Mariners Museum Jerry Conrad in From the Club

[Bill Basler]

There has been a bit of buzz recently about the current state of affairs at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA, specifically as it relates to Jerry Conrad no longer being with the Museum.

For those of you who may not be familiar, the Mariners' Museum has in their Library, the Chris-Craft Collection of historic Chris-Craft documents. Some of these documents are rare, while others are not as rare. The collection spans the period of time from the early 20s through the early to mid 80s. This collection is important to us all, as there are a number of items specific to the collection that do not exist elsewhere, namely hull cards, and construction information.

Recall, about a year ago, many of us discussed that the Chris-Craft Collection was being moved from the Mariners' Museum campus across the way to Christopher Newport University. After a fairly lengthy period of downtime, the collection was once again accessible in its new home, in the last weeks of 2008 in its new location.

See this topic for a refresher: http://www.chris-craft.org/discussion/v ... hristopher

Back in February of 2009, I receive a call from a new hire at the Mariners' Museum, Steven Brecker, Director, Business Development. I had a few conversations with Mr. Brecker about what we have been doing with our own online archive. He was very eager to learn more, as he was charged with figuring out ways to better utilizing their collections. The short story of this is that we talked about many ways that we could collaborate, in an effort to getting the Mariners' Museum's Chris-Craft collection more accessible, perhaps returning more revenue to the Museum, tying up less staff resources. Our discussion was music to his ears. He was very eager to continue developing strategy.

One of my dreams has been to digitize all of the hull cards. There are well over 100,000. Honestly, from a technology standpoint, this club can make this happen. All we need is to share a common goal, secure the funds to do so. How the whole program gets monetized on the web is another issue, but it could be quite possible to recoup the investment in not too many years.

Given these discussions, I placed a call or tow, and an email or two, to Jerry Conrad. I am not sure I ever received a call back, but admittedly, they were swamped with inquiries after their move. Every month or so, I would drop Jerry an email expressing my desire to talk. I was willing to fly out to Newport News and have a face-to-face meeting if necessary. We didn't get too far.
Flash forward to just a couple of months ago. Brian Robinson has been working on some research relative to Capris, and 20' post war Custom Runabouts. Brian and I were mutually working on a request from the Museum for some hull card data on these models. Brian placed the request with Jerry. Some time later we all learned that Jerry was no longer with the Museum. It was a surprise to me and others, I am sure.

In an effort to find out where this research request stood, I started making some calls to the Museum. Specifically I spoke with Allen Bobbe, a Museum volunteer, and Jim Hooker, another volunteer. After a call to Jerry, we found out that the request had been started but just needed to be finished out. The work is now complete, thanks to these two volunteers finishing the project.

From one of these contacts, it was confirmed that Jerry, is indeed, no longer with the Museum. I did not hear that he was let go, nor did I learn that he quit. Honestly, I don't feel that is much of my business, other than he is no longer there.

My contact informed me that Jerry's role was now going to be filled by Mary Sellen, Chief Librarian for the library at Christopher Newport University. I got the feeling that this might have been a belt tightening, financial decision. This is my opinion, however.

In a few follow up calls to Steve Brecker, their relatively new Director of Business Development, I learned that he, also, was no longer with the Museum. His exit could have been due to one of many reasons, so again I cannot speculate what is going on.

I do know that the Mariners' Museum has played a pretty critical role in the protection of Chris-Craft history. These documents could have very likely met the dumpster, had the Mariner' Museum not stepped in to take care of them.

Since the records have been at the Museum, they have been moderately accessible, have been very well handled, and preserved. This is a very important thing.

for our newer members, it is hard to imagine the extensiveness of this collection. Some say it was 2.5 semi loads of documents. Others say 4 semi loads. Either way. it is enough ephemera to fill a very good size building, so the protection of the docs has been no small feat.

Where are we today? Well, I don't know. I will be calling Ms. Sellen this next week. My hope is that she is cordial and eager to collaborate.

I learned from one Museum employee that the number of research requests has been going down for a couple of years now, and that they only get a few requests a day by phone or mail. He assumed that there was probably less interest in these old boats, and that no one was restoring them anymore.

This is a fairly naive statement, but it is honest, and accurate based on what he knows. I was quick to point out that I do not think that this is the case, and perhaps the drop in requests was due to other issues.

I hope that we will be able to make our case for cooperation with the Museum, and get these records, more accessible than ever.

We know their target market better than anyone. In fact , we ARE their target market.

Let's hope for the best.

[Oberon01]

Just a comment on the diminished number of requests - I wonder if it is not due to this information already having been obtained for many of the restored boats? I have no idea of the number of boats being restored for the "first" time by hobbyists, but I would think that overall, fewer boats are being restored for the first time, as there seems to be no shortage of supply of already restored examples of most boats on the market.

At some point, there will be very few boats being restored for the first time, as the passage of time will have reduced the supply of these "survivors" greatly. I am sure that many hobbyists have availed themselves of hull card information already, and as the boats are bought and sold over the years, there is simply no need to replace information already in hand, unless it is lost.

This probably applies mostly to ordinary hull cards, not detailed requests for archival research.

[Al Benton]

Paul,

What you say may be true to a certain extent but the current state of the economy may be having an affect on the quantity of research packages being ordered these days as well. It's possible that it's a combination of both.

This may be a good time for the museum to look for new ways to present their collection that may boost interest in it. As Bill points out, an extremely high percentage of folks interested in the collection are the members of the Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club, thus, we represent the very market potential of the collection to the museum.

Through a collaborative effort or partnership, if you will, between the museum and this club, interest and marketing potential of the collection could indeed be boosted with considerably less effort and expense on the part of the museum.

If we represent the potential market for the collection then the museum might consider accepting an offer to help present their collection in a more marketable fashion through our club's established means of communications.

Al

[Don Vogt]

Thanks, bill, for the update. Odd. Might it be a good time for the club to make a contribution to the museum to get a new arrangement off on a good foot?

[Scalrik]

With this news, as a new CCABC member, I now understand why I never got a response from the Mariner's Museum re: my '50 Express Cruiser, purchased July,'08.

Maybe I should let them know that there ARE new guys coming in and they ARE restoring the old girls.

Bill, please keep us posted; and any info you can give me on who to contact now about hull X50-310, would certainly be appreciated.

Scot Kienzlen

[Al Benton]

Scot,

Several folks just lately have been receiving research packages from the museum. They are still very interested in doing this service for folks like us. Give them another call at (800) 565-6846 or (757) 591-7785. Best time of day to call is 9:00 AM eastern time.

Al

[Bill Basler]

This is a bit of a spoiler for your upcoming Brass Bell, which should be to all of you very soon. Of course the developments at the Mariners' Museum have been a concern to us all, and I think we could all be guilty of fearing what ewe don't know.

I can tell you that I have had numerous conversations with the newly appointed head of the Mariners' Museum Library, Mary Sellen. We have a great relationship going, and I think there will be some exciting developments with the Chris-Craft Collection in the future. It is a bit premature to tell exactly what those developments will be, but I am pretty pleased with what has been discussed thus far.

Until we learn more about future direction, Mary Sellen offered me this recap of Museum services This should get you all going with your research requests.

CHRIS-CRAFT NEWS FROM THE MARINERS’ MUSEUM, NEWPORT NEWS VIRGINIA
Mary Sellen, the new Library Director for the Mariners’ Museum Library reports that Jerry Conrad, along with other staff members of the Mariners' Museum, were unfortunately let go because of the economic situation the Museum currently faces. However, three research staff are still employed to fill all research requests. The Library intends to keep a high level of service for all your Christ-Craft needs.

Materials at the library current available for delivery:
· Boat Equipment Records, popularly termed "hull cards," are primary sources of information. Details such as hull number, model, engine type, paint color, upholstery, place of construction, original dealer, and other hardware features are contained on these cards.
· More than 25,000 black and white photographs in the collection depict early boat construction, dealer showrooms, marine engine productions, and celebrity Chris-Craft owners, as well as the many models of runabouts and cruisers produced by the company.
· A nearly complete collection of sales catalogs, price lists, & boat and engine manuals provides accurate data on boat styling, pricing, and general specifications.
Research
Chris-Craft staff search the company archives to prepare research packages tailored to a specific Chris-Craft boat. The research is based upon the Chris-Craft hull identification number and/or the original engine serial number. If you would like to order a research package, you must provide the hull number. Failure to do this will necessitate additional correspondence and delay your research, since the Chris-Craft Corporation filed the permanent record of each boat, by this number.

A research package consists of photocopies of the following types of primary documents, depending upon the quantity of archival information available for a specific boat.

Boat equipment record "Hull Card"
Sales literature
Original price sheet
Black and white production photographs
Engine information
A list of technical drawings
A list of wiring diagrams
A prepaid non-refundable fee of $30 is required. The Museum member rate is $25 per research package. For prepayment of research fees, mail a check or money order from a U.S. Bank or supply us with a credit card number (Visa, MasterCard, or American Express) and the expiration date.

You can order a research package using any of the following methods:

Complete the online Chris-Craft Research Request Form
Fax your request to (757) 591-7310, Attention: Chris-Craft Research
Call 1-(800) 565-6846 or (757) 591-7785, Monday-Friday, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.
Mail a written request to
Chris-Craft Research
The Mariners' Museum Library at Christopher Newport University
100 Museum Drive
Newport News, VA 23606
The research package contains instructions on how to order reproductions of technical drawings, black and white production photographs, color reproductions of sales literature, and copies of engine manuals, along with pricing information. For pricing information, contact the Chris-Craft staff at [email protected] or the phone numbers above.

Plans - prices vary and are based upon the size of the original drawings
Photographs -
black and white 8x10 - $20 ea.
black and white 11x14 - $25 ea.

Manuals - prices vary depending upon the number of pages
Color Reproductions of Sales Literature - prices vary
For more complete information see the Chris-CraftCollection web site at: http://www.mariner.org/library/chris-craft

[Scalrik]

What would guys like me do without guys like you?

Thank you again.

Scot Kienzlen

[dhubbs]

As a relatively new member, I originally ordered the basic research packet for my 1958 Corsair. It took a couple of e-mails and a phone call to get them going but when it finally arrived they were definitely worth the effort and time.

About 3 months ago, I ordered an electrical schematic and a repair manual for the engines. Again, it took several phone calls and a couple of e-mails to finally receive the schematic. Even after several follow-ups, have never received the manual - just asked them today to refund the money.

They are a great resource, hope you work something out.

Duane

[Al Benton]

Duane,

Thanks very much for your input on the subject and welcome to Boat Buzz, good to have you aboard.

This past year may have been a struggle for the volunteer staff in keeping track and in follow-up after Jerry left them. We hear of smooth, seamless transactions and of others like yours that was a little lumpy. I also have had difficulty getting an order filled. My problem was prolonged with an unclear voice-mail that I left with them.

These kinds of situations are difficult to keep a perfect track record when human error comes into play. This actually serves as another example to the advantage of an on-line archive such as our own that Bill Basler and his staff have created for us.

In simple terms, ours has preview pages that we (and anyone) can review to find a brochure, for example, with information on a particular boat that we would like to see in more detail. Members only can log-in, find the page, up-load a PDF file of the page in printer quality detail and print it at home. The world has access to the preview files but they are of such low quality that printing them is not possible.

Before the on-line archive was created the same service was available but it was very time consuming and somewhat prone to human error. Now, with the on-line archive you find exactly what you are looking for, up-load it and print it, if you are a member. I'm guessing it's done with 2 separate data bases, one that is fully accessible but is the preview version, of low-resolution and non-printable and the other protected database that has limited access by members logging in to gain access to files that are of printable quality.

All of the hard work that has gone into the Club's On-Line Archive works great for us. With the addition of a few more bells and whistles, high level security and secure payment methods our Archive system may serve to provide a workable system for providing on-line services to the Chris-Craft Archival Collection located at The Mariners' Museum Library.

More food for thought.

Al