Dundee Whaling History Project

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In January 2008 Museums Galleries Scotland awarded "recognised status" to Dundee's Whaling and Art Collections. To achieve Recognition status, Dundee Art Galleries and Museums had to demonstrate the uniqueness, authenticity, comprehensiveness, and national value of the Whaling and Art collections.

In March 2009 funding was awarded to Dundee Art Galleries and Museums to undertake the Dundee Whaling History Project. This project will help to ensure that the Whaling collection, as a Recognised collection, is cared for, protected, and promoted to a wider audience.

Enquiries about whaling in Dundee are very common, but currently the public are presented with a complicated path to finding out the information they want to know. The Dundee Whaling History project will research thoroughly the Whaling collection, and record this research in a way that makes it far more accessible to the public.

The Museum will be working with Dundee Library and Information Services, Dundee City Council Archive and Record Centre, and University of Dundee Archive Services, because significant information about Dundee's whaling heritage is held by these organisations. The project will collate the information available in the four organisations, and make it easier for the public to understand what information is available, where they can access it, and how.

The project will ease access to information about the whaling ships, their crews, and their catches. It will be simpler to find out about the careers of Whaling captains, and ship owners.