The Second Life of Logbooks

By Baylee Browning
​Collections and Exhibits Associate

Log from the Ship "Alice", 1854-1858.

In 2023 Long Island University's Palmer School of Library and Information Science digitized a collection of logbooks and ledgers. The aim of this ongoing work is to preserve the history of Long Island communities by making materials accessible digitally, and to help train the next generation of librarians and archivists in digitization technology. While I was looking through some of these logbooks I made a discovery. Between and sometimes over pages of valuable historical and environmental data I discovered that someone had drawn all over the pages! Rather than pointing the finger at a college student of the 21st century, we should be looking for a student from the 19th to 20th century.

The Bark "Alice" by E. Tufnell

​​Log books were used by captains and crewmates to record their voyages out at sea. They would be used to record weather conditions, location in latitude and longitude, activity among the crew, and, of course, whales. After these logbooks returned from their voyages they were kept for a time as part of the company's records. Some logbooks belong to historical associations like the Whaling Museum, others belong to private collectors or were unfortunately lost. Bound books and paper were expensive during the 19th and early 20th century; because of this, records like logbooks often had a second life after their time at sea. Some were used to store useful or interesting information. This appears to have happened to the logbook of the Sheffield. This book, recording the 1845 to 1848 voyage, contains several pages that have been pasted over with illustrations, stamps, sheet music, and articles. These clippings range from short stories to poetry to natural history to news and politics. Several articles that caught my eye include a "New Style of Ghosts" in theater and a moving argument for the value of "Keeping a Diary." Some logbooks, though, enjoyed a second life as school primers.

On this page, our young learner was practicing forming simple words and sentences.

A partially completed alphabet

Primers, broadly, are workbooks where young learners practice reading and writing. It looks like someone found the Alice Logbook and used it to practice words and forming simple sentences. They also liked to draw.

The young student who left their marks in this logbook could have been the child of the whaling captain. By the time the Alice was sailing it would have been uncommon, but not unusual, for the captain's family to accompany him on the long voyage. I have found no record of Captain George Penney's family being on this voyage. As the whaling companies fell into decline the need to keep and preserve these vital business records also went away. It is just as likely that our young learner found this book in an attic or basement long before it found its way into the Whaling Museum's archive. We will never know the specifics of this logbooks second life.

A child's drawing of a flower

A child's drawing of a woman and cat

A child's drawing of some flowers

Another artist was the whaler himself. Crewmember James C. Bingham kept this log during the 1854-1858 voyage of the Alice in pursuit of whales. His signature appears frequently throughout the pages, as do his fellow shipmates. There was a lot of down time on a whaling voyage. Whalers occupied their time by cleaning the ship, managing supplies, and creating beautiful artwork like scrimshaw and ships in bottles. Some whalers made due with a pencil and paper, as Bingham appears to have done. He also left us an unflattering image of his employer, the principle agent of the whaling company, which I can't share in its entirety here. This is especially surprising because Mr. Jones would have, at some point, looked over this record of the whaling voyage.

An illustration of the Alice, likely done by James Bingham

An illustration of a house, likely done by James Bingham

It looks like the two artists could have inspired each other.

A boat drawn by our young learner

A house drawn by our young learner

Logbooks are fascinating records in themselves but when their use outlives their original purpose they can tell us even more about the people they came into contact with. Historical institutions are filled with important documents that have been stored in boxes, bookshelves, and drawers. Some are pristine, some are less so. If you are caring for a piece of history be mindful of where they are and in what conditions they are being stored. And please, please make sure that there are no primary sources hidden within the primary books as the little ones return to school this fall!

A link to our newest digital collection, the Log Book and Manuscripts Collection can be found on our collections page.