Press releases/Mary Rose Trust donation

This press release is currently a draft; it has not yet been released. Expected release 3 January 2010.

The final stages of the salvage of the sixteenth-century carrack Mary Rose on 11 October 1982. Image released onto Wikipedia by the Mary Rose Trust, and restored by a Wikimedia volunteer.

January 3 2010, UK: The Mary Rose Trust, a limited charitable trust based in Portsmouth, England, have released a number of photographs relating to the salvaged sixteenth-century warship Mary Rose onto Wikipedia. This complements a substantial rewrite and expansion of the Wikipedia article on the Mary Rose, driven by the work of a Wikimedia volunteer from Sweden, Peter Isotalo. This image donation makes the Mary Rose Trust the first UK-based organisation to make an image donation to Wikipedia.

The donation consists of 57 high resolution, previously unpublished photographs. The majority of these show artefacts from the Mary Rose, including weapons, tools and personal items, and were taken specially for this donation. Two photographs are of the final stages of the salvage operation on 11 October 1982; the first time the Mary Rose had been above water since it sank on 19 July 1545.

Due to its recent expansion, the article on the Mary Rose will be linked to from the Did you know... section of the front page of Wikipedia on 4 January; this page routinely receives over four million visits a day. In addition, the article is on course to become a "Featured Article", one of the best on Wikipedia, and will once more be linked to from Wikipedia's front page at that time.

"Making content available on Wikimedia is a fantastic way to increase the visibility of our cultural heritage," Mike Peel, Chair of Wikimedia UK, says. "These images can now be seen by the millions of people around the world that regularly read and edit Wikipedia and its sister projects."

Previous content partnerships with Wikimedia in other countries have included the Bundesarchiv and Deutsche Fotothek in Germany, the Tropenmuseum in The Netherlands, Regionarkivet in Sweden and Queensland Museum, Australia.

Wikimedia UK encourages more cultural organisations to partner with Wikimedia by making their images, audio recordings or videos available on Wikimedia Commons, available freely to the public. Additionally, museums can encourage the public to help share our cultural heritage: Wikimedia UK is currently organising Britain Loves Wikipedia, a free photography contest to be held in participating museums across the UK throughout February, with the resulting images being used to illustrate Wikipedia articles.

EDITORS' NOTES

About the Mary Rose:

The Mary Rose, once the pride of King Henry VIII's navy, was raised by the the Mary Rose Trust from the bottom of the Solent just off Portsmouth in 1982, 437 years after it accidentally foundered while engaging a French fleet. The project of salvaging the ship was a major undertaking and proved to be a milestone within the field of maritime archaeology. When the Mary Rose sunk, it and its contents were sealed off by layers of clay and sediment thereby becoming a time capsule of sixteenth-century Tudor England. The thousands of artefacts found in and around the ship when it was excavated and raised provided important clues to the life of the men of all classes that served on her in the 1540s, about shipbuilding, naval warfare and countless other fields.

About Wikimedia Commons:

Wikimedia Commons is a free image and media file repository, and is a sister project to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It was started on 7 September 2004, and is operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. It currently contains over 5.5 million freely licensed images and media files.

About Wikimedia UK:

Wikimedia UK is an independent organisation that supports free and open knowledge throughout the United Kingdom, including promoting and supporting the projects of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation.

About the Wikimedia Foundation:

The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. is the US-based non-profit organisation that operates some of the largest collaboratively-edited reference projects in the world. These include Wikipedia, one of the world's ten most-visited websites, and Wikimedia Commons.

Further information:

• Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/
• Mary Rose Trust: http://www.maryrose.org/
• Mary Rose on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rose
• All images in the donation on Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Mary_Rose_Trust_donation
• Cultural partnerships with Wikimedia: http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cultural_partnerships
• Britain Loves Wikipedia: http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Britain_Loves_Wikipedia

Contact details:

Michael Peel, Chair, Wikimedia UK

• Email: michael.peel@wikimedia.org.uk
• Phone: +44 (0)7988 013 646

Charles Barker, Managing Director of the Archaeological Services, Mary Rose Trust

• Email: c.barker@maryrose.org