Progress update from the Sunderland Shipbuilding archives project

Collections & Objects   Discovery Museum   Local History   Maritime History   The Archives   Volunteering
Posted by Alan Hayward on February 22, 2012     Permalink     Leave a comment

I’m delighted to report that work is going very well on the Sunderland Shipbuilding archives project. Colin and I have nearly finished cataloguing the very extensive records of Bartram & Sons Ltd and hope to make the completed catalogue available to researchers in the near future.

Many of the firm’s ships plans have been unavailable to researchers since they were deposited here in the 1970s. Colin has already catalogued over 800 of these and during the course of this work he’s come across a number of very interesting plans, some of which have featured in previous blogs. Of particular interest this month are the plans of the ‘Mimis N. Papalios’, the first SD14 ship ever launched (the name SD14 stands for ‘Shelter Deck – 14,000 tons deadweight’).

Bartrams built the ‘Mimis N. Papalios’ and her sister ship the ‘George N. Papalios’ under licence from the nearby Sunderland shipyard of Austin & Pickersgill Ltd, who developed the SD14 design in the mid-1960s. It was designed as a replacement for the surviving ‘Liberty ships’, built by American yards during the Second World War. By the 1960s these vessels were fast approaching the end of their working lives.

The Bartram & Sons collection includes over twenty plans of the ‘Mimis N. Papalios’, including a profile and decks plan, an accommodation plan and an unusual survival – a grain loading plan.

Part of a standard SD14 general arrangement plan (TWAM ref. 2376)

While Colin has been busy with ships plans, I’ve been cataloguing the other Bartrams operational records. These include a large quantity of hull and machinery specifications dating from the late 1890s to the mid 1970s and over 100 ships cost books covering the period 1939-1978. Also of interest is a large series of ships files dating from 1937 to 1978. These include many correspondence files between Bartrams and the shipowners they built for. As well as letters these files often include notes of discussions held and provide a fascinating insight into the very important relationship between the shipyard and its customers.

I’ve also been cataloguing a small but interesting set of publicity and marketing records for Bartrams. These include publicity articles about the firm’s modernisation work in the 1950s and 1960s, press cuttings and articles about the vessels built by the firm and a small number of photographs of the shipyard. Among the photographs are a number that seem to have been taken at the firm’s annual sports days. These stirred a few happy personal memories of school sports days but more importantly reflect the social side of the shipyard’s activities. I’ve included several images in this blog and if anyone recognises themselves or attended one of these sports days and could tell us more about them then I would be delighted to hear from you.

Crowd of children at Bartrams Sports Day, c1961 (TWAM ref. DS.BM/5/5/1)

Boys race at Bartrams Sports Day, c1961 (TWAM ref. DS.BM/5/5/6)

Picking lucky straws at Bartrams Sports Day, c1961 (TWAM ref. DS.BM/5/5/21)

One very noticeable absence in the Bartrams collection is a real lack of ships photographs. The firm would have arranged for thousands of these to be taken but only a handful were deposited with us by the shipyard. However, Bartrams was one of many shipbuilders to use the photographic company Turners (Photography) Ltd and fortunately the Archives holds a very large collection of Turners photographic negatives, dating back to the late 1940s. This collection was featured in a recent blog.

If you’re looking for an image of a vessel built by Bartrams (or another North East shipbuilder) then it might well be worth checking the Turners collection. For example, here’s an aerial shot of the ‘North Devon’, taken during sea trials in May 1958.

Aerial photograph of the 'North Devon', 1958 (TWAM ref. 3396/19828)

Bartram & Sons were very proud of the fact that the vessel was launched only 11½ weeks after the keel was laid. One of our volunteers is currently indexing the ships photographs in the Turners collection and when that work is complete it will dramatically improve access to it.

Photographic collection gets its own room in the Archive Stores

Collections & Objects   Collections Management   Local History   Social History   The Archives
Posted by Mel Whewell on February 14, 2012     Permalink     Leave a comment

A recent move of material over to the Northern Region Film & Television Archive at Teesside University www.nrfta.org.uk meant that a small room became vacant in the archive stores at Discovery Museum. 

The Archivists and the Conservation Officers agreed that this was the right place to manage the environment required to store photographic material. A grant from DCMS enabled us to purchase and install a dehumidifier and chiller unit which will help to maintain the right environmental conditions. 

I asked Matt, one of the Conservators, to explain, “The majority of the negatives are supported by a cellulose acetate layer which is prone to self destruction. As they age they give off acetic acid vapour. This causes the plastic to shrink and crumble distorting the image. Known as vinegar syndrome the chemical degradation can only be slowed down by a reduction in temperature. If the humidity is too high the silver in the photographic gelatine layer can also corrode and migrate through to the surface of the negative where it causes a mirror like effect damaging the image further”.  

Once the conditions were right the move could take place. Last week Dawn (Conservation Officer) & Peter (General Assistant) moved about 200 boxes of photographic negatives into their new environmentally conditioned home.  

Dawn and Peter, the move masterminds, show Mel how it’s done. The new store is looking good behind the red door.

Job done! Peter slides the last box into place.

So why invest in the Turner Collection? 

Turners was established in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1900s. It was originally a chemists shop but in 1938 become a photographic dealer. 

Turners went on to become a prominent photographic and video production company in the North East of England. They had 3 shops in Newcastle city centre, in Pink Lane, Blackett Street and Eldon Square. The business closed in the 1990s. 

From the 1950s the business was largely involved in film-making and made many commissioned films for local businesses and organisations including routine filming of ship launches on the Tyne. 

As well as these films, Turners’ work is represented in the archives of a number of companies and local authorities held at Tyne & Wear Archives, including Newcastle City Council, Mott, Hay and Anderson and Swan Hunter Shipbuilding. 

Access to the photographic negatives is provided through a series of day books that record each job undertaken by the company.  Volunteers are currently working on compiling an index to these volumes. This will make the collection more accessible. 

Over the years, Turners’ photographers took thousands of photographs, a small sample of which can be seen on our Flickr stream.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/sets/72157626834280271/ 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/sets/72157626585625407/ 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/sets/72157625316987586/ 

 

 

 

 

 

Kith and Kin: New Glass and Ceramics Stage 2 – The ‘Crinson Jug’

Archaeology   Art   Collections & Objects   Design   Education   Exhibitions   Local History   Maritime History   Military History   Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens
Posted by Christopher McHugh on February 9, 2012     Permalink     Leave a comment

The second stage of Kith and Kin: New Glass and Ceramics began at the National Glass Centre on 9th January, where a number of the exhibitors changed or augmented their displays. As the exhibition curators, Prof. Peter Davies and Prof. Kevin Petrie point out, “relationships between family and friends change over time and the same is true of an artist’s relationship to ideas and materials.” The changeover of the exhibition was, therefore, intended to reflect this by allowing the work of participating artists to “evolve” during the course of the exhibition.

'Heirlooms' cabinet installation by Christopher McHugh

'Heirlooms' cabinet installation by Christopher McHugh, Kith & Kin 11 November 2011 – 19 February 2012 Curated by Prof Peter Davies and Prof Kevin Petrie Institute for International Research in Glass and Ceramic Art Research Centre, University of Sunderland. Photo: Colin Davison

My decision process regarding the development of new work for the changeover was greatly facilitated by a contingent event which occurred early in the first stage of the exhibition. Rather than undertaking a wholesale reorganisation of my cabinet display, I decided to make and add a single porcelain jug in response to an enquiry made by Howard Forster, a visitor to the first part of Kith and Kin. Mr Forster lives in Sunderland and has traced his family tree back to his third great-grandfather, William Crinson (d. 1836), who was indentured as an apprentice potter at Scott’s Southwick Pottery in 1788. Many of the other members of the Crinson family were Sunderland-based potters and Mr Forster’s research corresponds with the items of paper ephemera I displayed from the ‘Scott Archive’ borrowed from Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens described in my last blog post. For example, William is mentioned as the father of Robert Crinson in the declaration document. Mark Crinson (b. 1841), manager of Rickaby’s Pottery, named on the apprentice indenture, was Mr Forster’s great-grandfather’s brother. A later Robert Crinson (b. 1876), the potter who wrote the letter to the Sunderland Museum in 1969, was his grandfather’s brother. Further research by Mr Forster shows that Robert’s brothers, John Henry Crinson and William Stanley Crinson, served in the Durham Light Infantry during the Great War. William Stanley was injured during the conflict and John Henry was killed in action on 14th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.

Crinson Jug showing John Henry Crinson

Crinson Jug showing John Henry Crinson who was killed during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, glazed porcelain, ceramic decals, mixed media

Detail of Crinson Jug

Detail of Crinson Jug showing Howard Forster's family tree

After meeting Mr Forster and viewing the results of his family research accumulated over fifteen years, I decided to make a jug which employed this information to commemorate the Crinson family in ceramic. Much of this research took the form of digitised original documents downloaded from family search websites and the like. The ‘Crinson Jug’ synthesises a variety of this imagery, including photographs, memoirs, military records and a family tree, as printed surface decoration. It is an attempt to materialise and dramatise Mr Forster’s family history, creating a mnemonic focal point for reflection and remembrance. Printed ceramic, perhaps more than any other medium, has the ability to preserve this kind of potentially ephemeral information in an enduring and creative manner, whilst still retaining a certain sense of familiarity conferred by our long association with clay vessels.

Crinson Jug Labels

Detail of Crinson Jug Labels, porcelain paper clay, ceramic decals

Although the potteries which made the Sunderland pottery in the SMWG’s collection are no more, the descendants of their workers are alive and thriving in Sunderland. The next step is to create a further piece which depicts the three living generations of the Forster family – father, son and grandson. This project, although narrow in scope, provides an ‘organic’ example of small-scale grass roots engagement through creative ceramics practice and perhaps testifies to the enduring relevance of the collection to the kith and kin of contemporary Sunderland.

Howard Forster with Crinson Jug

Howard Forster with Crinson Jug at the National Glass Centre

Christopher McHugh is an AHRC Collaborate Doctoral Award PhD student based at the University of Sunderland and Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens. See more images of the exhibition here.

Kith and Kin: New Glass and Ceramics runs from 11 November 2011 to 19 February 2012 at the National Glass Centre, University of Sunderland.   Curated by Prof. Peter Davies and Prof. Kevin Petrie, Institute for International Research in Glass and Ceramic Art Research Centre, University of Sunderland.

Hidden History – LGBT Month

The Archives
Posted by Liz Rees on February 2, 2012     Permalink     Comments (2)

In recent years there has been increasing interest in more personal versions of history such as gender and sexuality, but it’s often difficult to uncover evidence of private lives, particularly of ordinary people. In reviewing a recent addition to the Archives of an album of North Shields police “mugshots” from the early 20th century I was therefore intrigued to notice that one of the men arrested appeared to be wearing women’s clothing.

Robert Coulthard after his arrest in 1913

The album unfortunately only gives the name and date of arrest, and the records from the North Shields Police Court that would have contained the details of the crime don’t seem to have survived. Finding out more about the circumstances therefore entailed a trip to Newcastle Central Library to research their excellent collection of local newspapers. Armed with the man’s name – Robert Coulthard – and the date of his arrest as 10 December 1913 it was reasonably easy to find the account of his appearance before the court in the following day’s paper.

A single paragraph reports that Robert Coulthard, 25 “who appeared in the dock stylishly dressed as a woman”  was charged with “having loitered in Charlotte Street and Church Street for the purpose of committing a felony” and was remanded for eight days.

More interesting, however, was a much longer report immediately above of five young men who had been arrested the same night at the Mill Dam in South Shields, also dressed in female clothes. A police witness reported that they were “dancing about and shouting to some sailors” and that he had previously seen some of the defendants similarly dressed. The men, however, claimed that they were in fancy dress and had been to a carnival. Nevertheless the chairman of the magistrates “remarked that the Bench regarded it as a very serious charge, and they were determined to put this sort of thing down”.

Circumstantially it would appear that Robert Coulthard had been in company with these men before making his way across to North Shields, and that they all regularly wore women’s clothing, although the court reports are vague as to what their actual offence was.

I then tried to find out a little more about Robert Coulthard. The same album of photographs shows that he had been previously arrested for indecent assault in 1903, when he was only 15 , but this case does not seem to have been reported in the newspaper so the circumstances remain a mystery.

Robert Coulthard in 1903

It is possible to piece together a little more about Robert Coulthard’s life. I discovered from the 1911 census that he was born in Gateshead and at that time was a servant in a sailors’ boarding house at East Holborn, South Shields – providing another link to the South Shields men. In 1891, aged 4, he was living in Oakwellgate, Gateshead with his mother Mary, a charwoman, and four brothers and sisters aged from 11 to 2. Mary is listed as married but her husband was not at home. By 1901 he was an inmate of the Abbot Memorial School in Gateshead, an “industrial school” designed to reform wayward children.

Postcard from http://www.picturesofgateshead.co.uk/postcards_gateshead1/index.html

Unfortunately after 1913 Robert Coulthard can’t be positively identified in the records. What happened to him? Did he serve in the First World War? Did he end up in prison? Or did he go on to lead a long and happy life? Perhaps the release of the 1921 census in 10 years time may tell us more, or other records may turn up in the meantime to help fill out an intriguing life story.

Revelations of racial discrimination at sea, discovered in the plans of the Sunderland shipbuilding firm, Bartram & Sons

Collections & Objects   Discovery Museum   Local History   Maritime History   Social History   The Archives
Posted by Alan Hayward on January 23, 2012     Permalink     Leave a comment

I’m pleased to report that work continues apace with the Sunderland Shipbuilding archives project. Colin and I are both currently working on the records of Bartram & Sons Ltd. The Bartrams shipyard was located at South Dock, Sunderand and was unusual in that it launched vessels directly into the North Sea rather than the River Wear.

Last month’s blog mentioned an interesting plan of a CAM ship, which Colin discovered, and he’s been finding more fascinating items this month. Of particular interest are a series of plans of the ships ‘India’ and ‘Timor’, which were launched by Bartram & Sons Ltd in 1950 (yard numbers 329 and 330). The vessels were built for the Companhia Nacionale de Navagacao of Lisbon, Portugal.

Photo of 'India' taken during sea trials (TWAM ref. 3396/6032E)

Bartrams seem to have been particularly proud of these vessels, which were the largest passenger vessels built in Sunderland for over half a century. However, an examination of one of the plans of the two ships hints at something much less praiseworthy. The plan concerned shows the ‘arrangement of emigrant spaces’ (TWAM ref. DS.BM/4/PL/1/329/18) and makes several references on the plan to spaces for ‘white emigrants … or cargo’.

Plan of emigrant spaces for the ships 'India' and 'Timor' (TWAM ref. DS.BM/4/PL/1/329/18)

Detailed view of part of plan of emigrant spaces (TWAM ref. DS.BM/4/PL/1/329/18)

There’s further evidence of racial segregation in the hull specification for the ‘India’ and ‘Timor’ (TWAM ref. DS.BM/4/6/329/2), which I recently catalogued. Two loose pages of typescript notes, tucked into the specification, document the visit of a Dr Ferreira and Mr Ruis on 2 March 1949. During the visit it was agreed that the crew’s accommodation was approved “subject to certain movement of rooms to enable Greasers, Seamen and Boys to be more segregated from the remainder, as they are Natives …’.

Loose notes of a meeting found in hull specification for the ‘India’ and ‘Timor’ (TWAM ref. DS.BM/4/6/329/2)

While such discrimination is perhaps reflective of the era it is certainly no easier to stomach for that. However, one of the key roles of an Archive is to provide a window into the past, to document a society’s past failings as well as its achievements. It’s the least we owe to those who, with little power to speak out, may have suffered in silence.