Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1942-1947 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
1.2 m of textual records and other material
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Administrative history
Mulberry Harbours were artificial harbours, assembled and built in Britain, and transported to France during World War II. The initial components for the two harbours, one for the American sector, and one for the British-Canadian sector, arrived in France on D-Day, 6 June 1944. By D-Day plus 7, the harbour erected in the British sector at Arromanches, Mulberry B, was operational. Mulberry A, in the American sector at St. Laurent, was so badly damaged by a storm that it could no longer be used. Colonel Vassal C. Steer-Webster headed the War Office branch co-ordinating all aspects of the invention, design, development, trials and siting of the harbours.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The collection consists of two accruals. The first accrual comprises the fonds of Colonel Steer-Webster as well as the partial fonds of Michael Harrison, author of Mulberry: The Return to Triumph (1965). Michael Harrison has written over fifty books of fiction, biography, travel and history. It consists of typescripts, correspondence, charts, sketches, photographs, maps, models. The second accrual contains correspondence addressed to H. V. Phillips in the Ministry of Supply as well as photographs, plans and printed materials.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
The first accrual was purchased from Bertram Rota in early 1976.In a letter to McMaster University in January 1983, Harrison writes that he sold only part of his Mulberry fonds to Bertram Rota and offers the rest of the fonds to McMaster. McMaster apparently turned this offer down. In his letter he notes that Bertram Rota put his partial fonds together with the Steer-Webster fonds to form the collection which was then sold to McMaster in 1976. The second accrual was acquired at an unknown date.
Arrangement
The first accrual is organized into the following series: Mulberry: The Return to Triumph typescripts and proofs with corrections by Louis Mountbatten, Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900-1979); Directorate of Transportation in the War Office Scheme and Associated Material; Alternative Schemes for Piers for Use on Flat Beaches; Phoenix and Bombardon Breakwaters; Miscellaneous Equipment; National Physical Laboratory and Quebec and Washington Reports; Information Regarding the Enemy Coast; Operational Reports, Histories; Photographs and Models; Printed Works.
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
There are no access restrictions.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
Accruals
Further accruals are not expected.
