Interested in learning about or seeing a photograph of a vessel used in the Great Lakes from 1815 to 1980? An Internet-accessible database now makes this historical information easily available to researchers and members of the public.
"What's nice for users is that it's fairly easy to search and there are a lot of different ways to search. You can get basic information very quickly," says Bob Graham, archivist for the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
The Great Lakes Vessels Online Image Database became accessible in 2001. Researchers, coastal managers, academics, and members of the public are all using the electronic database, which was funded in part by the Ohio Coastal Management Program.
"This is the best site on the Web when it comes to Great Lakes vessel research," says Kate Thompson, cultural resource specialist for the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve in Michigan. "What Bowling Green has is state of the art. They were the first group to put this information on the Web."
Before the Internet
Over a period of about 35 years, Graham says, collections staff researched information on more than 8,000 vessels, typed the information, and put the sheets in binders. More than 90,000 images of vessels—the largest collection of its kind on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes—also were archived.
"The problem was accessing the material," Graham says. "We had a large and valuable collection of information, but you couldn't access that material any place but in our facility."
Not only was finding information inconvenient for researchers and members of the public, but it was a burden on the collections staff, who were "constantly having to refer to these data sheets, many times looking up information on the same vessels, photocopying and mailing them. It was very time consuming," Graham explains.
Technology Catches Up
For years, Graham says, he was looking for a way to create a basic electronic vessel database that didn't even include images. Time, money, and ease of use all seemed to stand in his way. It wasn't until technology evolved to the point where "scanning became a straightforward desktop operation" that the desired elements started coming together.
Graham began by determining the database's basic design. Potential users throughout the region were polled about what type of information should be included and how the site should work. With this information in hand, he began looking for funding sources.
Grants from the National Maritime Heritage Grants Program of the National Park Service and the Ohio Coastal Management Program allowed him to hire a data entry person and student workers, as well as purchase a scanner and a computer workstation.
Over about 18 months, data and metadata on 8,200 vessels were entered and proofread. Searchable data fields include the vessel name, year it was built, official number, registry, rig, hull material, builder, length, width, depth, gross tonnage, and number of masts. Other information provided includes significant events that involved the vessel and its ultimate disposition.
Images also were sorted, selected, and scanned. Only 6,400 images were selected for the site, due to image quality.
Once the data entry was complete, the database was transferred to a computer expert who then wrote a customized script to convert it to a Web-based search engine. The search engine was designed to allow maximum flexibility in searching while still maintaining rapid record retrieval.
"When I first saw the completed product," Graham says, "I almost jumped out of my seat."
Logging On
Kate Thompson says she uses the site frequently as she researches the 39 known shipwrecks that are protected by the marine sanctuary's boundaries, as well as the 60 or 70 that history records went down in the area.
"When I'm doing research, I first go to Bowling Green's Web site, and I compare other things I find with Bowling Green," she says. "It is just an excellent resource. I really wish other libraries would do the same."
She notes that the scientific team from the Institute of Exploration also has used the database in its work to explore and document the sanctuary's shipwrecks.
Graham says, "More and more when we get requests for information, they reference what they found on the database. Now they are able to do some of the introductory research themselves, and it helps them ask better questions of the other materials here."
Over time, he says, the content of the Web site should improve as they are able to link relevant data sets, such as census data and shoreline changes, that are maintained by other organizations.
"The issue is not whether the information has value, but how do we put it together to work well for a broad range of users? I see the future value of these data sets being the potential for linking them, which will provide quick access to large amounts of data."
Graham adds, "From my point of view, it's an added bonus that these kinds of materials have uses that I hadn't imagined."
To view the Great Lakes Vessels Online Image Database, point your browser to www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/hcgl/vessel.html. For more information on the site, you may contact Bob Graham at (419) 372-9612 or rgraham@bgnet.bgsu.edu. For more information on Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary's research, contact Kate Thompson at (989) 356-8805 or Kate.Kauffman@noaa.gov.
