| In
addition to its roles as a memorial and authentically
restored World War II battleship, the Battleship is a
Museum with a large and diverse collection of artifacts.
These artifacts greatly enhance the staff's ability to
tell the story of the Battleship to her visitors.
The
thousands of artifacts in the Battleship Collection mostly
come from two sources - the ship and individual donors.
The ship is made up of hundreds of compartments filled
with artifacts left intact from the time of her decommissioning
in 1947. Individuals - many of them former crew members
- have been donating items since the Ship's arrival in
1961.
Donations
are catalogued and preserved for use in exhibits, educational
programs, and for research. The Museum Department staff
and volunteers are working diligently to gather the thousands
of artifacts scattered throughout the ship so that they
too may be inventoried, documented, and preserved.
Founded
in 1988, the Museum Department actively seeks artifacts
directly associated with ships named NORTH CAROLINA -
the Battleship, the Armored Cruiser, the Ship-of-the-Line,
and the Civil War Ironclad. Items include those related
to the histories of the ships, their construction, their
crews, daily life aboard ship, their armament, and the
events in which they participated. The Department also
accepts artifacts that would be typical of those used
on the ships or by the crew.
Another
area of interest are items associated with the Memorial
- the Ship's rescue from scrapping in 1960, the founding
and development of the Memorial, and memorabilia such
as souvenirs sold in the gift shop.
No
item is too insignificant or ordinary to be considered
for the Battleship Collection. Each object helps us to
present a more complete and accurate history of the Battleship
and the Memorial. If you have an item that you would like
to donate, please contact us at curator@battleshipnc.com
Sample
Area of Collections
Personal
Artifacts:
The
donation of a group of items belonging to one individual
can be helpful in many ways. They can tell one person's
history, reflect the daily life of the crew, or bring
to life a particular event. Artifacts might include toiletries,
medals, shoes, etc.
Textiles:
The
Battleship Collection encompasses many types of textiles.
The most prevalent are flags, uniforms, souvenir pillowcases,
and linens.
Armaments:
The
Battleship Collection of armament includes the guns attached
to the Ship, ammunition and powder bags, and personal
arms which belonged to the officers and crew, some of
which are purely ceremonial or decorative.
Archives:
The
archival objects in our collection cover many types of
items - menus, photographs, newspaper clippings, the Ship's
newspaper (The Tarheel), press releases, plans of the
day, books and manuals, cartoons, maps, letters, cards,
identification cards, liberty chits, ship's store receipts,
postcards, and blueprints (over 22,000 at last count!).
These items are among the most useful in the collection
in terms of research and are widely used by the staff
- especially the photographs and books.
The
Battleship Memorial recognizes that it is important to
collect artifacts which tell the history of the Memorial
itself - newspaper clippings reporting fundraising efforts
to save the Ship from scrapping, Memorial Day Programs
from over the years, correspondence, tour route signage,
photographs, and souvenirs from the gift shop.
Memorabilia:
Memorabilia
is often lighthearted and fun and comes in many shapes
and sizes. The warmth and humor help us to identify with
the crew - many were not yet twenty years old - and their
life aboard ship, far away from home, and facing the prospect
of a painful death. In addition to souvenir pillow cases,
we have trays, matchbook cover collections, scrapbooks,
small life preservers signed by friends, hand made rings,
and drawings. |
