A Trip Through Time
Managing the Navy's History Collections
19 March 2014
They are part detective, part researcher, technology-savvy defenders with a smidgeon of enforcer. They are the curators of the collections management division at the Naval History and Heritage Command. The Navy is big on tradition, and with that tradition, comes a collection of items that range from a $4.4 million sterling silver trophy to a simple Thanksgiving menu from a destroyer during World War II.
Some are hand-chosen from decommissioned ships by the curators themselves. Others are donated by those who served the Navy, plucked from a moment in time to inspire people decades later. And some are items found while literally cleaning out the attic.
The curators of this collection often joke the last time they've been "caught up" with their extensive inventory was after the first item was donated to the Navy, said Head Curator Karen France.
Karen France, Curator with the Naval Historical Center (NHC), examines the World War II battle flag of the destroyer USS Zellars (DD 777) after its recent conservation. The flag, damaged during a 1945 kamikaze attack, was preserved through the efforts of the NHC, USS Zellars Association, and the Stillwater Textile Conservation Studio. Zellars saw combat service in both World War II and Korea, was attacked by three kamikazes during the Battle of Okinawa and suffered 64 killed when two hit the ship. The conservation of the flag was especially meaningful of the USS Zellars Association's thirty surviving World War II members. U.S. Navy photo.
Concern about the loss of precious items in storage has created an urgency that has been directed by Capt. Henry Hendrix, commander of the Naval History and Heritage Command. NHHC is the keeper of 10,864 reels of microfilm and 5.67 terabytes of electronic data, along with 200 million pages documenting history.
While the Naval History and Heritage Command has undergone a number of name changes over the years, its mission has not: acquisition, custody, distribution and exhibition of items of historical or patriotic value to the Navy; provide guidance on the preservation and storage of historical material; make those items available to the public and provide maintenance when necessary.
The entire collections division is undergoing an artifact baseline reset, which means the staff is going through the collection, item-by-item, to make sure it is correctly cataloged, photographed, inventoried and if necessary, rehoused under the proper conditions, which includes a constant temperature and humidity. It also allows the division to evaluate the collection to determine the condition of the items and whether they should be retained or donated to another organization.
With almost no staff for many years, it was all the collections division could do to keep up with items on loan to a variety of museums and organizations in every state in the union, while at the same time storing and cataloging boxes and boxes of items donated from families of former Sailors.
It's up to a relatively small staff to keep track of the 595,000 artifacts, of which more than 30,000 are on loan throughout the world. The underwater archeology department alone catalogs more than 17,000 sunken military ships and aircraft around the world.
From 2003-2009, Frank Thompson, collection management division deputy director, and France were the only two collection managers, responsible for a collection of more than 150,000 items.
Kate Morrand, archeological conservator at the Naval History and Heritage Command, Underwater Archeology Branch, points out the embossing of a two-mast ship on a leather wallet to German Embassy Naval Attache Capt. Karl Setzer and his aide, Cmdr. Tobias Vob. The wallet was found by a diver near the wreck of a WWII German U-boat and then given to the Navy Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tim Comerford.
Progress has been made in updating the inventory. Now that they have staff, they have been able to go through more boxes to see what treasures might be mixed in with the plaques and other private donations.
"People would call us about things in their attic and if we wanted only one item, we would end up taking it all," France laughed.
While that certainly contributed to the backlog of items to be cataloged, part of the job is also culling out what doesn't belong, items in poor condition and redundant to the collection.
An inspector general report in 2011 determined some artifacts were at risk, items sensitive to temperature and humidity, such as textiles and art, microfilm and photographs. The report also suggested the department consolidate where they could, cull the collection and inventory it to get it to the right size, France said.
As they catalogue items, many are photographed and displayed on NHHC's Flickr site, since most of the artifacts are not stored at the Washington Navy Yard. Case in point: the sterling silver Spokane Naval Trophy given each year to the Pacific-based ship with the best record in battle efficiency. It's currently on display in San Diego. When the trophy was crafted in 1908, it was valued at $10,000. When appraised 100 years later, the value had skyrocketed to $4.4 million.
David Colamaria, Naval History and Heritage Command's photographic section archivist, looks at a glass plate photograph of Spanish Adm. Pasqual Cervera taken in 1898 or 1899. The photo archives staff found a wooden box containing approximately 150 glass plate photographs depicting scenes from the Spanish American and Philippine Wars. The glass plate photographs were likely prepared by photographer Douglas White, a war correspondent for the San Francisco Examiner during the Philippine War. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tim Comerford.
Some of the artifacts come from companies not typically associated with the Navy. One of the items taken off a decommissioned submarine was a 1960 Steinway upright piano. Steinway & Sons contacted the command and offered to restore it if they could display it for a while. The restored piano is now in the submarine mess deck display at the Cold War Museum at the Washington Navy Yard.
Other businesses with items in the Navy collection that might surprise a few, France said, include the jewelry companies of Tiffany and Bailey, Banks & Biddle.
The Chelsea Clock Company of Massachusetts has also had a long history with the Navy, having supplied thousands of clocks for Navy ships over the years, Thompson said.
When a donated Chelsea clock turned out to be one of the rarer ones due to a low production rate, the company asked if they could restore the clock and then display it to show the company's long and storied history with the Navy.
France and Thompson both pointed out, in every case, the companies contacted them offering to restore the pieces made by their companies.
Dr. Alexis Catsambis, left, cultural resource manager, and Blair Atcheson, historical preservation coordinator, both from the Naval History and Heritage Command at the Washington Navy Yard, move a late 19th century Howell torpedo. The torpedo was discovered by a team of Navy dolphins off the coast of San Diego and is scheduled to undergo months of restoration by a Navy archaeological team. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Cothran
It's this "loaning" and "borrowing" aspect of the job that can often be the most challenging.
"We have more than 15,000 objects in the loan program, and there's something in every state," Thompson said.
Complicating the task is the fact that in the past, loans were sometimes not as controlled as they are today. Additionally, agreements sometimes included language that unintentionally complicated matters, mistakenly using the word gift instead of loan, for example. Then, when the agreement was revisited years later, it's difficult to determine ownership of the artifact. That's when curators turn into sleuths.
"We are upgrading those records to properly reflect a gift from a loan so people who work here after us don't have to deal with this," Thompson said. "We've also tightened up the policies so there are no more open-ended loans. If the custodians show they have been good stewards of the artifact, they can continue to hold on to it."