Collection Summary
- Creator: Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Collections Staff
- Extent: 180 linear feet (approximately 2,300 volumes across three double-sided stacks)
- Overview: The research library of Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is the permanent home for all titles collected by the Museum. The Research Library Collection is housed in Collections Storage, located in the Nautical Archaeology Center building.
- Cataloging Method: Library of Congress (LoC)
- Language: The material is primarily in English with some French.
- Acquisition Information: Titles will be acquired through purchase or donation.
- Access restrictions: The research library is open to staff at any time and researchers, volunteers, and visitors upon advance request. If non-staff are using the library collection, a staff member must be in the Nautical Archaeology Center for the duration of their visit to answer queries and maintain the security of the titles. Books do not circulate; research using the collection must be done at the Museum with supervision of Museum staff.
Copyright Information
Copyright law allows libraries to loan, preserve, and provide access to books. The research library operates in adherence to these copyright principles.
The Museum encourages use of materials from our library collections within the bounds of copyright law and with proper citation. Researchers assume responsibility for all questions of copyright, invasion of privacy, and other relevant rights that may arise from publication, reproduction, or other use of library materials.
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code), governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Due to staff capacity and copyright law, we are unable to provide scans or copies of materials from the collection. They are viewable at our site only.
Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to permit users to produce a photocopy or other reproduction and users may produce copies while viewing materials at the Museum. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” However, if a user makes their own photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. More information about fair use is available from the U.S. Copyright Office here.
Scope and Content
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s research library is managed under the Collections Department and thereby operates under the Collections Management Policy (approved August 2021). The extent of the library collection aims to fulfill the Museum’s values to “research, document, preserve, and share an inclusive maritime history and archaeology of the Lake Champlain region [and] to repair the harm caused by history being told from a singular, dominant perspective.” As a result, the library’s scope of collection spans Lake Champlain, upstate New York, and Vermont from the Paleoindian period through the modern day. A particular emphasis is placed on Abenaki history, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the age of canalboats, steamboats, and the recreational era with representation of boatbuilding styles, notable figures, and historical methods for the understanding and interpretation of each.
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum publications present a series of reports and analysis of archaeological work associated with underwater cultural resources, cultural heritage sites, and contract sites spanning Lake Champlain and sites in New York including the Hudson River Valley, Onondaga, and Seneca Lake.
Contents Listing
Using the Library of Congress (LoC) Classification, these are the major representations within the collection:
- CC 1-960 Archaeology
- E 11-143 America
- Pre-Columbian Period
- Colonial History
- The American Revolution
- F 1-975 United States History
- United States Local History
- New York History
- Vermont History
- HE 1-9990 Transportation and communications
- U 1-900 Military science
- V 1-995 Naval science
- VM: Naval architecture, shipbuilding, marine engineering
- Z 4-115.5 Bibliography, books (general)
- Copyright
- Museum Management
- Maritime Bibliographies