Hart Nautical Collections List

Atlantic Works Collection

The Atlantic Works, founded in 1853, built and repaired ships and engines at its plant in East Boston until about 1951. In 1946, George Webster, General Superintendent of Atlantic Works, gave a collection of 25 photographs to MIT. Subsequently, the Chief Engineer, Josiah P. Hayward, gave numerous drawings of Atlantic Works vessels to supplement plan material already in the collections. The drawings, roughly cataloged by contract number, are quite fragile, and in need of substantial conservation work.

William A. Baker Collection

In 1934, William A. Baker graduated from MIT with a degree in naval architecture and marine engineering. He was active in the American shipbuilding industry through World War II and up to the early 1960s. Best known as the designer of Mayflower II, which was built in England in 1955 for Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts, Baker was one of the most prominent maritime historians and historic replica ship and boat designers of his era. In his final career, Baker was Curator of the Hart Nautical Museum (prior to the merger with MIT Museum in 1982) from 1963 until his death in 1981. Baker's research and designs of American Colonial era vessels set a standard for thoroughness and precision that is still highly regarded today. In 1987, Mrs. William A. Baker gave the MIT Museum the bulk of Baker's design drawings, technical files, and related research notes. These materials augment previously-received drawings, photographic materials, and research files. This unique collection was retrospectively catalogued in 1991-92. A detailed finding aid is now available as a PDF file.

The Guide to the William A. Baker Collection (85 pages - 588 KB)

Bethlehem Steel Corporation

In 1980, Bethlehem Steel Corporation donated to MIT a large collection of plans and photographs related to the Quincy Yard. This collection consists of approximately 13,000 drawings and about 80,000 photographs and negatives. The drawings cover ships built from about 1900 to 1937, and the photographs cover the yard's history to 1963, when Bethlehem sold it to General Dynamics. There are also some pre-World War I business and technical records. In 2003, approximately 5,000 architectural and engineering plans relating to the yard layout and plant were added to the collection by a gift from the US Maritime Administration. This new material is inventoried and searchable in a database. Overall, the collection requires substantial retrospective cataloging. Until this work is completed, access to this material is limited.

Captain Arthur C. Clark Collection

The first major collection of material received by the Museum, the Clark Collection consists of marine artwork, books, plans, and half models. The 1,400 pieces of artwork include prints, lithographs, etchings, engravings, and photographs, mostly depicting American and British ships and yachts between 1850 and 1900. There are also many European prints from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries that illustrate Europe's shipbuilding history. Also included are approximately 400 books relating to ship design, maritime law, and yachting, including some rare works. The plans number roughly 300, the majority of which are printed material. This collection features a number of clipper ship plans, including contemporary lines drawings on heavy paper or linen. The 16 half models include some very fine examples of the modeler's art. Models and plans are both catalogued by name of vessel or subject.

Allan Forbes Whaling Collection

Given to MIT in 1940, this collection was gathered by Allan Forbes, Sr., while he was president of the State Street Trust Company. It consists of over 2,000 prints and paintings from several countries depicting whales, whaling, and whaling vessels, ranging from sixteenth-century Dutch engravings to nineteenth-century Japanese woodcuts. A small collection of rare books about whaling is also part of this collection. Cataloged by general subject and country of origin.

Charles H.W. Foster Collection

The Foster Collection was received in 1957 from the estate of Charles H. W. Foster, a well known yachtsman. The collection consists of 5 half models, 46 books, and approximately 4300 photographs by Stebbins, Jackson, and Peabody, depicting yachts and some commercial vessels between the years 1885 and 1930. Cataloged by vessel name, type and year.

General Dynamics - Quincy Shipyard Collection

When the Quincy, MA shipyard, which reopened in 1964, closed in 1986, General Dynamics gave MIT a large collection of photographic materials, printed matter, models, real estate records from the Bethlehem Steel era, manufacturing methods records, and apprentice school materials. Included are most of the shipyard's photographic archives, and training and marketing films and videotapes. This collection is not yet catalogued; access is restricted.

McInnis-Lawley Collection

Upon the closing of the George Lawley & Son Corporation of Neponset, MA, some of the company's plans were gathered together by Walter J. McInnis, who presented them to MIT in 1965. These working drawings, roughly 2,000 in number, are of yachts constructed by Lawley between 1910 and 1940 and are cataloged by both construction number and vessel name. There are approximately 10 half models at Hart Nautical from the Lawley yard that were given to MIT prior to the closing of the company in 1948.

Gordon Munro Collection

Gordon Munro was one of the first naval architects to experiment with the design of motor-sailors and was employed by George Lawley & Son yard for part of his career. In 1968 his widow gave his plan files, photographs and models to MIT. The plans, roughly 300 in number, are filed by design number and cataloged by both number and name.

George Owen Collection

George Owen graduated from MIT in 1894 and was a professor in the Institute's Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from 1915 to 1941. From 1901 until his death in 1959, he produced over 200 designs of yachts and commercial vessels. He was a highly successful designer of Universal Rule yachts and an expert yachtsman.

In 1999, the Museum completed a comprehensive cataloging project of the collection. Recently, substantial additional gifts relating to Owen have been presented to the MIT Museum. This material has been processed and integrated to produce a definitive guide listing 3,700 plans, photographs, and models related to Owen.

The Guide to the George Owen Collections is divided into five chapters in pdf format, containing 370 pages of item-level data:

• Introduction and List of George Owen's Designs (14 pages - 400 KB)
• Series I: The Plans (51 pages - 784 KB)
• Series II: Professional Papers and Photographs (135 pages - 1 MB)
• Series III: Models and Artifacts (42 pages - 448 KB)
• Series IV: Personal and Family Life Images (128 pages - 828 KB)

Frank C. Paine Collection

Frank C. Paine, one of the most important yacht designers of the first half of the twentieth century, was the son of General Charles J. Paine, an early benefactor of MIT's Department of Naval Architecture. Paine's work dovetails neatly with the material from the Lawley & Son yard, since many of his designs were built there, and Paine was company president for many years. After his death in 1952, 21 of his half models and about 2,300 plans were given to MIT. The plans are presently cataloged by both design number and vessel name.

Hart Nautical Library

The library contains approximately 3,000 volumes, including journals, rare books, and logs, and other unpublished items. The Bryant Collection makes up the majority of the rare volumes, with additions from the Forbes, Foster, and Clark Collections. Currently, the library is arranged into broad subject areas, including maritime history and literature, naval architecture, and marine engineering. At present no catalog exists for this collection.

Model Collection

Including the half models mentioned in the above collections, the total inventory of half models in the Hart Nautical Collections is approximately 270 half hulls. With the ship and boat models listed earlier, the total number of both full and half models in this collection represents about 370 ships and boat hulls. In addition to the above models, there are several steam engine models. The Model Collections have been retrospectively inventoried.

General Collection

Both the model and library collections above are composites of Hart General Collections and elements of the named collections above. The Hart General Collections are comprised of a wide variety of objects and archival materials acquired by individual gifts, bequests, purchases, and Institute transfers for more than 80 years. For example, the Hart Collections hold a large number of plans and photographs that have been transferred to Hart from MIT's Department of Naval Architecture over the years. A comprehensive inventory of the General Collections is underway.