Collaboration with Springeren
Online film archive
The Nella Dan Archive was established as a public archive in a collaboration between Friends of Nella Dan and Springeren – Maritime Experience Centre. Nella Dan and her polar sisters were daughters of the shipyard Aalborg Værft. That makes Springeren an obvious base for the archive.
Among other things, our collaboration with Springeren – Maritime Experience Centre ensures:
- preservation of the material for posterity
- public access
- copyright registration
- knowledge of and registration of private archives
- cooperation with professionals and maritime museums
- that the archive is operated as part of the library at Springeren
The film database/Nella Dan Archive was developed in cooperation with E-archiv.com, represented by Jacob Trock.
The Nella Dan Archive was established as an online database, which makes it possible for friends of Nella Dan and people with an interest in the ship to contribute and work with the archive from any location in the world.
The structure of the online archive enables a high degree of versatility in the development of the database, including the option of expanding the database to include film material from other polar ships, crowd-sourcing and the active involvement of external contributors in describing the content of the material in the database.
The goal is for the archive to contain both still and moving images that have not previously been digitized as well as existing digitized text, audio, film and still image materials. In 2016 and 2017, the main focus has been on securing the most fragile materials: old celluloid stock (such as 8 mm, Super 8 and 16 mm) and video tapes.
The establishment of the Nella Dan Archive would not have been possible without significant support from the private foundation Lauritzen Fonden, which has made it possible for us to establish the online database and digitize film material for online access via the association’s website and YouTube channel.
Contact information for the Nella Dan Archive:
Friends of Nella Dan
c/o Springeren – Maritime Experience Centre
Vestre Fjordvej 81
DK-9000 Aalborg
T: +45 98 78 11 03
E: info@springeren-maritimt.dk
Archive network
Over the years, documentation related to Nella Dan’s operations and life on board the ship has been captured from a wide variety of sources, including logbooks, magazines, the independent ship’s newspaper, articles, radio reports, personal accounts, letters home, artefacts and many other formats.
For many years, this diverse material has been scattered far and wide.
In recent years, several good initiatives and partnerships have shot up in different locations. In both Australia and Denmark, there is significant interest in collecting and preserving these unique testimonies.
The official documents from the shipowners J. Lauritzen are currently kept at the Danish National Archives, and in both Australia and Denmark there are several archives run by private enthusiasts or associations. Other official archives in Australia are maintained by the AAD , ANARE Club and Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AADC).
In addition, the Lauritzen family maintains an invaluable film and image archive.
Friends of Nella Dan aims to work with others to offer an overview of the existing archives and private collections and promote mutual contacts and links. The association Friends of Nella Dan wishes to promote a dynamic archive to convey sources and stories to the benefit of a wider audience.