6 – National Maritime Museum – Caird Library & Archive

Now for a site outside of London proper! We went to the National Maritime Museum today in Greenwich. The National Maritime Museum was opened in 1937 by King George VI and is part of the group, the Royal Museums of Greenwich.

Their collections range from objects that related to the Titanic, public records, cartography, ship models, ship plans, journals, and more. All these items can be found within the museum itself or in the Caird Library and Archive which we visited!

For statistics on their collection, Caird Library and Archive states that they have the following:

It is truly astonishing how many of these English collections are massive! But, considering how old a country England is, it shouldn’t be surprising. Maybe, eventually the surprise will wear off.

Ms. Syrett telling us about some of the various documents they have from survivors of the Titanic. 

We were guided by Ms. Victoria “Vicki” Syrett and Mr. Mike Bevan, who showed us a wealth of documents, manuscripts, correspondence and a plethora of other objects from their vast collection.

Mr. Bevan showing some students a few different journals and diaries from their collection.

One of my favorite services that the Caird offers its patrons is tracing family history. Visitors can look through crew lists, official records and agreements to find out about their seafaring ancestors. For more information about these services, click here.

Edward Barlow had an interesting life for sure!

My favorite object from their collection is the journal of Edward Barlow. It contains many wonderful illustrations including a massive multiple page drawing of the Thames river and little ones, such as the one above! To see more of Edward Barlow’s journal, click here. To learn more about the Caird’s collection in both the library and archive, click here.