South Street Seaport Museum Expands Online Collection

A thousand new objects were added to the South Street Seaport Museum’s Collections Online Portal on Aug. 27, bringing the online collection’s total to 5000 free pieces ranging from the 17th century to today.

This set of 1000 objects was digitized and uploaded online, and, according to a press release from the museum, “is available free and provides unlimited, global access to cultural heritage.”

In addition, the museum reports an “enhanced user experience” on the site, working with Collections Online to incorporate an “updated cloud-based collections management database” for the works.

This database allows for sorting and filtering, making researching with the collection’s extensive array of pieces far more accessible than it had been since its creation in 2021.

“The digitization of the Seaport Museum’s collections and archives is ongoing, with more collections and records of past exhibitions slated to be added to the Collections Online Portal regularly,” the press release reads.

The museum highlighted two of the mini-collections that help make up the newly added 1000 objects, those being the “Robert Warner Works on Paper Collection” and the “Capt. Frank Ley Photograph Collection.”

The former’s 300 objects, including collages, letterpress, and paper sculptures by Robert Warner which, the museum’s press release wrote, “[bring] together traces of New York’s economic history, images of famous locales, and the art of other prominent photographers and illustrators.”

The latter’s 218 objects are, as the name suggests, photographs by Hungarian soldier Capt. Frank Ley taken between the 1920s and 1940s. “They show the mundanity of life on ships and the chores that the sailors were responsible for, as well as the ceremonies, recreation, and exploration sailors undertook to keep themselves entertained on their long journeys,” the press release reads.

The online database is available for free at collectionsonline.southstreetseaportmuseum.org.