The oceans, lakes and rivers of the world are the greatest museum of humanity’s interaction with the sea – as well as our global expansion and a record of our interactions with each other through immigration, exploration, commerce and war.  In an engaging, detailed and yet quick tour, Dr. Delgado explores some of history’s most famous and significant shipwrecks from antiquity through the modern age, with an emphasis on wrecks in and around North America – ranging from the Ulu Burun shipwreck of 1300 BC to more modern wrecks like the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor, the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, or RMS Titanic.  Dr. Delgado will specially tailor his presentation as well to add specific wrecks and themes in the region or area in which he will lecture to make the presentation even more relevant to the audience.

For information about the talk, you are invited to go to two websites provided by the speaker:

http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/maritime/welcome.html

http://inadiscover.com/

At the annual conference of the AIA held in Toronto this month, James Delgado delivered the opening night lecture entitled “The Great Museum of the Sea: A Global Tour of Some of the World’s Most important Shipwreck Archaeological Sites.” So if you missed the conference, you will have the opportunity to hear him up-close-and-personal and even to break bread with him at lunch.

James Delgado is the Director of Maritime Heritage, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland. He oversees and directs the maritime heritage and culture activities, including strategic planning, projects, outreach and partnerships in America’s National Marine Sanctuaries System and throughout the nation. Prior to that position, he was the President & CEO, Institute of Nautical Archaeology, College Station, Texas and Bodrum, Turkey.  He had executive responsibility for long-range planning, public outreach, media relations, fundraising and development, membership and project development for the world’s leading organization dedicated to the archaeology of ships, seafaring and the practice of archaeology underwater.

Earlier in his career, he worked for the National Park Service.  He was the Maritime Historian of the National Park Service and Head of the National Maritime  Initiative, National Park Service in Washington, D.C. involved with history, historic preservation, maritime resource management assistance, and interpretation of maritime resources in the National Park System. Delgado managed the United States government’s maritime preservation program, emphasizing nationwide inventories, standards and guidelines for restoration, and technical assistance.  He served as Historian for the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, California from June 1979-March 1987.  In that position he was involved with history, historic preservation and historical archaeological research, management assistance and planning for a 70,000-acre national park with diverse units including Alcatraz, portions of the Presidio of San Francisco, and the National Maritime Museum, San Francisco.