Humberside

Archivist Michael Ewen examines some of the items

An historic maritime archive has been handed over to Hull's History Centre.

The collection was owned by the Mission to Seafarers, which provides welfare services and spiritual support for sailors in 230 ports worldwide.

It stretches back over 150 years, and features: film footage, photographs, reports and personal documents.

The material is housed in over 500 boxes and runs into thousands of individual items.

The History Centre already had some documents from the Mission to Seafarers. The organisation wanted to bring it all together under one roof, and so donated the rest.

The comprehensive nature of the material makes it ideal for researching maritime history, as archivist Michael Ewen explained:

"It's a really significant collection. It gives so much insight into the work of the Mission, but also the social aspects of ports."

The centre is in the process of cataloguing the collection. They hope to have material available to the public early next year.

Hull History Centre opened in January this year. The £7.7m facility houses the city archives and significant collections from Hull University.

Amongst the holdings are documents and artefacts from local writers Philip Larkin and Winifred Holtby.

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