Library Collection
The PSM Library contains 4,500 volumes on maritime subjects and over 100 different maritime periodicals. These cover a broad range of subjects from reference volumes such as Lloyd’s of London directories and Merchant Vessels of the United States spanning from the late 1800s to the 1970s. There are also books and periodicals ranging from local yachting and commercial fishing to naval history, whaling, northwest explorers, seamen’s memoirs, sea shanties, knot tying, and ship model making.
Archival Collections
The core of PSM’s archival holdings relate to the development of maritime commerce in the Puget Sound region and north to Alaskan waters between 1850 and 1970 – an era that shaped the lives, cities and industries of the Pacific Northwest. These holdings include materials documenting the Seattle-Alaska shipping trade during and after the Alaska Gold Rush; steamboat operations on Alaskan rivers; Puget Sound-based Alaskan fishing operations; 20th century naval history in the Puget Sound region, papers from several coastal steamship lines, and the Mosquito Fleet. Among these collections are thousands of newspaper clippings, scrap books, personal papers, and photos regarding maritime events and personalities; legal, financial and operating records of various commercial tug, ferry, and freight companies operating on Puget Sound and the Alaska and Far East trades; detailed records (including photographs and physical descriptions) of ships’ movements in and out of regional ports (Seattle, Port Townsend, Everett) during the first half of the twentieth century; the growth of major Puget Sound shipbuilding firms such as Moran Brothers, Todd Shipyards, and a large collection of ships’ plans created by Puget Sound marine architects.
The late Lloyd Stadum gave the Society his unique accumulation of advertising and operational materials obtained from international ferryboat companies plying sea lanes in the Pacific. This collection include pamphlets, broadsides and schedules together with a multitude of ship’s deck and hull plans.
In 1980 the Society acquired the extensive collection of longtime Seattle waterfront photographer Joe Williamson, which forms the basis of our photograph collection. It includes thousands of images of sailing, steam and motor vessels of all sorts, both government and privately owned that entered/departed or operated on Puget Sound during the early and middle decades of the twentieth century.
In addition, researchers should consult the MOHAI Library staff regarding important maritime holdings in the McCurdy and Seattle Waterfront collections.
