolution of the wooden ship to steel and how it changed the Bath region and customs district.

Wednesday evening was spent at the museum after hours for the annual volunteer “welcome back” picnic. I had a chance to meet some volunteers I haven’t yet and chat with some new friends. I will say this again, museums would not survive without volunteers and they are to be held dearly by the museum staff. I was by far the youngest person at this event by at least twenty years. Regardless, it was a great event, the food was great, and the “beverages” were cold and free.

0800-1700

Tuesday was spent doing more records… BIW Hull #24 (Cargo Hauler “Winifred”), and Hulls #17 and #18 (U.S. Navy Torpedo Boats “Dahlgren” and “Craven”) were entered and organized. One interesting aspect of the “Dahlgren” and “Craven” was that the engine and boiler plans were used for Hulls #28, #29, and #30 which were built in the early 20th century and all three were scrapped in 1919. I have not gone through these ships yet, but they called the “Bagley”, the “Barney”, and the “Biddle”. I did find their plans though and it is a MASSIVE collection. Those should prove interesting when I get to them.

0800-1700

Well, I started week two here at Maine Maritime Museum after a wet and chilly weekend. Let me start with a weekend recap of things outside of the Museum. I knew that L.L. Bean’s flagship store was located in Maine, so I did a little research. It is located in Freeport, Maine, which is roughly 20-25 minutes south of Bath. Once I entered Freeport, I was very surprised to not only see L.L. Bean’s 4 or 5 stores but a massive complex of outlet stores. Just about anything you could imagine was located there, including retailers that I didn’t even know had outlets. I spent most of the day there and was planning on stopping in Bath and going to Popham Beach, which is just down the Kennebec River at the mouth and check that out. The weather turned for the worst and the weather man was predicting tornadoes and high winds, which is very abnormal for the area. No tornadoes were seen but I did feel a bit at home in Kansas City with such weather. The rain and nasty weather continued into Sunday so most of the day was spent inside with some reading and relaxing.

On a side note, Bath Iron Works completed one of the ships they were working on and it was pulled out of the dry bay and into the river, ready to take on the U.S. Navy crew and hit the high seas. This took place at 0300, which I did not attend. It will encounter several months of “sea trials” with both the Navy and BIW employees working on the kinks.

While at the museum today, I continued work on BIW Hulls #15 and 16 (U.S. Navy Gunboats #11 and #12 (Engines 54/55) from the late 1890s and they were finished. These were commissioned as the Vicksburg and Newport. BIW Hull #14 (the Yacht “Illawara” was done, which were only 3 plans; primarily engine and machinery arrangements. BIW Hull #37 was completed (the Tug “Cuba”) which also only had 3 plans, but we did break into the 20^th century as it was delivered in 1901. I had previously finished Hull #21 (the Light House Tender “Mayflower”) but found more records. These were terribly out of order, so they were organized and entered into my finding aid.

Last day of the first week.

0800-1700

Ok, I’ll be honest, it was a long first week. After spending 4 full days in the basement of the museum for the most part alone, my feet were beginning to ache a bit from standing all day. Something else I forgot to mention about these plans. Some are paper but most are made of linen. The records I am going through right now are from the 1890s, so they are over a hundred years old and very dirty. Every break I take, I need to wash my hands because they are black. While I was employed with the National Archives, I often did records requests or records holding/maintenance of this sort but this is by far the filthiest records I have dealt with. No worries though.

When my feet begin to ache a bit more than normal, I take my attention off them and really take a look at the records I’m going through. To think I am looking through a document that was made just 25 years after the end of the American Civil War is pretty amazing. I worked on some new ships today and at this time, Bath Iron Works was receiving primarily defense contracts: building ships for the United States Navy. Although these ships are no longer commissioned, some were active during the first World War!

I also hit some problems today with the records. The engineers and architects at BIW probably never imagined these records would have any historically importance a hundred and thirty years after they were drawn up. Some of these plans have different engine numbers. In addition, there are BIW Hull #s but also Naval Hull #s, some are unmarked and with Naval ships, I am seeing HUNDREDS of plans rather than a few dozen. Things are beginning to get both complicated and interesting.

Today I completed Hull# 12 (“U.S. Navy Light Vessel #66), Hull #19 and 20 (U.S. Navy Light Vessels 68 and 69), Hull #15 (U.S. Navy Gunboat “Vicksburg”) and Hull #16 (U.S. Navy Gunboat “Newport”). The Vicksburg and Newport seemed very complete with only a few plans missing. Full hull/deck/bow/stern blueprints were present and will make a great exhibit or a model ship builder very happy eventually.

Besides the museum work, I’ve made some observations about Maine and those who live here that I’d like to share with you. In advance, don’t take any of this like I don’t like Maine. It’s an absolutely beautiful place. I have traveled extensively all over the world and it’s beauty rivals that of Newfoundland, the timber of Germany, and the vast mountains of Afghanistan. Here they are:

1. I'm from the Midwest. I say “ya’ll”. They don’t say “ya’ll” up here and when you do say it, they give you an odd confused look. The same applies to the words “gal” and when ordering a sandwich asking for “the fixins.”

2. The people here are easily offended when mispronouncing their town/city/river names, etc. It’s “BanGOR” and not “BanGER”

3. The locals are not all that fond of those who only spend the summers here. There are plenty of people that live south of here most of the year and spend the summers here because it’s gorgeous and the weather is very mild.

4. “You’re from Missouri? How on earth are you interested in maritime history?” I get asked that at least once a day. I explain to them that I am interested in early American history and because I grew up in the Midwest, the sea sure is romantic, gorgeous and much more powerful than any lake or river where I come from. It is impossible to look at early American history without bringing into context the importance of maritime trade and commerce. As I have already seen here in this town right on the ocean, there is a special charm and sub-culture to those who lives revolve around the sea and I’m sure in the 17^th and 18^th century, it was not any different.

5. Everyone here rides a motorcycle. This surprised me, knowing they probably only get a few good riding months a year.

6. Following that thought, people here ski in the winter and kayak in the summer. They stay pretty active and its tough to just sit around when you’ve got Maine out the window.

7. The chowder is tasty and the Irish pub is lovely here in Bath, Maine.

8. The people here are much more environmentally minded than most places I have lived.

9.Bath, Maine, like many coastal towns, is only 4 blocks wide but 3 miles long, along the river that feeds into the ocean.

10. Even if you think you know something about nautical living and aren’t from a coastal city, you really don’t know much. Going to the ocean on the weekends doesn’t count. These people know ships/boats/vessels like we know cars.

11. You can learn a lot about a place by just going to Walmart. There’s not a lot going on here in Bath, and there’s some interesting people there. When kids are just wondering around in groups looking at deodorant and having nerf-gun wars in the store, there’s obviously nothing else for them to do in town. At least they aren’t doing crack in the alley?

12. The ocean here doesn’t smell like dirty fish, which is definitely a plus.

13. It rains a lot in June.

14. People are fairly friendly and wonder why on earth I’m here. They ask a lot of questions and genuinely seem interested. I’m not some rich schmuck with a house on the ocean from Boston up for the weekend/week/month/summer and they don’t mind talking to me.

15. BIW employs 6,000 people currently and at one time, employed 10,000+. There’s a lot of blue collar workers in the area.

Well, I’m sure I’ll come up with more as it comes. These are just some things I thought of within my first week here. I’m sure I will do some exploring this weekend as its my first chance. More to come soon.

Spending time in the basement!

0800-1700

Work continues on the project. Today I finished Hull #5 (U.S.S. Katahdin) which was Harbor Defense Ram, the only of its kind ever built. It was designed simply for harbor defense and had the ability to both fire and physically “ram” another ship.

Ok, about these plans… What are they you ask? Ship plans are the big picture but it goes much deeper than that. Yes, there are some plans that are what you can imagine the ship blueprints are but an engineer, at some point, designs every nut and bolt. These plans show the insides of the engines, boilers, decks, bridge, hull, bow, etc. There are even blueprints of wrenches that had to be produced to produce certain bolts on certain pieces of equipment, etc. Because cars are much more familiar territory for most of us, imagine every working piece of your car. Some engineer had to figure out how every piece of that car would go together and there is a blueprint out there!

In addition to plan #, name, date, condition and notes, we are now including size of the document. This is helpful if the museum gets a request by someone for copies of the records. Who would request these?!?! People who had ancestors that helped build the ship, sailed/served on the ship, authors writing about the ship, its voyages, etc or even ship builders.

Because I am working full time on this project (40 hours a week) and volunteers come in here and there for a few hours at a time, this is now my baby. Nathan has essentially placed me in charge of the project and those volunteers working on it. Continuity is terribly important and without it, the finding aid is useless if the records can’t be located when needed.

The summer project is on!

0800-1700

Today my supervisor, Nathan, explained to me just what I would be working on all summer. As mentioned, Bath Iron Works (BIW) is one of the largest ship manufacturers in the country. Their history dates back to the 1890s when they produced their first vessel or "hull". Each hull has a designator following it. Example Hull #4 (Manhattan) is the fourth vessel BIW produced, etc.

Some work had been started prior to my arrival, but not much. A few volunteers had began to sort the records and finished Hulls #1, 2, and 3. These were not very extensive, however, and were much like Hull #4, which I accomplished very quickly.

My task, with these records, is to sort through them, put them in order, and make a finding aid. The previous volunteers that had started the project had only hand written what they had found/sorted. After speaking with Nathan, MMM has provided a computer to ensure the maximum organization of the finding aid.

After speaking with Nathan, the large categories to be organized are Hull #, name, vessel type, delivery date, and engine number. After the plans have been sorted according to this criteria, the plan number, name of plan, date, condition and any notes are to be annotated on the finding aid.

After the first day, Hull #4 (“Manhattan”), Hull #6, Hull #8 (“City of Lowell”) have been sorted, organized, logged and until the arrival of museum conservation boxes are in, are being stored in bags.

I will say more about these plans specifically in my next post.

My first day at Maine Maritime Museum

Hello all and welcome to my blog that will follow my work this summer at the Maine Maritime Museum (www.mainemaritimemuseum.org) as I work as an Intern in the Curatorial Department.

For future reference, I will probably refer to the Museum as MMM. In addition, many of my observations and comparisons will be done with my previous coursework at both Park University where I earned my Undergraduate degree in History and that of SUNY: College at Buffalo where I am a current Graduate student studying History with a U.S. Concentration on track to graduate in December of 2010. In addition, I served as an Intern at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts (www.plimoth.org) in the Media Department and as an Archivist Aid at the National Archives and Records Administration- Central Plains Region (www.archives.gov) facility in Kansas City, MO during 2008 and will probably draw from these experiences as well.

06/01/2010: 0900-1700

Well, the first day at MMM was spent doing a variety of things. When I arrived, I met my supervisor for the summer, Nathan Lipfert. Nathan is a soft spoken, very intelligent, fella that has been working for the museum since 1971 and is the person everyone at MMM goes to with any questions. When it comes to Maine and all things Maritime, he seems to be the authority, hands down. After the initial paperwork, Nathan took me around to the various offices in administration to meet the employees of the museum. From what I have been told, around 25 people are employed at MMM, primarily in administrative and maintenance roles and have roughly 200 volunteers.

Nathan and I spent the remainder of the morning touring the facility, the exhibit space inside and out and acclimating myself to the campus. The museum is situated right on the water that feeds directly into the ocean and makes for a gorgeous view. In addition, Bath Iron Works, one of the largest ship producing manufacturers is located within eyesight of the museum as well. Coming from the Midwest, it is quite a sight to see the massive ships in and out of its dry-bay and its warehouses when the doors are open.

Before leaving, Nathan briefly described what I would be working on this summer. It’s a massive project and as this week goes on, I will get a bit deeper into it. I do know that it has to do primarily with Bath Iron Works’ (BIW) plans and records that have been given to the museum.

The photo is of my lunchtime view (notice the museum on the right).