A catalogue of surprises

Cataloguing is crucial to managing museum collections; ensuring that the museum’s objects, documents and stories can be found and accessed by a wide range of people.  

The Library and Archive collection at the National Maritime Museum is the largest collection of manuscripts and original documents in the world relating to maritime history. It includes the papers of famous naval officers, diaries, journals and logs of ships and voyages to crew lists and business records of shipping lines and shipbuilding companies.  

One of the Museum’s latest acquisitions is the Charles Hare collection of manuscripts. In 1809, Royal Navy midshipman Charles Hare pulled off a daring prison break while disguised as an officer in the French customs service. He fled across Europe, and, after two weeks on the run, gained safe passage on a warship bound for Britain. 

Now available to view in the Caird Library and Archive at the National Maritime Museum, this manuscript collection contains Hare’s written account of his escape and documents relating to his naval career. The uniform he used as a disguise is also on display in the Nelson, Navy, Nation gallery. 

What happens when a rich and personal collection like this comes into the Museum's care? Archives Assistant Katherine Oxley reveals the process of cataloguing these intriguing documents.

More people than ever before are using our collections to discover their family or community history, undertake academic research, understand how and why historic decisions were made, and pursue informal and formal learning.

Cataloguing is fundamental to making these amazing collections available for such varied usage and ensuring they document the diverse contributions that have shaped British maritime endeavour. 

A manuscript collection may comprise just a single sheet of paper or dozens of boxes. Whatever the extent of the collection, the manuscripts are catalogued by a member of the archive team.  

One of the main aims of cataloguing is to make our manuscript collections accessible to the public. A catalogued manuscript collection has a unique identifier, a logical arrangement, and an informative description of each manuscript in the public catalogue.  

The first cataloguing task is to decide how to classify the collection. Classification depends on the type of manuscripts present and the size of the collection. The Museum’s archive catalogue is split into eight sections – an arrangement unique to the organisation.

Sections 1-4 are the so-called ‘natural collections’ – collections made up of typical records belonging to a person or organisation that accumulate naturally over time. Sections 1 and 2 comprise public records (mainly naval records from the Admiralty), Section 3 covers business records (typically shipping companies), and Section 4 contains personal collections (relating to individuals or several members of the same family).

Sections 5-8 are the artificial collections. Section 5 includes sizeable collections assembled by someone on a particular topic, and subsequently acquired by the Museum, such as the Michael Graham-Stewart Slavery Collection and the Lord-Macquitty Collection (about the Titanic and its passengers).

Sections 6 and 7 include single volumes and papers respectively, including Journals and Diaries (ref: JOD), Merchant shipping logs (LOG/M), Historical Records (HSR) and Letters (AGC).

 A small collection of items may also be catalogued together within these sections. The Charles Hare collection has been catalogued within Section 7, as part of the Biography class (Royal Museums Greenwich ID: BGY).

The reference given to the Charles Hare collection is BGY/H/14, with the ‘H’ standing for ‘Hare’, and 14 meaning it is the 14th biography collection catalogued under the letter ‘H’.

Section 8 is for copies of original manuscripts held elsewhere.

As part of the cataloguing process the manuscripts are given a suitable arrangement, often honouring the original order intended by the records creator. 

Our cataloguing database includes a hierarchy of record levels, starting at the top with the Collection level and then moving down to Item. Each physical document is assigned a record level – usually 'Item' or sometimes 'File' – that you then order up to consult within the Library.  

The other record levels – 'Collection', 'Subcollection', 'Series', 'Subseries' – are used to give the collection structure but typically do not represent individual items. Not all record levels need to be used for every collection.

Extensive collections, for example large businesses or personal collections spanning several generations of the same family, can have quite complex hierarchical structures. However the Charles Hare collection is quite small and straightforward and is split into four parts. 

The first document is Charles Hare’s Memorandum of Services (with a collection reference of BGY/H/14/1). This provides an overview of the collection as it details Hare’s full service history in the Royal Navy.  

The next file of documents concerns a printed volume that Charles Hare had published in 1848 titled 'Testimonials and Memorials of the Service of Lieutenant Charles Hare of the Royal Navy, 37 Years a Lieutenant' (BGY/H/14/2). This contains the testimonials and memorials that he received from naval officers he served under, as well as other notable personalities who were willing to vouch for his good character. 

The volume is accompanied by many of the original handwritten letters that were printed in the volume. A few of the original letters have a page or two missing, but all the letters are printed in full in the volume. 

The third file relates to Charles Hare’s escape from prison in France in 1809 (BGY/H/14/3). There are two handwritten volumes of Hare’s first-person account, both believed to have been written around 1832. There are also two transcripts of his narrative but these were made much later on, in the 20th and 21st centuries. 

The last file (BGY/H/14/4) contains more personal items, including photographs of Charles Hare and of the Hare family crest, an announcement of Hare’s marriage and a sketch by his daughter of their family home.

Although there are guiding principles for cataloguing it is still quite a subjective exercise; two different cataloguers are unlikely to produce an identical arrangement or index similar subjects for the same collection of manuscripts.

Manuscripts do not always arrive in perfect condition, and so it is important to take measures to help prevent their further deterioration whilst in the care of the Museum. Major treatment involving any sort of modification of the manuscript must be carried out by a conservator; however, the archive team can undertake some basic preservation tasks during the cataloguing process. 

Some collections can arrive in a rather haphazard state but the Charles Hare manuscripts were arranged quite neatly, in clear plastic pockets in a ring binder. It is quite common for old bundles of papers to be attached to each other with pins or rusty clips; these have to be removed carefully and replaced with preservation-compliant brass clips.  

The Hare manuscripts mostly just needed to be removed from their acidic plastic pockets, and have any surface dirt and dust removed with a smoke sponge. Any pages that had small tears or were somewhat fragile were inserted into an archival-grade polyester sleeve to provide protection from further damage when being handled. The groups of papers that had been catalogued within a single file were inserted into an archival folder.  

As this is a small collection, with just four folders, the manuscripts all fit neatly into one archival box – ready for you to consult in the Caird Library Reading Room and explore Hare’s remarkable tale of escape for yourself!