Thanks to those of you who have already submitted your proposals for this year’s CAMM conference. For those who are still planning to submit, Friday, January 15, is the deadline.
The conference has been extended to three days this year to allow for more opportunities to showcase current projects and share expertise! Session proposals should be about topics of interest to your CAMM colleagues.
See CAMM’s annual conference web page for the online submission form.
The Los Angeles Maritime Museum is preparing to deaccession some U.S. Navy ship blueprints and would like to offer them to interested CAMM member museums.
For a list of plans, see LAMM Available Ships Plans
For more information, contact the museum’s archivist, Liz Ruth, at 310-548-7618 ext 215 or send her an email at <e.ruthabramian@lacity.org>.
Job Summary
Monitors and controls all financial activities of the Museum. Meets all internal and external customer requirements and ensures that all activities within the accounting office are in compliance with all appropriate control procedures and requirements. Works closely with all departments to monitor expenses. Supervises the activities of the accounting office to ensure that timely financial data is available and sound decisions are made.
Manages day-to-day operations of the museum in collaboration with Facilities Management and Collections Management to ensure the care and safety of the collections and the building as well as capital improvements related to building and grounds. Provides budgetary updates for cash and contributed services, as well as longer term planning to the Executive Director, Treasurer and Finance Committee.
For full job announcement see HMM Director of Finance and Operations
Interested candidates should email a cover letter and resume to Bill Lynch at <w.lynn@herreshoff.org> with the job title in the subject line.
Battleship Cove, “America’s Fleet Museum,” seeks an experienced Curator of Historic Collections. This dynamic museum and memorial houses the largest collections of U.S. WWII vessels in the world and is home to 5 National Historic Landmarks. The curator is part of the Collections Department team which has responsibility for the historical artifacts held at Battleship Cove and the Marine Museum of Fall River. The Department is led by the Director of Marine Museum and Collections and also includes the PT Boat Curator.
See Curator of Historic Collections for full announcement.
Submitted by Paula Roy, Battleship Cove
The Journal of American Institute of Conservation (JAIC) is seeking submissions for a “Collection Care” special issue. Collection care can be described as avoiding needless damage to collections or the systematic mitigation of risks to all strategically managed physical and intellectual values of a collection.
Papers are welcome across the full spectrum of collection care activities, from communication and advocacy to technical specifications. This edition seeks to represent the diverse acts of preventive conservation and the work of all of those with a stake in facilitating preservation and access. The responsibility for collection care is not limited to conservators but rather is a collaborative process among allied professionals such as facility managers, curators, registrars, preparators, collection managers, security staff, archivists, exhibit designers, architects, and maintenance staff, among others, who work together to mitigate or manage collection risks. We would like this issue to consider processes that reflect this range of stakeholders, so welcome research or case study papers on topics as broad as documentation and material choices to the management of staff and the environment.
Authors are invited to submit an abstract and article outline for consideration by the special issue editors with final article submissions due April 1, 2016.
Please send inquiries and submissions to Mary Coughlin at coughlin@gwu.edu
Submitted by Gretchen Guidess, AIC Collection Care Network
After a year and a half of dedicated effort, the Michigan Maritime Museum announces that the preservation of its 1939 wooden fish tug, the Evelyn S, was completed in the fall of 2015 through the good work of apprentices from the Great Lakes Boat Building School (GLBBS) and local contractors.
Grant funding for the project was awarded to the City of South Haven and the Michigan Maritime Museum (MMM) from the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes, Coastal Zone Management Program, Department of Environmental Quality. Lead financial contributions to match the grant were made by Cottage Home, Inc., owned and operated by MMM board member, Brian Bosgraaf. Preservation efforts included an initial marine survey conducted by Pat Mahon, director and lead instructor of the GLBBS. Rebuilding much of the tug’s deteriorated house was a major part of the preservation process undertaken by GLBBS apprentice Hans Wagner. Painting the entire boat and re exhibiting it in a newly landscaped section of the Museum’s campus finished the project.
To enhance the exhibit, a technology station was added at the base of the Evelyn S with a video that features the history of commercial fishing in South Haven, the process of moving and preserving the tug and some inside footage of its pilot house, Kalenberg engine and net lifter equipment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqIoqrG4u9Q&feature=youtu.be
Submitted by Sandy Norris, Michigan Maritime Museum
The mission of the Naval History and Heritage Command is to collect, preserve, protect and make available the artifacts, documents, and art that best embody our naval history and heritage for present and future generations. This position is with the Naval History and Heritage Command’s (NHHC) Curator Branch (CU), a component of the Collection Management Division (CMD) located at the Washington Navy yard, DC. This position encompasses acquiring, accessioning, preserving and accounting for this material as well as its loan to eligible recipients.
For more information see https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/423955600
A recent article on South Street Seaport Museum:
South Street Seaport Museum: Offering a Living History Experience
Submitted by Paul DeOrsay
#mycoastguardstory hashtag announced in anticipation of “The Finest Hours,” the greatest Coast Guard rescue story ever told
New London, Conn. (November 25, 2015) – The National Coast Guard Museum Association, Inc. has launched a new social media initiative designed to collect and share personal stories of heroism and honor dedicated to the United States Coast Guard. The campaign gets underway as excitement builds for the release of the Disney Motion Picture, “The Finest Hours,” which hits movie theaters across the country on January 29, 2016.
The #mycoastguardstory initiative is gathering stories from current Coast Guard men and women, veterans, reservists, auxiliary members and civilians who are sharing personal experiences of how the United States Coast Guard has impacted their lives. The tie-in to “The Finest Hours” is appropriate, as it tells the true story of the daring Coast Guard rescue attempts of crews from two crippled tankers off the coast of Cape Cod in February, 1952.
“This effort will help us tell the many stories of the Coast Guard through the eyes of those who served,” said Richard Grahn, President and CEO of the National Coast Guard Museum Association, Inc.
The National Coast Guard Museum, the first and only national museum to be dedicated solely to the U.S. Coast Guard, will be built on the waterfront in downtown New London, Connecticut, home of United States Coast Guard Station New London and the United States Coast Guard Academy. The location was selected by the U.S. Coast Guard and the land conveyed by the City of New London in 2014.
“We are encouraging everyone to go follow us on Facebook and Instagram @uscgmuseum to share their story of what the Coast Guard means to them,” said Wes Pulver, Executive Director of the National Coast Guard Museum and former captain of the Coast Guard Barque EAGLE. “As excitement builds for the release of “The Finest Hours,” we are gathering stories from young and old, from near and far, to preserve the rich history of our Coast Guard. By using the hashtag “mycoastguardstory,” we will start building an extensive social media library open to everyone.”
More details on #mycoastguardstory can be found at www.coastguardmuseum.org.
Submitted by Jay Stapleton.
Working on something of interest to your maritime heritage colleagues? Consider putting together a session proposal for the upcoming CAMM conference at the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation’s new Maritime Center in Wilmington, Delaware, April 25-27, 2016.
Deadline for submission is January 15, 2016. Please use the online PDF form located on our annual conference web page or go directly to the form at https://councilofamericanmaritimemuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/camm-conference-online-call-2016.pdf. Save your completed form and email it to Program Chair Paul Fontenoy at <Paul.Fontenoy@NCDCR.gov>.
You don’t have to be on the staff of a CAMM institution to attend the annual conference or submit a proposal; however, you must be affiliated with a CAMM institution to apply for a Leonard Rennie Professional Travel Grant.
Submitted by Candace Clifford, November 30, 2105
