Northern Sea Maritime Museums Network

The Northern Sea Maritime Museums Network (NSMMN)  promotes scientific exchange between museums and academic institutions focussing on the Northern and Baltic Sea Coasts.

It asks about the role of shipping in a comparative and entangled perspective. Ships and maritime logistics are regarded as specific media of expressing the social, economic, cultural but also ecological relationship of mankind to the sea. The Network aims at encouraging research related to the analysis of the maritime impact on the Northern European coasts by putting them into a frame of European and Global interactions. It thus asks also for the impact of coastal and maritime cultures on the society in general and their relevance to future developments. It further aims at promoting multi-disciplinary approaches by facilitating the dialogue between not only the museum world and universities but also by being a platform for historians, archaeologists, cultural anthropologists etc. as well as natural scientists looking at historical and cultural aspects of the North Sea and Baltic Coasts.

The NSMMN organizes an international conference in a cycle of three years. The institution holding the chair is mainly responsible for organizing the conference, which is also accompanied by a scientific advisory board formed by its members. The outcomes of the conferences will be published, possibly in cooperation with the International Journal of Maritime History. Annual meetings of the network serve as communication tools in order to facilitate the dialogue between different types of museums around the North Sea and Baltic Coasts, but also in order to built up a Northern academic hub between museums and universities.

Further associations of the members conclude the joint use of fellowship programs, which will be advertised in a bi-annual electronic posting in conjunction with special news, announcements and expertise published by its members. Membership in the network is free, but no travel costs will be granted. Please contact the present chair if you are interested in joining: schilling@dsm.museum

Online-Workshop Digitization in Exhibition and Research in June 2021

A joint workshop of the Northern Sea Maritime Museums’ Network and the Baltic Sea Maritime Museums’ virtual Network at the 7th of June 2021

The history seafaring is in many respects a history of materials – they are a determining factor in the construction of vessels as well as their supply and maintenance in port and at sea, their land-locked availability decides over a region’s ability to exploit maritime resources and project sea power, their use and handling on ships and in shipyards represents hundreds of years of experience and tradition. In more recent history, advances in materials science have both raised and answered questions of safety and sustainability in shipping. The importance and variety of materials in maritime history translates directly to many maritime collections, which includes a great spectrum of woods, metals, ceramics, textiles, paints, adhesives, plastics, and composites. The challenge of dealing with the historical dimension of these materials is overlaid by the further challenge of documenting, preserving and occasionally restoring those pieces both for exhibition purposes and long-term storage.

The workshop encourages presentation and discussion of projects in order to focus on both the research and science communication effect digital methods can have in both maritime museums’ exhibition space as well as in the storage rooms. It addresses on a more general perspective the potential of connecting not only maritime museums on a digital level but enhancing their importance for a broader scientific public. Last but not least it also looks at the use of digital methods for both addressing a younger audience as well as their use in promoting more inclusive ways of exhibition making.

The presentations of projects should be limited to 30 mins, followed by a discussion of 15 mins. Please send titles and short abstracts till the 1st of april 2021 to: Ruth Schilling: schilling@dsm.museum or Robert Domzal: r.domzal@nmm.pl

We will keep in mind the possibility of publishing a documentation afterwards. Please let this cfp circulate to other museum colleagues. With respect to the Corona-Pandemy and with reguard to the subject of the workshop it will be held online. Tool and access will be distributed among the listed participants in advance.