Please read this Guide First.
1. The museum research
resources are extensive. Consult the descriptions on this page and then try a few
searches using the collections catalogue,
Collections
Catalogues
.
Questions or problems - contact us by e mail at
curator@marmuseum.ca .
2. If you plan on visiting the
Gordon C Shaw Study Centre to use the archives and library we strongly recommend you
contact us first by e mail at
curator@marmuseum.ca
or postal mail to ensure a staff member or research volunteer is available to
help you. You are also welcome to call by phone, 613 542 2261 but we
cannot guarantee a member of the museum research staff will be available to
take your call.
3. We have a decided preference for e mail
or postal mail. Many of the research questions we get are complex. E mail give
us the time to consider, as a research team, possible answers to your
questions. We will do our
best to get an e mail reply back to you within ten working day.
The
Collections Catalogue
Collections
Catalogue
This is an updated Collections Catalogue Data Base.
Ship Lists
To the Mills List
New - an addendum to almost 6000 records.
Inland and coastal steam and motor vessels over 45 feet in length (19th
century) and 60 feet (20th century) operating in Canada from 1817 to
1930.
For Recent Changes to the Mills List go to the
Following Link - Mills List Update
Description - A good introduction
to the Canadian Registry System by Mr. Mills
To the Wallace List
A list of square rigged vessels, mainly 500 tons and over built in the eastern provinces of British North America, 1786-1920
Description
To Canadian Registry List
Canadian Great Lakes port registers with a typical entry providing basic statistics such as vessel name, port of registry, rig, tonnage, owner, builder, date and place of build - mostly 19th and early 20 century.
Description
To Owners
This file is related to the Registry List above - mostly Canadian Great Lakes owners
To Canada Steamship Lines Fleet List
Extensive detail on the CSL fleet
Description
Index
To the Snider Index
The C.H.J. Snider columns called "Schooner Days" were written for the Toronto Telegram (long gone) between 1931 and 1954, 1,303 articles. Click on "Description" for updates.
Description
Finding Aids
Long text files that take time to review. This is a
large text file originally produced for the use of museum staff.Try
catalogue search first.
Port Arthur Shipyards
This is a large text file originally produced for the use of museum staff. It is a long narrative description of some archival material from Port Arthur Shipyards.
Collingwood Shipyards
A large text file originally produced for the use of museum staff. It is
a long narrative description of some archival material from Collingwood
Shipyards.
German & Milne
A narrative description of archival material from German & Milne.
Upper Lakes Shipping
A narrative description of archival material from Upper Lakes Shipping.
William Johnston Collection
The William Johnston Collection represents the personal office working papers of a senior executive officer with Canada Steamship Lines.
The H.A. Sledge Collection
Mr. H. A. Sledge was for many years a Steamship Inspector. He also had a strong interest in the education of professional mariners. The collected papers reflect those interests.
The Vickers Shipyard Collection - Montreal
A narrative description of most of the archival material in our collections from Vickers.
The Rathbun Collection
A finding aid for a well known Ontario industrial enterprise based in Napanee.
Pump House Steam Museum
An Index to the Records maintained by the late Jack Telgmann during his tour as curator of the Pump House Steam Museum, from about 1972 to 1984. This link will take you to an Index with links to more detailed Finding Aids.
The Conestoga & Lillie Parsons Project
The Conestoga & Lillie Parsons Project conducted by Save Ontario Shipwrecks - Ottawa Chapter.
Articles
on Great Lakes Topics
Marine Terminology
I have sometimes
come across words that I had to look up for a definition or clarification
of their meaning. It was inevitable that these words sometimes
became research topics of their own. Some of the results are listed
here. Compiled by John Duerkop
Paper Passages:
Paper Passages: An Introduction to the Sources for the Study of Great Lakes History at the National Archives of Canada by M. Stephen Salmon
The Frontenac:
The Frontenac: A Reappraisal: The First Canadian Steamship on the Lakes - 1817 by Walter Lewis
This article appears on the 'net essentially as it originally appeared in FreshWater, vol. 2, no. 1 (Summer 1987): 28-39. A few of the notes have been altered to reflect the change of name of the National Archives of Canada (NAC) from the Public Archives of Canada (PAC), and the subsequent publication of articles. According on the capability of your browser the symbol for Pounds Halifax Currency is rendered as £.
In Search
of Shipwrecks:
In Search of Shipwrecks: Canadian Government Archive: Sources relating to Marine Casualties in Canada by Richard Brown and Glenn T. Wright.
This article originally appeared in FreshWater, vol. 4 (1989): 14-20.
Selected
Internet Research Resources
A Great Lakes Maritime History Page
An outstanding collection of documents and newspapers transcribed by many contributors. The site is maintained by marine historian, Walter Lewis who is also the co moderator of MarHst-L
Lars Bruzelius
For the maritime historian this is a superb site and the one we recommend you try. It is maintained by Lars Bruzelius at Uppsala University in Sweden. Lars is one of the pioneers in the field of WWW development and communications.
CNRS
The Canadian Nautical Research Society who publish quarterly The Northern Mariner and the newsletter, Argonauta.
The Maritime History Archive
Memorial University - A leader in the field of marine history and provider of research resources.
www.htm
This link will take you our selected national and international web sites.
Tips for Conducting a Successful Search
A successful search depends on the keywords you choose. For example the
keyword 'navigation' will result in hundreds of records being shown. The keyword
'compass', a more specific term, will reduce the number of records shown and get
you closer to catalogue entries that are related to 'compass'.
NEW - all of the collections catalogue records
for the following categories have been combined into one collections catalogue
database. This will allow you to search all collections categories
simultaneously
or
you can search by an individual category by
selecting a collections category shown on the right side of the data entry
screen.
The Collections Catalogue Categories are:
artifacts - Over 2,500 artifacts including a 3,000 ton ship
archives - Shipping companies, Design firms, Shipyards, private papers and other marine enterprises
books - The collection is Canadian and international. There are over 10,000 titles in the Marine Museum reference library
pictorial - This includes photographs, drawings, paintings, over 40,000 ships plans and navigational charts
periodicals - A selection of indexed periodicals
The advantage to searching all categories at the same time is that it will list all the books, artifacts, pictures etc that we have on a given subject. Many researchers find that feature powerful and useful.
If however, you are looking for a book on a given subject or perhaps a specific artifact then it is best to search by specific category e.g. books or artifacts. There is a place on the search screen where you can select a collections category.
Last Updated July 2007: MDS