Library & Archives

New Library Exhibit!

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The Library’sinaugural exhibit “Keepers of the Sea: Logbooks from The Mariners’ Museum Library” has opened in our new exhibit area.

“Keepers of the Sea” comprises logbooks and artifacts highlighting the library’s vast collection of records from various ships throughout the 18thto 20thcenturies. The exhibit uses the logbooks to narrate experiential aspects of life at sea, including family life, whaling, and the trials of sailing. It also illustrates the many ways in which logbooks and journals allowed for technical documentation, diary-style writing, mapping, painting and drawing, charting, and record of correspondence.Read more

Library & Archives

Two Lives Aboard the USS Nantucket

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楠塔基特岛号航空母舰在对内佤邦r image.

Join us at the Library next Wednesday May 4, 2011 at noon for our next Secrets in the Stacks. This month’s presentation will feature two journals kept by sailors who served on the ironclad monitorNantucketduring the Civil War.

First we will look at the journal of Walter Jacobs, a Union sailor during the Civil War. A recent acquisition, Jacobs’ journal covers the time period of August 1863 to December 1864, during which he served on two ships: the screw steamerFlambeauand thePassaic-class monitorNantucket. Jacobs served on the ironclad from February 1864 to December 1864. Besides accounts of naval action, Jacobs offers rich detail on life aboard Civil War ships and ironclads, as well as a sailor’s opinion on everything from the Union war effort to politics to African Americans serving in the Union navy and army.Read more

Library & Archives

Animal Encounters

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Whale drawings, Logbook #019

One Saturday in March of 1864, a man aboard the whale shipJohn P. Westwrote in his journal, “MyPidgeonlayed4eggs.” He also documented the day that his dog fell overboard (Logbook #027). Nine years earlier Asenath Taber, daughter of a whaler, noted the “beautiful little chicken” her family had on board their ship (Logbook #002). For these and other people at sea, animals could provide food, serve as companions, and bestow a sense of comfort during what were often years-long journeys abroad.

The life of a whaler was often one of extremes – some days were exciting, with several whales encountered and caught, while others were long and lonely, with nothing on the horizon and feelings of listlessness and homesickness setting in. Sightings of whales and other animals receive frequent note in many of the journals, with log keepers recording a variety of wild encounters, including sperm whales, right whales, turtles, porpoises, Portugese man o’ war, an array of birds and fish, and – as the log keeper aboard theCourserstates rather ominously in his entry from October 6, 1860 – “Monsters of the Deep” (Logbook #300).Read more

Library & Archives

Ancient Geographers and "Known Unknowns"

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“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” (Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense)

With the news of the former Secretary of Defense’s new book appearing, entitledKnown and Unknown, I was instantly reminded of the quote above. Many in the media at the time believed that this just added to a growing mountain of funny Rumsfeld quips. I was also reminded, however, of a talk I gave here at the Library 2 weeks ago for CNU’s Latin Day to a group of young Latin students from around Hampton Roads.Read more

Library & Archives

The Library Shuffle

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Last week in the pages of theNew Yorkermagazine, I read that the Vatican Library had re-opened to the public after a 3-year closure for renovations and enhancements. Even though the re-opening happened last September, it somehow escaped my notice. If you are a subscriber to the magazine, the article, entitled “God’s Librarians: The Vatican Library Enters the 21st Century” is well worth the read (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/03/110103fa_fact_mendelsohn).
The essay mentioned the great extent to which this closure provoked anxiety and frustration among scholars needing, reallyneedingto consult the 75,000 manuscripts and 1.6 million volumes in the Library. As a former academic, I can truly appreciate how awful it is being deprived of access to the objects of one’s study. One can lose one’s job if papers aren’t produced, and that cannot happen without access to texts.

TheNew Yorkeressay reminded me that when we closed our doors for the move to CNU in April 2007 and did not re-open to the public until late December of that year, we also caused disappointment and frustration among our patrons. We aren’t the Vatican Library, but we are probably the largest maritime library in the Western Hemisphere and house unique collections. There are scholars who also really, desperatelyneedaccess to our manuscript, book, map, journal and photograph collections.Read more

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