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John H. Mathis Company records
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Held at: Independence Seaport Museum, J. Welles Henderson Archives and Library [Contact Us]Penn's Landing on the Delaware River, 211 South Columbus Blvd. and Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA, 19106
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Independence Seaport Museum, J. Welles Henderson Archives and Library. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Founded in 1870 by John H. Mathis and W.W. Reynolds, by the time of its 1913 incorporation, the John H. Mathis Company was an already established and well-represented shipbuilding firm in the maritime world. Located at Point and Erie Streets in Camden, New Jersey, the Mathis Company built and repaired yachts, river steamers, tugs, barges, car floats, ships and other varieties of floating vessels for private individuals and businesses as well as the Navy and Coast Guard. During World Wars I and II, a variety of ships were built, including minesweepers, transports, Coast Guard Cutters, and ferries. Of note, was the presidential yacht Sequoia, which was built by Mathis Yacht Building Company as a separate but allied venture at the Mathis shipyard in 1910. The Mathis Shipyard closed in 1961, but the yard was later used by the firm Camden Ship Repair.
Bibliography:
Weiss, George. America's Maritime Progress: A Review of the Redevelopment of the American Merchant Marine Together with Brief Biographies of Men and Companies Representative of the Shipping World. New York: The New York Marine News Company. 1920. p. 433.
"The John H. Mathis and Company Ship Yard" (website accessed on February 23, 2010: http://www.dvrbs.com/camden/camdennj-mathisshipyard.htm).
The John H. Mathis Company records, which date from 1919 to 1987, consists of business records, correspondence, photographs, measured drawings, design plans, and other records relating to the shipbuilding firm. The majority of the material dates from 1930 to 1960. The collection is divided into four series: "Shipbuilding Records," "Photographs," "Index” and “Measured Drawings.”
The “Shipbuilding Records” series, 1919-1987, contains design plans, correspondence, material lists, calculations, drawing lists, and various ship plans. It also contains a small grouping of business records of the Mathis Company, which are housed at the end of the series. The series is arranged into three distinct groups. Shipbuilding records organized by hull number, which is the unique identification number given to ships when they are being built; hull classification, letters which represent different types of ship; and unidentified hulls. Finally, researchers will find the two files containing general business records. The hull numbers and hull classifications are organized numerically, then chronologically. The unidentified hulls and business records are arranged chronologically.
The “Photographs” series includes prints, photographs and negatives of ships and boats built by the Mathis Company, the Mathis Company yard in Camden, New Jersey, and company workers. When noted, there are original photographs and copies of the photographs, made at a later time for an unknown reason. The material dates from circa 1900 to 1954. It is arranged first by identified hull number, then unidentified hull and, lastly, by date.
The “Index” series contains a card catalog of hull plans built by the Mathis Company. It contains the following sections: Atlantic barges (Hulls 176-179); Trawler (Hull 169); Trawler (Hull 170); Trawlers (Hulls 171-172); Cargo (Hull 147); Hull 158; Vendor numbers; Sketches; Electrical; Lancaster tankers; and Fishing trawlers (Series 166). The card catalog is undated.
The “Measured Drawings” series is divided into two subseries. The estimated total number of measured drawings is 2,480 to 2,760. The first subseries, “Selected individual plans - Plans in Library Vault,” consists a small group of plans that were selected by a former Mathis employee as a good representative core of plans. They are arranged by hull numbers, ranging from 0 to 216; however, there is a large gap between hull number 0 and hull number 93. Hull number 136, plans for the minesweeper U.S.S. Sway, is particularly well represented. The subseries dates from 1903 to 1956.
The second subseries, “Selected grouped plans - Plans in Basement Vault,” contains roughly 2,000 to 2,300 ships' plans. They are loosely arranged by hull number, hull classification, and negatives of ships' plans. There are also roughly 650 to 750 unidentified plans, which are filed at the end of the subseries. These plans range from hull numbers 96 to 855, with large gaps in the collection between hull numbers 215 and 232, 242 and 393, 418 and 447, and 460 and 830. There are plans for the American Bureau of Shipping, United States Navy and United States Coast Guard. The subseries dates from circa 1920 to 1950.
The John H. Mathis Company records contain information valuable to researchers, historians, and those interested in shipbuilding history. It is especially useful for researchers studying the evolution of shipbuilding and the history of shipyards on the Delaware River.
Gift of Sam Hudson, 1993 (accession #93.87.7).
The processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.
This collection was minimally processed in 2009-2011, as part of an experimental project conducted under the auspices of the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries to help eliminate processing backlog in Philadelphia repositories. A minimally processed collection is one processed at a less intensive rate than traditionally thought necessary to make a collection ready for use by researchers. When citing sources from this collection, researchers are advised to defer to folder titles provided in the finding aid rather than those provided on the physical folder.
Employing processing strategies outlined in Mark Greene's and Dennis Meissner's 2005 article, More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Processing Approaches to Deal With Late 20th-Century Collections, the project team tested the limits of minimal processing on collections of all types and ages, in 23 Philadelphia area repositories. A primary goal of the project, the team processed at an average rate of 2-3 hours per linear foot of records, a fraction of the time ordinarily reserved for the arrangement and description of collections. Among other time saving strategies, the project team did not extensively review the content of the collections, replace acidic folders or complete any preservation work.
Organization
Subject
- Barges
- Ferries
- Fireboats
- Marine engineering
- Minesweepers
- Naval architecture -- Designs and plans
- Shipbuilding
- Shipbuilding industry
- Tugboats
- World War II
Place
- Publisher
- Independence Seaport Museum, J. Welles Henderson Archives and Library
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Megan Good and Forrest Wright
- Sponsor
- The processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.
- Access Restrictions
-
This collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Copyright restrictions may apply. Please contact the J. Welles Henderson Archives and Library with requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote or reproduce the material.
Collection Inventory
This index is arranged into the following sections: Atlantic barges (Hulls 176-179); Trawler (Hull 169); Trawler (Hull 170); Trawlers (Hulls 171-172); Cargo (Hull 147); Hull 158; Vendor numbers; Sketches; Electrical; Lancaster tankers; Fishing trawlers (Series 166).
This group of drawings are loosely arranged by hull number or a hull classification system into boxes that broadly represent the unique identifier. Hulls 147, 177, 211, 215 and 418 are well represented, as well as classifications AM and W2.
The "AD" hull classification refers to destroyer tenders, which were designed to provide maintenance support for a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships.
The "AM" hull classification refers to minesweepers.
The "AM" hull classification refers to minesweepers, which were a type of small auxiliary ship.
The "Bu" hull classification refers to the United States Navy Bureau of Ships.
The "C & R" hull classification refers to the Convoy and Routing Section of the Chief of Naval Operations, which was responsible for the routing and reporting of all merchant shipping in the United States strategic areas and for troop convoys.
The "N" hull classification refers to the United States Navy and may refer to the Norfolk Naval Yard.
The "P" hull classification refers to an unknown classification system.
The "W2" hull classification refers to ships of the United States Coast Guard and was used until 1965.
The "W2" hull classification refers to ships of the United States Coast Guard and was used until 1965.
The "STD" hull classification refers to the standard drawing number that Mathis company gave the drawings.
The "YFB" hull classification refers to a ferry boat or launch ship.
The "YN" hull classification refers to net layers, which were a type of small auxiliary ship used in World War II.
The "5-S" hull classification refers to ship engines.
The unidentified numbers and classifications boxes contain measured drawings without exterior labels or descriptions.