Entries from The Caird Library Blog tagged with 'Manuscripts'
December's Item of the Month
December's Item of the Month features a series of letters written by Susannah Middleton to her sister, Mary Leake. As it's 'that time of year' we've selected three letters, each one written during the Christmas period.Richard (Assistant Archivist)...
September's Item of the Month
September's item of the month showcases two letters from a series of eleven acquired as a set in 1950, dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries and written by crew from the lower deck.Mike (Assistant Archivist)...
A Norwegian Manuscript Mystery
Colleagues in Norway have issued a request for help to solve a mystery dating back to 1816. The Regional State Archives in Trondheim have in their collection a number of letters that were found, washed ashore in a box, at...
April's Item of the Month
April's item of the month is a volume from the Museum's shipbuilding series of manuscripts (SPB). One would therefore be forgiven for thinking that the manuscript, and indeed the item of the month article, is all about the construction of ships. In...
Gerald Alymer Seminar at IHR, Senate House
I recently attended the annual Gerald Alymer (a former President of the Royal Historical Society) Seminar which took place at the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), Senate House. The speakers included scholars of early records, teachers lecturing in the archive...
February's Item of the Month
This month's item of the month is a recently acquired prize ledger compiled under Sir Coutts Trotter and dating from 1786-1792. It illustrates the workings of the administration of the Royal Navy, and how the prize money system was managed...
The Barrington Papers: Small personal archive meets big institutional science
In 2003, the NMM purchased a small archive of thirteen manuscripts and a pamphlet which belonged to William Wildman, Viscount Barrington. He collected these between 1762 and 1765, while he was Treasurer of the Navy, which also made him a...
The Best of all the Sea-Bathing Places
Obviously not a manuscript, definitely not seasonal, but with most of us shivering at freezing conditions and the thought of further blizzards, this image forms both a cheerful distraction and also a connection with the often nautical and always candid...
Cyclometrica Elementa Duo : the story of a hidden treasure
As part of our ongoing work preparing for the move into the Sammy Ofer Wing, I was recently working with the collection of Vice-Admiral Sir William Hannam Henderson (1845-1931). These papers were arranged by Admiral Henderson himself and were presented to the...
October's Item of the Month: Robert Hope's Trafalgar Letter
In 1805 Robert Hope, a member of the sailmakers' crew of HMS Temeraire, wrote to his brother to recount his recent involvement in the Battle of Trafalgar. Recently acquired by the National Maritime Museum after 205 years in private hands, October's...
August's item of the month: Keppel's journal
August's item of the month is the 'journal of cruise of H.M. Ship Maender' (HTN/69) kept by Captain Henry Keppel and beautifully illustrated by Oswald Brierly. The journal documents a voyage throughout the southern hemisphere undertaken between 1847 and 1851.If you...
Illustrated logbook of Francis Meynell
June's item of the month is a wonderful illustrated logbook written by Francis Meynell. The logbook, containing a number of fine watercolours, details Meynell's experiences during the Crimean War as well a later visit to Sweden.Mike (Assistant Archivist)...
Billy Ruffian, 'Bravest of the Brave', 1786 - 1836: Her story told from the records at the NMM
HMS Bellerophon, known affectionately by her illiterate crew as Billy Ruffian,endured the Napoleonic and French Revolutionary Wars. She was the first vessel to engage the enemy at the battle of the Glorious First of June, 1794, and was also waiting...
From Roanoke to Gravesend
It's a bonus month for Archive and Library research as we've published two items this month, and they really couldn't be more different. In the rare books corner we have an introduction to one of the stars of our collection:...
Love in the Archives
On Saturday 13 February the Queen's House was the venue for the romantically themed Love in the Archives afternoon, part of the Past Caring: Love in History programme events. The afternoon began with a talk by Margarette Lincoln, Deputy Director...
Thomas Knight Leslie's Illustrated Story Book
Mention Tom and Jerry nowadays and you might be forgiven for imagining the cartoon antics of a cat and mouse. However, as January's item of the month demonstrates, the names had a previous incarnation as two shipwrecked sailors. This story...
Archive Journeys in November
Continuing our regular programme of Archive Journey sessions, November begins with Caird's Treasure Chest on Thursday 5th. Sir James Caird was one of the National Maritime Museum's principal early benefactors and his donations helped to form the foundation of the...
The Battle of Quebec
Sunday saw the 250th anniversary of one of the most important battles in modern British history. In the early hours of 13 September 1759, a small British army was hauling itself and its guns up a cliff path. At the...
Archive Journeys in September
This month visitors to the Museum will have the opportunity to attend a number of Archive Journey sessions. Following the popular Polar Exploration sessions held in July we are holding 3 more events to coincide with the Museum's North West...
Manuscript last order dates
Due to the bank holiday on Monday 31 August affecting deliveries from our offsite stores, we will require more than the advertised four days' notice to retrieve items to be consulted on the following days:Date of Library visit Last order dateTuesday 01...
Feed Subscription
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries tagged 'Manuscripts'. [What is this?]
