Ewan Corlett Archive
Object number2017.05001
TitleEwan Corlett Archive
DescriptionEwan Corlett was one of the founding members of the SS Great Britain Project, which co-ordinated the ship's return from the Falkland Islands, its restoration and its opening as a visitor attraction. He was an expert on the ship's architecture, engineering and working history and author of the book 'The Iron Ship'. His papers related to the Great Britain Project contain
-Ewan Corlett’s personal research into the ss Great Britain, encompassing published lectures, primary source material, research correspondence, photographs.
-Correspondence between Ewan Corlett, other members of ss Great Britain Project and external parties regarding the salvage, acquisition or use of indigenous items from the ship.
-Personal testimony relating to the salvage and journey of the ss Great Britain from the Falklands, from various sources.
-Technical drawings/diagrams, specifications, reports and material analysis of the ss Great Britain, created by Ewan Corlett and others.
-Correspondence between Ewan Corlett, other members of ss Great Britain Project and external industrial or technical companies, offering, arranging or discussing work to be done to the body of the ship in restoration.
-Correspondence between Ewan Corlett, other members of ss Great Britain Project and external local authority or private organisations discussing or making arrangements for the permanent housing of the ss Great Britain and the museum.
-Media coverage of the ship’s return and the project surrounding it, including correspondence with outlets, such as BBC, relating to filming, rights, etc.
-Correspondence between Ewan Corlett, other members of ss Great Britain Project regarding fundraising opportunities, finances, meetings, staffing issues, souvenirs, external exhibitions, marketing etc.
-Documentation relating to the organisation of ss Great Britain Project e.g committee meetings agendas and minutes, financial projection reports, etc.
The Ewan Corlett personal archive entered the library in 2011, contained in 8 boxes; it was donated by Malcolm Corlett. The material was divided into folders and sub-folders, comprising Ewan Corlett’s filing and organization system, but there is no evidence that Corlett organized the material into boxes. The archive was inventoried and material dated in the year 1970 and before was extracted and is accessioned here. Congruent to the collections policy of the ss Great Britain Trust, all post-1970 material was sent to the modern archives on 08/03/2017, apart from sets of correspondence which transverse the 1970 cut off and two scrapbooks which are located in the library as resources. In the process of sorting, all boxes were assigned a number and all folders and subfolders a number within that. In cataloguing the pre-1970 material, Corlett’s original filing system has been kept, so that accession numbers replicate the folder and sub-folder system. This accounts for 32 folders/tubes and 41 subfolders.
For an illustrated guide to the folder heirarchy, please see the linked document in the Numbers/Relationships tab.
Object namearchive
Object categorycollection