Sea History 125 - Winter 2008-2009

Page 29

naval aspecrs, however, occupy just one of the floors and the scholarly dimensions of Perer Tamm's venture are impressive-the library holds abo ut 120,000 volum es and half a million photos, and the archi ve preserves abo ut 50,000 co nstruction plans of all rypes of vessels and 15,000 histo ric menus from passenger ships. These documents are a rich and largely untapped

so urce for historians and not to be found elsewhere. In bo th the size of the faciliry and its collections, the new International Maritime Museum dwarfs the German Shipping Museum in Bremerhaven, a statesupporred institution . At the museum's inauguration on 25 June 2008, German President Horst Koehler spoke of a "new lighthouse" that

will attract visitors to Hamburg, now reestablishing its identiry as a harbor ciry. The number of visitors flocking to the museum during the first weeks after the opening certai nl y fulfilled Peter Tamm's proud expectations. (Inrernari o nales Mari limes Museum Hamburg, Ko reastrasse 1, 20457 Hamburg, German y; www.inrernationalesmaritimes-museum .de). .:t

Tamm's ship model collection includes "bone ships" (above), miniature models (below) and the solid gold model of the Sa nta Maria (right).

Gernot Gabel grew up in Hamburg, earned an MA from the University ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill and a PhD from Rice University in Texas. He is the former deputy chief librarian at the University of Cologne library in Germany (until 2006) and lives in Cologne.

SEA HISTORY 125, WINTER 2008-09

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Sea History 125 - Winter 2008-2009 by National Maritime Historical Society & Sea History Magazine - Issuu