Microgrants/RMS Titanic research in England

Overview

This is the first of two related microgrants I'm requesting (see Microgrants/RMS Titanic research in Northern Ireland for the other).

14/15 April 2012 is the centenary of the Titanic disaster. In advance of that, a number of editors, including myself, are working on articles relating to the ship and the disaster. Sinking of the RMS Titanic is currently a Featured Article candidate, with the aim of getting it onto the Main Page on the anniversary day itself. Wikipedia's Titanic articles are likely to receive very high levels of usage as the anniversary approaches, as the disaster will be getting saturation coverage in books, TV programmes, films, media reports, exhibitions, events etc.

To support this work, I propose to carry out research in two locations in England, Southampton and Greenwich. The former was the headquarters of the white Star Line; it is where most of Titanic's crew came from and has a variety of memorials, archives and exhibitions on Titanic. The latter is the location of the National Maritime Museum, which has a very large archive of artefacts, memorabilia and papers relating to the sinking. The collection was donated by Walter Lord, the author of the 1950s book and film about the disaster, A Night To Remember.

Specific activities to be undertaken are:

• Research at Walter Lord Collection, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
• Research at Titanic Collection, Southampton Library, Southampton
• Research & photography at Titanic exhibition, Maritime Museum, Southampton
• Photography of key locations on Southampton Titanic Trail
• Visit and document new SeaCity Southampton museum (opens 10 April) and its Titanic exhibition

Budget

The estimated costs are as follows:

• Travel from London to Southampton — £25.80 x 2
• Museum admissions — £10
• Copy expenses — £13.40
• Total — £75.00

Timeline

The visits to Southampton will have to take place on two separate occasions — late February or early March (to allow time for the research to be processed on-wiki) and on 10 April (to attend the opening of the SeaCity museum and its Titanic exhibition). This will therefore require two London-Southampton journeys on different days. It is impractical to do everything on the same day and a two-day trip would require an overnight stay, which would work out more expensive than making two journeys.

The visit to Greenwich can take place any time. There are no travel or admission costs associated with this portion, but I have requested a small sum to help with the cost of copying documents, where required.

Expected outcomes

• Improved coverage of the RMS Titanic and related articles in time for the 100th anniversary on 14/15 April 2012, particularly to support becoming a Featured Article on the Main Page on the anniversary day itself
• Improved articles on museums that will be visited
• Expansion of image resources on Commons related to the Titanic and Southampton, as well as the museums and archives to be visited
• (Possibly) Improved relationship between Wikimedia and the museums involved?

Who I am

Some of you know me already. I've been a contributor to the GLAM project for some time and I have a solid track record of writing featured articles and DYKs, some of which I've been able to illustrate with my own photography (e.g. Inner German border, Battle of Vukovar, Murder of Julia Martha Thomas (which is likely to be on the Main Page next month)). I'm a frequent contributor to the Commons as well (see uploads) and regularly undertake museum visits to document particular topics or artifacts (see Hallaton Helmet for a recent example). Prioryman 22:00, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Discussion

Note: please see the related discussion at Microgrants/RMS Titanic research in Northern Ireland.

This microgrant has been approved. Thanks. Mike Peel 18:10, 16 February 2012 (UTC)