The formation of the NMM archive: inside out

08 Oct 2010

The history of how the NMM archive has come into being is fascinating to explore. The first Director of the museum, Sir Geoffrey Callender, and benefactor to the NMM, Sir James Caird, collected key archival material before and after the museum was established. A history of the archive itself is a relatively unexplored area for research and I think there is potential in bringing this history to life. The result of this would be to understand the museums' archive collecting policy in the past and the interconnecting research interests of the collectors themselves; which included NMM staff and members of the Society for Nautical Research (SNR) and Navy Records Society (NRS).

George Naish, Keeper of the Museum in 1969 and Honorary Secretary to the SNR, 1947-1977, collected his own artificial series of manuscripts as well as his own correspondence with other researchers and notes on a range of subjects. He kept one notebook by Harold Brindley, a founding member of the SNR, and worked in the seal room at the NMM. Naish was involved in the museums' history for 36 years and his collection reflects many of the trends and changes in maritime research over these decades.

Another important figure in the development of the museum was R.C. Anderson. He was a founder member of the Society for Nautical Research and, from its foundation until 1962, a Trustee of the Museum and Chairman of Trustees from 1959 to 1962. He was a frequent contributor to The Mariner's Mirror, of which he was editor for several periods and the author of numerous publications on maritime subjects. His archive collection (AND) reflects his research interests, particularly ships' models and 17th century naval history.

The Leonard G. Carr Laughton collection (LAU) consists of his and his fathers' notebooks containing research from many repositories on various aspects of nautical history. Among other things included is a typed copy of his Nautical Dictionary, the production being one of the SNR's main objectives.

One of the Trustees of the NMM from 1948 - 1951, Rear-Admiral Thursfield presented his papers to the museum in 1958 and 1962. Thursfield was editor of Brassey's Naval Annual from 1936 until his death in 1963, naval correspondent of the Times; and published a volume of 'Naval Journals, 1789-1817' with the Navy Records Society. 

Close ties to his colleagues, including Callender, Naish, Corbett, Carr-Laughton and Anderson allowed Professor Michael Lewis to accumulate research materials, notes, and typescripts they created. He was a prominent naval historian and writer and for more on his collection and others in this article, here is a link to our online archive catalogue.

Mike (Assistant Archivist)