South Street Seaport Museum Announces Expanded And Enhanced, Free Collections Online Portal

South Street Seaport Museum has announced the expansion of its Collections Online Portal, featuring an enhanced user experience and the digitization of 1,000 additional objects from various collections within the Museum's holdings.

The Collections Online Portal now provides free online access to nearly 5,000 items from the Museum's extensive collections of over 28,500 objects from the 17th century to the 21st century, allowing digital visitors from around the globe to browse, research, and enjoy New York City's rich maritime past through the works of art, historical artifacts, and archival collections of the Seaport Museum. This digital offering from the Seaport Museum is available free and provides unlimited, global access to cultural heritage. seaportmuseum.org//about-the-collection

Enhanced User Experience

The Seaport Museum is partnering with Collector Systems to bring an enhanced online experience through the updated cloud-based collections management database. This robust upgrade offers better organization and presentation of data and images, more detailed object documentation, and a comprehensive search feature, making it easier for all users to access and explore the Museum's collections.

The updated menu features sorting and grouping by "Objects," with 4,575 individual items; "Artists," with 330 artists entries with selected biographies and works; "Highlights," with 25 groups of items and collections; and current and past "Exhibitions." Additionally, the enhanced search offers a more intuitive path for users to dive deeper into specific interests and explore each category more thoroughly. These latest updates ensure a more engaging and accessible experience for everyone interested in the Seaport Museum's vast and diverse collections.

The Museum first began to digitize its collections in 2016 and launched the Collections Online Portal in 2021. Since then, thousands of items have been digitized and added to the Portal, across five releases, now reaching nearly 5,000 pieces of art and history that have been made accessible to web-based visitors.

The digitization of the Seaport Museum's collections and archives is ongoing, with more collections and records of past exhibitions slated to be added to the Collections Online Portal regularly.

Expanded Online Access to Seaport Museum Collections

With the transition to the enhanced platform, the Seaport Museum is also releasing over 1,000 newly digitized objects to the Collections Online Portal. Among the many items digitized, two new collections include:

Robert Warner Works on Paper Collection (300 objects)

This collection encompasses a series of collages, paper sculptures, and letterpress ephemera representing the creative endeavors of Robert Warner (1956-2023), former shopkeeper and master printer at Bowne & Co., Stationers. His works on paper feature visual elements from the Museum's typography collection, as well as vintage postcards, tintypes and cabinet cards, stamps, and many other found objects. Warner's work brings together traces of New York's economic history, images of famous locales, and the art of other prominent photographers and illustrators. collectionsonline.seaportmuseum.org/group-detail/?dataId=26771

Capt. Frank Ley Photograph Collection (218 objects)

This collection contains the photographs of Frank Ley (1905-unknown), a Hungarian sailor who left home at the age of 14 to become part of the last generation of mariners to sail the world on tall sailing ships. These photographs and negatives depict the daily lives and activities of sailors aboard tall ships in the 1920s-1940s. They show the mundanity of life on ships and the chores that the sailors were responsible for, as well as the ceremonies, recreation, and exploration sailors undertook to keep themselves entertained on their long journeys.

collectionsonline.seaportmuseum.org/group-detail/?dataId=26767

About the Collections

The collections and archives of the South Street Seaport Museum document the rise of New York as a port city, and its role in the development of the economy and business of the United States through social and architectural landscapes through over 28,000 works of art and historical artifacts, and over 80,000 archival materials.

The Museum collects objects and historic records for the purpose of documenting the commerce, work, and people that have contributed to the history of New York City's world port. In addition, holdings include items related to the environment and physical structure of New York Harbor, including its waterways, historic sites, shipyards, and piers. The Museum also collects artifacts that promote representation and tell stories of the people and the vessels that have connected New York to the rest of the world.

The permanent collection includes works of art and historical artifacts primarily used for exhibitions and research. These include fine art such as paintings, drawings and watercolors, and prints and lithographs spanning from the 18th-20th centuries depicting New York City's waterfront and landmarks, renowned vessels, the American Civil War, topics from popular culture, and marine subjects from around the world. Archival and Special Collections include photographs and rare books, plus everyday paper-based objects such as invoices, newspaper clippings, postcards, trade cards, menus, programs, tickets, broadsides, music sheets, and advertisements, as well as tattoo art, collages, vintage toys and games. The Museum's working collection includes ship parts and gear on board the tall ship Wavertree, and more than a dozen mid-19th to mid-20th century printing presses, alongside one of the largest collections of antique moveable type in the country housed in the Bowne & Co. printing offices. The remains of the old hotels inside Schermerhorn Row, which includes a corridor of rooms from the Rogers' Hotel and Dining Saloon and the remains of the Fulton Ferry Hotel's laundry room and shaft, are an unusual addition to the Museum's collection. A robust Institutional Archive and a well-regarded Maritime Reference Library are also a part of the collection.