|===============================================================| | Report on 1-2 May 1997 visit to the US National Archives and | | Records Administration (NARA), National Archives at College | | Park, MD (Archives II) to review 19th century Marine Journals | | S. Woodruff (NOAA/ERL/CDC), 4 June 1997 | |===============================================================| 1. Purpose of visit To review Record Group (RG) 27, Records of the Weather Bureau, Records of Marine Observations, Entry 127, Marine Meteorological Journals 1879-1893; and discuss options for reproduction of these records with NARA staff. This follows-up on two previous visits to the downtown Washington D.C. location (now Archives I) where these and other marine records were previously stored: in September 1989 (ref. memo of 27 October 1989), and March 1993 with Joe Elms (NOAA/NCDC). Journal No. 2 (Norwegian Bark Mediator) and No. 1770 (German ship Theodor Ruger) were examined and limited microfilm examples obtained during the 1989 and 1993 visits, respectively. The journal collection is under consideration as a candidate for digitization by China under a proposed new cooperative agreement in exchange for 30 years of global synoptic land station digital data to be supplied by NCAR and NCDC. 2. General background on the journal collection A Location Register obtained in 1989 referred to the collection as containing 1,955 bound volumes (135 feet) from 1878-1893. During that visit, journal No. 2 was examined, resulting in the following description of the format: "Leather-bound, 3/4" thick, landscape-orientation, 11.5" x 9" volume... A lengthy introduction section, including example journal pages with fictitious data printed in red.... Journal filled with genuine 2-hourly observations.... Stamped in red with barometer correction and 'Records transcribed at Pittsburgh, PA, 1933-34,' and with additional data interpretation marks in red pencil." Marjorie Ciarlante of the Archives II, Textual Reference Branch, has been very helpful in preparations for this and the previous visits, including providing additional documentation concerning these and other records from the Weather Bureau. The journals were transferred to the National Archives from the Weather Bureau in 1936, described by an Identification Inventory documenting that accession as follows: "Marine Division. Log Books containing extracts of logs of oceangoing ships from 1879 to 1893. Accompanying the log books are three boxes containing a card index of the books, each card giving the name of the ship, master, route, dates en route, and the number assigned to the book. The log books were received from the U.S. Hydrographic Office about thirty years ago when the meteorological work of that office was transferred to the Weather Bureau. The log books were kept by the Master or another official designated by him and the information was sent to the Hydrographic Office where it was used for making up pilot charts and studying weather conditions. It is interesting to note that for a long period these books were sent to Lieutenant M.F. Maury, 'Pathfinder of the Seas,' at the Naval Observatory." Documents relating to the later (1938) transfer of the Maury Collection, shed some additional light on the journal Collection. A Memorandum documenting the accession of the Maury Collection states: "To secure information to perfect his charts, Maury devised in 1848 an 'Abstract Log for the Use of American Navigators," which...resulted in a number of the logs contained in the [Maury] collection listed for transfer, as well as in the logs deposited with the National Archives in 1936 [i.e., the journal collection]." Furthermore, a 6 December 1937 Weather Bureau memo states: "On August 19, 1936 the U.S. Weather Bureau sent to the National Archives 1912 log-books of ships on the Atlantic, Pacific, and other oceans in the 19th century, mostly between 1879 and 1893. At that time the Weather Bureau had 523 additional [Maury Collection] log-books of earlier periods (1796 to about the middle of the 19th century) which had not been listed. Since then these additional logbooks have been examined, listed and indexed as part of a W.P.A. project at New Orleans, La..... They should be considered part of the collection previously deposited, although these 523 books are of earlier dates and for that reason of greater value than those deposited in 1936." 3. Examination results Prior to the visit, Marjorie was kind enough to pull 24 boxes providing 125 sample journals from the beginning (boxes 1-8), middle (221-228), and end (371-378) of the Collection. The entire collection is stored in 378 boxes, with journal numbers apparently ranging from 2 through 3936 (assuming the journals are ordered in increasing numeric order throughout), and with many gaps in the journal numbering sequence. Journal number 2 was renumbered from 1825 as shown in the photocopy of its cover included in my 1987 memo (Table 1, footnote ##, discusses one other numbering problem). It is not known whether more journals might have existed at one time to fill in the numeric sequence (e.g., unused, or not returned by mariners). Some journals are also numbered differently, e.g., 1945 no. 1, 1945 no. 2, 1946 no. 1 (from 5 February 1997 discussion with Marjorie). Based on the samples examined, each box generally contains five or six journals, thus providing approximate verification for the reported count of 1,955 (or 1,912) volumes, e.g., 378 * 5.5 = ~2000 journals. Due to a lack of time, it was not possible to examine all 125 journals in detail. However, I obtained an approximate inventory of observational records for each of 121 journals (inadvertently omitting this step for four journals as noted below). In general the format of the portions of the journal that would require digitization (the ship's instrumentation and observational records) appeared to be identical or nearly identical in appearance, except for some non-standard additions or deviations by individual mariners as discussed below. The organization of potentially important pages in the journal is as follows (Appendix K of my 1989 memo provides an example of most of these features): a) Binding edge: with the ship name and journal number written on it. b) Cover. This sometimes contained a label for the ship name, captain, etc. In other cases, information about the quality of the log was written here by later transcribers of the data. c) Blank page inside cover. For some logs, this page had a (excellent, very good, good, fair, etc.) written in it by later transcribers of the data, including someone's initials (will be referred to as "QC rating"). d) Title page. Gives the journal edition year, under the Government Printing Office. e) List of sailing charts (left-hand) and Instruments (right-hand page). f) Observations for determining the local deviation of the compass (left-hand page). I can't recall seeing any examples of this being filled out. Extensive instructions (right-hand page 5, through page 17), plus some illustration/etc. pages not numbered. g) Secondary title page and fictitious data ("sample columns, filled as they should be, are given on the first day's opening of this journal") in red. h) Pages for 89 days of data. Some variations in the total number of pages were found, but 89 seemed to be the standard number (i.e., making the journal cover 90 days with one fictitious day). A day's data consisted of two facing pages: The left-hand page contained the observed data at 2-hourly local times (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 a.m. and p.m.). The right-hand page contained an abbreviated re-iteration of instructions, plus space for "Particulars of the weather during the day" (remarks). Note that 89 days * 12 = 1068 records as the default maximum. i) Sometimes later transcribers pasted a separate piece of paper ("QC note") inside the journal pages, or wrote inside the journal ("QC annotation") with information about the journal and data quality, or transcription instructions. Four different editions or publication dates were represented in the 24 boxes: 1878, 1883, 1884, and 1886 (journals 2 and 1770, from the 1989 and 1993 visits, were both the 1883 edition). The date of the edition was obtained from the bottom of the inside title page. Page 17 of the instructions was also dated, with a month and year which only in the case of the 1886 edition differed from the year recorded on the title page (i.e., 1884, thus the instructions may be identical to that of the 1884 edition). Differences between the different editions were found in the Instructions, plus minor differences in the Instruments page. No differences were noted in the data pages. We plan to obtain a representative copy (on microfilm) of a full journal from each of these editions to make more careful inter-comparisons, to have a full copy of the instructions from each known edition, and for possible use in initiating preparations for digitization. Additional editions might be encountered in other portions of the collection not yet examined. Tables 1-3 summarize the inventory results for 125 journals examined, including estimated observational counts for 121 journals. Except for a few journals that were more carefully examined, estimates were obtained by a very quick scan through the journal to find wholly or partially missing pages, and thus are likely subject to some uncertainty and error. The last line of each table includes an average observational count per journal. Calculating the mean of those three values yielded an overall average of ~904 observational records per journal. A similar value was obtained by creating the grand total count across all three tables (109375), and dividing by 121. In general, the ordering of the journals appeared to be roughly chronological by journal edition, and thus likely also the data entered in them. Note that some journals outside the nominal 1879-1893 time period were discovered (e.g., 1878 in box 1 and 1895 and 1873-1874 in box 378). In several journals there was a tendency to enter instrumental (e.g., pressure and temperature) data 4-hourly (4, 8, 12 a.m. and p.m.), but wind data 2-hourly. The journals with their elaborate instructions including example data printed in red and illustrations were presumably relatively expensive. Thus mariners may have been encouraged or inclined to fill them out fully. This appeared to be the case, as in several cases blank pages at the end of journals were utilized to continue the journal through hand-written versions of the regular forms or in abbreviated (e.g., once daily) form. In other cases loose pages were inserted into the middle of the lookbook, thus adding data. Passages of a given ship in some cases continued from one journal to another. In one such case the instrumental details were not filled out in the second journal (this factor would need to be accommodated in digitization-related activities). My examination found the paper in the journals of high quality and not subject to noticeable disintegration (this is not a knowledgable assessment, however). In contrast, the bindings were deteriorating to the extent that going through each journals left a small pile of debris as a result. Table 1. Inventory of boxes 1-8. Box and journal numbers are listed, plus the edition year ("Ed.," obtained from the bottom of the inside title page), an estimated count of the number of (generally 2-hourly) observational records (or "?" if no estimate was obtained), and any comments noted about the journal. The "Total" line provides a) the total number of boxes, b) in parentheses the number of boxes for which an estimated observation count was obtained, c) the total estimated observational records for the eight boxes, and d) the average observational count per box based on dividing c) by b). The presence of some current and wet bulb temperature is indicated for boxes 1-3, only. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Box Journal Ed. Est. Comments =============================================================================== 1 2 1883 1050* Cur=no WBT=no Jul 87-Dec 87 Cover info. 4 1878 1052 Cur=yes WBT=yes Apr 80-Sep 80 No cover info. 6 " 1038 Cur=no WBT=yes Oct 78-Jan 79 Plus loose forms. 7 " 960 Cur=yes WBT=yes Oct 79-Mar 80 Pg. 15 ripped out. 14 " 1068 Cur=no WBT=no Oct 78-Feb 79 Cont'd beyond end. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 18 1878 1049 Cur=yes WBT=no Oct 78-Feb 79 QC note inside. 23 " 617 Cur=yes WBT=no Jun 79-May 79 Misprint. data e.g. 30 " 1047 Cur=yes WBT=yes Dec 79-Mar 80 31 " 449 Cur=yes WBT=yes Mar 80-Sep 80 33 " ? Cur=yes WBT=yes Oct 78-Jan 79 QC annotation.** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 36 1878 996 Cur=no WBT=yes Apr 79-Oct 79 52 " 1062 Cur=yes WBT=yes Jul 80-Sep 80 59 " 948 Cur=yes WBT=no Nov 78-Apr 79 61 " 1068 Cur=no WBT=yes Nov 78-Jul 79 4-hourly/QC annot.# 672## " 1068 Cur=yes WBT=yes Jan 81-May 81 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 67 1878 356 QC annotation on cover. Location errors.### 68 " 1068 QC annot., and note by Captain ff. last data pg. 92 " 1068 QC note. 93 " 648 94 " 1068 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 96 1878 948 Started by one ship and continued by another. 97 " 1083 103 " 1008 Last right-hand page ripped out. 104 " 1008 106 " 588 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 110 1878 1008 Winds 2-hourly, SLP and attm thermometer 4-hourly. 111 " 1008 112 " 1044 113 " 180 Most of book empty. 114 " 1068 120 " 1068 Wind and SLP only. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 121 1878 1068 Part of book very light ink. 125 " 1008 "Wrapper" from Hydro. Office for mailing data. 126 " 1044 SLP and AT sporadically observed. 129 " 534 Note (~3 Dec 1878) explains journal not later kept. 135 " 1068 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 138 1878 948 Except for wind, data are 4-hourly. 141 " 948 142 " 1008 Logbook continued past end, with captain's notes. 143 " 1068 Large batch of loose sheets in middle w/ more data. 144 " ? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total: 41 (39) 36385 (avg: 933/journal) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * The 1989 memo indicated 108 days filled with data (i.e., 1296 records), but this appears to have been an overestimate. ** Annotations refer to this journal as a "badly kept," and give instructions on disregarding some data elements (except wind). Overuse of ditto marks and problems with "distance travelled." # Barometer and temperature observations are limited to 4-hourly, whereas wind is observed 2-hourly. On 21 Jan 1879, the transcriber's annotation is made "wind force is not accurately estimate; otherwise data seem reliable. Omit mag obs, currents, and oscillations of Bar. Compile other items on back of blanks; enter sea water at noon on little squares. Rule hours. J.A.L." ## This journal was incorrectly numbered 67 on the box. This has been corrected as indicated in a 19 May 1997 e-mail from Marjorie: "box no. 3, 'Clementina,' should be #672 (as originally marked). I have placed the logbook where it belongs in box 33 and annotated the card index with the correct vessel number." ### "This log is perfectly worthless...." N and W omitted from locations by observer (added in by transcriber). ---------- Table 2. Inventory of boxes 221-228 (as for Table 1). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Box Journal Ed. Est. Comments =============================================================================== 221 2322 1884 1008 Courses, etc. not filled out. 2323 " 768 4-hourly data. 2327 " 828 2330 " 1008 2331 " 534 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 222 2332 1884 828 2333 " 1008 2336 " 1008 2337 " 356 2338 " 1068 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 223 2339 1884 1068 2340 " 1068 2341 " 534 2342 " 1068 2348 " 1068 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 224 2349 1884 948 2350 " 1068 2354 " 534 QC rating: bad. 2355 " 1068 QC rating: excellent. 2356 " 1068 QC rating: excellent ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 225 2360 1884 828 QC rating: good. 2361 " 1068 QC rating: good. 2362 " 1068 QC rating: good. 2363 " 356 QC rating: good. 2364 " 1068 QC rating: fair. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 226 2366 1884 828 QC rating: poor. 2367 " 948 QC rating: fair. 2368 " 1008 QC rating: good. 2369 " 1044 QC rating: very good. 2370 " 1044 QC rating: very good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 227 2371 1884 1068 QC rating: very good. 2378 " 356 QC rating: fair; incomplete. 2379 " 1044 QC rating: good. 2380 " 1044 QC rating: good. 2385 " 1044 QC rating: good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 228 2386 1884 534 QC rating: poor. 2387 " 828 QC rating: good. 2388 " 1044 QC rating: fair. 2389 " 948 QC rating: good. 2390 " 712 QC rating: fair. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total: 40 (40) 35788 (avg: 895/journal) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table 3. Inventory of boxes 371-378 (as for Table 1). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Box Journal Ed. Est. Comments =============================================================================== 371 3803 1886 1044 (no QC rating) 3804 " 1044 (no QC rating) 3829 " 534 QC rating: good. 4-hourly data. 3830 " 474 QC rating: excellent. " " " 3831 " 474 QC rating: excellent. " " " 3835 " 828 QC rating: very good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 372 3836 1886 1044 3837 " 120 3838 " 888 3841 " 1008 3847 " 828 3848 " ? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 373 3849 1886 1068 3850 " 1008 3851 " 1008 3853 " 1008 3854 " 534 3856 " 1068 Annotation as to a.m./p.m. mixup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 374 3867 1886 1068 3869 " 534 Script difficult to read (wind directions). 3872 " 356 3878 " 1068 3879 " 1068 3884 " 1008 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 375 3889 1886 1068 3892 " 1068 Observer's notations on Jupiter, etc. 3894 " 1068 " " " " " 3897 " 1044 3898 " 1068 No info on instruments; difficult to read. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 376 3899 1886 408 3900 " 1068 Continued past end using blank pages. 3904 " 1068 3905 " 1068 3906 " 1068 3907 " ? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 377 3908 1886 534 Instruments: much annotation by transcribers. 3909 " 828 4-hourly data. 3912 " 1068 3913 " 948 3916 " 1068 3933 " 1068 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 378 3934 1886 1062 Cur=no WBT=no May 94-Aug 94 Cont'd beyond end. 3935 " 1068 Cur=no WBT=no Nov 94-Mar 95 3936 1878 480 Cur=no WBT=no Jun 73-Jan 74* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total: 44 (42) 37202 (avg: 886/journal) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Apparently an earlier log was transcribed into the 1878 logbook edition. 19 May 1997 e-mail from Marjorie: "'China,' 6/22/1873- 1/2/1874, has a note in the card index, 'Filed at end of Meteorological Journals. DMD 8/26/36.' It was probably inadvertantly left out of the original numbering scheme." ---------- 4. Reproduction and digitization logistics The journals appear to be an good candidate for a two-part digitization format, such as has been used for the Maury, Norwegian, and other collections: i) A header format to record the ship instrumentation details from the beginning of the journal. E.g., name and other information about the vessel, information about the mercurial and/or aneroid barometer, and about the thermometers. As noted in section 3, passages in some cases spanned journals. In one such case it was noted the instrumental details were not filled out in the second journal. ii) An observational format to record the individual generally 2-hourly (sometimes 4-hourly) data records: knots and tenths, courses steered, winds (mean magnetic direction and force), leeway, mercurial barometer height in inches and attached thermometer, Fahrenheit themometer in degrees (air, wet bulb, and water at surface), state of weather by symbols and cloud forms by symbols, proportion of clear sky in tenths, state of the sea, and record of the sail the vessel is under. Although the form includes space labelled only for a mercurial barometer, the instructions seem to make it clear that that space should also be used for the aneroid barometer if only it is present. The observational format could be complicated by the following items, which appearing only once a day (this would introduce overhead into a format that allows space for these items every two hours): a) Passage starting and ending points, appearing at the top of each left-hand data page. The logbooks, which were often quite full, usually included more than one passage. This metadata could be helpful, e.g, for track-checking. Also, when in or near port, latitude/longitude generally was not recorded, thus locations would need to be derived from the place name during or after digitization (a flag should be considered to indicate whether latitude/longitude was obtained from an atlas or the data). b) Distance run by log since preceding noon. Latitude and longitude by account, latitude by observation, and longitude by chronometer, all at noon. Check marks, and in some cases corrections/clarifications, were often placed next to the latter two latitude/longitude values by later transcribers. c) Current (knots and setting) during the past 24 hours, and variation of the compass by amplitude and azimuth. d) Particulars of the weather during the day. Page 17 of the instructions recommends including, e.g., "winds--trace their variation throughout the day" and exceptional appearances such as tide-rips or icebergs. However, these remarks were frequently were difficult to read, and of questionable practical value for climate applications. Including space for extensive remarks every 2 hours would also likely introduce unacceptable overhead. The design of both the header and observational formats should also consider possible inclusion of metadata written or stamped in the journals as part of previous transcription activities. One example is the stamp (in red) indicating the presence of a aneroid or mercurial barometer, and the amount of any "fixed correction." In addition, the first page inside the cover frequently had a rating "excellent, very good, good, fair, etc." Notes were sometimes made or attached separately near the beginning of the journal, providing comments about its quality and the recommended handling of the data for transcription. Sometimes corrections were made to latitude/longitude or data elements (in red or other colors). The distinction between different ink colors would largely be lost in a black and white microfilm or photocopy. These bound journals are sufficiently fragile that they could not be copied on an ordinary photocopy machine (NARA has special equipment). Microfilm may be a desirable alternative, so as to also assist future preservation of the records for NARA, although production of microfilm would then require a separate step to create paper for China (they prefer paper). Contractors are likely able to create paper from microfilm via "copy flow" techniques at reasonable cost [to be determined]. Microfilm from the 1989 and 1993 visits (from journals 2 and 1770) indicates that two facing pages can be place in one microfilm image, thus halving the potential reproduction costs. The repetitive instructions that appear at the beginning of each journal would not need to be microfilmed, except it would be desirable to copy these once for each distinct journal edition. Translating the average number of records (904) back into an approximate number of 2-facing data pages (904/12 = 75 images), plus a maximum of about 5 images for the cover, inside cover page, title page (to obtain edition year), transcription notes, and instrumental information = 75 + 5 = 80 images. At NARA's current (default) microfilming rates: 80 images * $0.35 = $28/journal * 1,955 = $55K. 5. 2 May 1997 discussion with Sharon Thibodeau, NARA Chief of Records Control and Product Management staff NARA resources for microfilming are very limited and were recently targeted to Confederate Civil War records that were in trouble. However, a committee exists to review collections, such as the journal collection, for possible microfilming, weighed against other priorities from among NARA holdings. However, if the timing of the microfilming needs to be in the next year this would most likely have to be contracted out as NARA capabilities are fully allocated in that timeframe. Costs for microfilming and photocopying are being updated. The suggested high-level NOAA letter to the Archivist might explore different options. Although paper is the immediate goal for China, microfilm could be beneficial to NARA to assist long-term preservation and to enable the original records to be retired fromm availability (a NARA goal). This might be explored as a possible partnership between NOAA and NARA. Other options would include bringing in a NOAA contractor, the possibility of a volume discount from NARA, and some pipelining of the records (i.e., maybe they don't all need to be done in one year). [Note: Another possible option that was not discussed was temporary withdrawal of the records from NARA to a NOAA facility.] Annual reports of the Weather Bureau or the Hydrographic Office may be very useful to help explain the background of the journals in the Hydrographic Office, and their later transcription (probably by the Weather Bureau?). 6. Note for future visit A lap-top would be useful in order to expeditiously record information. It was not permitted to bring writing instruments or notepads into the research rooms; pencils and sheets of paper were provided. /------------------------------------------------\ | Scott Woodruff Phone: 303 497-6747 | | NOAA/ERL (R/E/CD) FAX: -7013 | | 325 Broadway e-mail: sdw@cdc.noaa.gov | | Boulder, CO 80303 http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/ | \------------------------------------------------/